NAU's online NP programs for nurses in Colorado
Colorado reads Meets for all four NAU nurse practitioner plans, so the education question is settled. The clinic is where Colorado gets particular: it wants APRN students and their advanced practice preceptors licensed to practice in the state, and it expects the school to arrange workers' compensation with the facility. NAU's program coordinator decides whether a Colorado site can host your practicum.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your NAU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
Where Colorado lands on NAU's table
Each NP row says Meets. The answer covers one thing: whether NAU's coursework lines up with what Colorado asks of a new nurse practitioner. Who may train in a Colorado clinic is decided elsewhere, by Colorado's board and by NAU, as the licensure disclosure guide explains.
| NAU plan | Colorado |
|---|---|
| Nursing - Advanced Practice, Family Nurse Practitioner (MS) | Meets |
| Nursing - Advanced Practice, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (MS) | Meets |
| Family Nurse Practitioner (GCERT) | Meets |
| Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (GCERT) | Meets |
Colorado's terms for a school based elsewhere
The board's entry in NCSBN's host-state list puts three demands on out-of-state APRN clinicals. The student has to be licensed to practice in Colorado, and so does the advanced practice preceptor. Clinical faculty need Colorado licenses as well. On top of that, every student in a Colorado clinical must be covered by workers' compensation, set up by the school with the facility rather than by you.
The board's written rules are quieter. Its program-approval rule (3 CCR 716-1, Rule 1.2) concerns basic RN and LPN programs and is silent on graduate programs from elsewhere, and the Colorado student permit exists for nontraditional programs without faculty-supervised clinicals, a category NAU sits outside. The board's site itself could not be read for anything newer.
NAU's side is thinner. The college describes clinicals throughout Arizona, and no published NAU document addresses graduate practicums in other states. Put the Colorado question, workers' compensation included, to your program coordinator early. SARA sits in our state authorization guide.
Full practice, with a mentorship on the prescribing side
In AANP's terms Colorado is full practice, though one condition shows up after graduation: prescriptive authority waits until a Colorado NP attests to 750 hours practiced under a mentoring agreement, the mentor being a physician or an APRN. For your search now, Colorado's license condition comes first and NAU's own test follows, with its year of experience, comparable population focus and certification, detailed on the preceptor requirements page.
By population, Denver-Aurora-Centennial dwarfs the rest. Colorado Springs is second, and Greeley edges Fort Collins-Loveland for third by barely a thousand residents. Intermountain Health, through Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver, is one system an NP student there might weigh; UCHealth, Denver Health, HCA HealthONE and CommonSpirit Health's Colorado hospitals are others, each with student rules of its own.
Colorado FNP students are hunting for a family practice able to supply 780 hours of all-ages care in NUR 661, NUR 663 and NUR 665; PMHNP students, for a psychiatric service willing to host the in-person NUR 680 practicum.
The preceptor tax credit stops at the state line
Colorado's rural and frontier preceptor credit, a state income tax break, rewards clinicians who teach unpaid in shortage areas, APRNs among them. Its 2022 update, HB22-1005, broadened who can claim it and kept it running through the 2032 tax year, but it also tied the credit to students of accredited Colorado schools.
You are enrolled in Arizona, so a Colorado preceptor who takes you on does not appear to earn it, however remote the clinic.
Licensing for Colorado clinicals
Colorado's compact membership took effect Jan. 19, 2018, matching Arizona's date. A multistate RN license from either state carries the privilege to practice in the other, which speaks to NAU's admission wording and to NAU's rule on holding a license valid at the clinic. Whether that privilege satisfies Colorado's student condition is worth confirming with your coordinator; the RN license guide covers single-state licenses.
Neither Colorado nor Arizona has enacted the APRN Compact. Expect state-by-state NP licensure after you finish.
Why Colorado NAU students choose us
We read Colorado's rules before we read anyone's CV. Your placement advisor looks for preceptors near you, in Denver, the Springs or up toward Fort Collins, checks that each holds the Colorado authority the state expects and meets NAU's standard, and flags workers' compensation and agreement questions for your coordinator before paperwork starts. The preceptor's documents and the site's approval arrive together, so your Green Form goes in complete; begin with the contact form.
Questions NAU students ask
Does NAU's online FNP meet Colorado's licensure education requirements?
Yes. All four NAU NP rows, FNP and PMHNP, MS and certificate alike, read Meets for Colorado. That speaks to the education Colorado expects before licensing an NP; whether your practicum can run inside Colorado is a different matter, settled with your program coordinator.
Do I need a Colorado license to train there as an NAU student?
Colorado told NCSBN that advanced practice students in its clinicals must be licensed to practice in Colorado. An RN holding Colorado's own license, or a compact license issued by Arizona or another member state, has the privilege to practice there. Confirm how NAU reads the rule with your coordinator before booking a site.
Will a Colorado preceptor earn the state's tax credit for teaching me?
Probably not. Since HB22-1005, Colorado's rural and frontier preceptor credit counts only preceptorships whose students attend accredited schools in Colorado. NAU is an Arizona university, so its students do not appear to qualify, even at a frontier clinic. It is worth saying so up front when you ask.
Who arranges workers' compensation for a Colorado clinical?
The school does. As Colorado's board reported to NCSBN, students in Colorado clinicals must be covered by workers' compensation that the school arranges with the facility. That is a conversation between NAU and the site, so mention it to your program coordinator when you first propose a Colorado preceptor.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Northern Arizona University's own catalog, program pages and published nursing documents. Your program coordinator and course faculty have the final word.
NAU welcomes a preceptor you arrange. We arrange one close to home.
Tell us your NAU track, your town and your next practicum. We line up preceptors who fit the course and Arizona's preceptor rule, confirm the site's approval, and gather the CV, license and certification the Green Form needs, well before NAU's cutoff.
- Preceptors matched to the course: all-ages family primary care for FNP, psychiatric settings for PMHNP
- License, experience and certification checked against the rule NAU applies, before the Green Form goes in
- All three FNP practicums planned together, near home instead of a long drive away
Start your placement plan
Track, town and next practicum is all we need to begin.