Studying with Northern Arizona University from Hawaii
Northern Arizona University's licensure table gives Hawaii a Meets on all four nurse practitioner plans, so an online NAU degree or certificate fits Hawaii's education rules. Two island facts shape the clinical side: your hours run on a Hawaii RN license, and no Hawaii source speaks directly to NP students from out-of-state programs.
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.
Four Meets in NAU's table
Every NP row NAU publishes reads Meets for Hawaii: the program's education satisfies what Hawaii asks of an APRN applicant, which matters when you seek Hawaii licensure after graduating.
| NAU plan | Answer for Hawaii |
|---|---|
| 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 |
NAU's link for Hawaii opens the nursing board's page within the state's Professional and Vocational Licensing Division. Our licensure disclosure guide covers the whole table.
What Hawaii's board has said, and what it has not
Under HRS 457-13(2), the exemption for nursing students covers programs accredited by the Hawaii Board and no others. The Board reads that strictly: in 2016 its Education Committee concluded that a pre-licensure student from a North Dakota BSN program could not do clinicals in Hawaii.
Already-licensed nurses meet a lighter line. For distance programs with no Hawaii campus, citing RN-to-BSN and LPN bridge tracks as examples, the Board's FAQ describes no approval, no application and no notice, and their instructors need Hawaii licenses only when in the state in person, teaching or precepting. Graduate NP programs appear in none of these sources.
Two conversations should come first. One is with your program coordinator, because NAU's pages picture clinicals in Arizona communities and no NAU document decides whether graduate hours may happen elsewhere; our state authorization guide covers NAU's SARA footing. The other is with the Hawaii Board, about an NP practicum specifically.
Island by island: practice, preceptors and places
AANP lists Hawaii among full practice states, so NPs on every island see patients with no physician agreement and can precept on their own. NAU still holds each one to Arizona's standard, as our preceptor requirements page explains.
On Oahu, where Urban Honolulu counts close to 989,000 residents, students look at The Queen's Health Systems, at Kaiser Permanente's Hawaii region and at Hawaii Pacific Health, whose Kapiolani, Pali Momi and Straub facilities sit on the island while Wilcox serves Kauai. Maui County, the Census's Kahului-Wailuku metro, has roughly 161,000 people, and the Big Island's Hilo-Kailua area roughly 210,000; students there also check the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation. Each system sets its own student rules; NAU claims none as a partner.
The preceptor tax credit, and who it leaves out
Act 43 of 2018 gave Hawaii a nonrefundable income tax credit for volunteer preceptors, now at HRS 235-110.25. It is earned per uncompensated rotation, up to five rotations' worth a year, and the Department of Health certifies each one against a statewide annual cap. To claim it, a preceptor must be a Hawaii resident in primary care, whether physician, APRN or pharmacist.
The catch is the student test. A rotation counts only when the student's school is Hawaii-accredited or physically based in Hawaii, and when over half its students are island residents. An NAU student misses that test, so when you approach a Hawaii NP, leave the credit out of the pitch and lead with a clear plan for hours and paperwork.
Your license: issued in Hawaii
Compact licenses do not cross the Pacific. Hawaii sits apart from the Nurse Licensure Compact, with no bill pending, so the multistate license an Arizona nurse carries does nothing for practice on Oahu or any other island, nor has Hawaii signed on to the APRN Compact. NAU's 2022-23 FNP guidelines tie your license to the place of clinical practice, so Hawaii hours mean a clean Hawaii RN license. Our RN license page traces NAU's wording.
Why Hawaii NAU students choose us
On an island, close to home is the only placement that works, and we build the search that way. Your placement advisor starts on your own island, checks that each candidate holds the Hawaii license the setting needs and meets NAU's Arizona standard, and gathers the preceptor's CV, license and certification before the site signs off.
Your Green Form then reaches NAU complete, with the site's approval box ticked and time to spare. We map the 780 FNP hours across NUR 661, NUR 663 and NUR 665 at once, raise any new affiliation agreement early, and if your preceptor must stop mid-semester, we are already lining up who comes next. The contact form is the place to start.
Questions NAU students ask
Does NAU's PMHNP certificate meet Hawaii's requirements?
Yes. NAU's table marks the Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (GCERT) row Meets for Hawaii, along with the MS PMHNP, the MS FNP and the FNP certificate. The PMHNP practicum, NUR 680, requires in-person engagement, so ask your program coordinator how that part works from the islands before you enroll.
Can I use a compact license for clinicals in Honolulu?
No. Multistate privileges from Arizona, or from any compact state, end at Hawaii's shoreline because Hawaii never joined. NAU's guidelines tie the license to the state of the clinic, which for any island means a license Hawaii issued.
Will my Hawaii preceptor get the state tax credit?
Almost certainly not. Hawaii counts only rotations for students of a Hawaii-accredited or Hawaii-based school where most students are residents, and NAU is an Arizona university. The preceptor would also have to live in Hawaii and keep a primary care practice there to claim it.
Must NAU get Hawaii Board approval before my NP clinicals?
No Hawaii source settles that for graduate NP students. The Board's distance-program FAQ, written around RN-to-BSN and LPN bridge study, describes no approval and no notice for schools without a Hawaii campus. Ask the Board about an NP practicum directly, and ask your program coordinator whether NAU will place you in Hawaii.
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.