Michigan and NAU's nurse practitioner programs
Michigan draws a Does Not Meet from Northern Arizona University's licensure table on all four nurse practitioner plans and on every BSN format. A Michigan nurse may still enroll after a written attestation that their future work lies in another state. The license is the second thing to understand: because Michigan never adopted the Nurse Licensure Compact, your Michigan RN license stops at the state line.
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Tell us your NAU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
Michigan's rows, and what they mean for you
NAU answers Michigan the same way on every nursing row, graduate and BSN alike. For the board, it links the state's nursing licensing pages at the Department of Licensing and Regulatory Affairs, home of the Michigan Board of Nursing.
| NAU plan | Michigan |
|---|---|
| Nursing - Advanced Practice, Family Nurse Practitioner (MS) | Does Not Meet |
| Nursing - Advanced Practice, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (MS) | Does Not Meet |
| Family Nurse Practitioner (GCERT) | Does Not Meet |
| Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (GCERT) | Does Not Meet |
NAU does not treat its NP education as meeting Michigan's licensure requirements. Enrollment stays open: a student located in Michigan when first enrolling receives an automated disclosure, then confirms in writing a plan to seek employment in another state. That suits Michigan nurses planning a move, for instance to Indiana or Ohio, both Meets states; Wisconsin reads Does Not Meet for the NP plans. More on the policy is in the licensure disclosure guide.
A Michigan license covers Michigan only
HB 4246, a bill to bring Michigan into the Nurse Licensure Compact, shows as pending on the compact's map; until such a bill becomes law, Michigan issues single-state RN licenses only. For hours logged in Michigan it is precisely what Arizona's rule wants, an unencumbered license where the clinic sits. Admission applies a different test, set out in the FAQ below and the RN license guide.
Nor could a nurse log Michigan hours on a multistate license from Indiana or Ohio; that takes a Michigan license, which requires a criminal background check, a one-off course on recognizing trafficking victims, and two hours of implicit bias instruction dated within five years of the license. Michigan has not enacted the APRN Compact either.
Who can precept an NAU student in Michigan
Michigan treats the nurse practitioner title as a specialty certification on top of the RN license, granted only when a current Michigan RN license is paired with a national credential from a certifying organization the board accepts. Confirm that specialty certification on any Michigan NP candidate, alongside everything on NAU's preceptor requirements page. AANP's restricted rating for Michigan comes from one rule: an NP prescribing controlled substances does so under a physician's delegation.
Our research found nothing in Michigan requiring an out-of-state program to apply or give notice before sending students to Michigan clinics. The board's program rules (R 338.10301 onward) are written for schools inside the state, though the board was not contacted to confirm. Whether NAU places your hours in Michigan is your program coordinator's decision; NAU has published nothing on graduate clinicals beyond Arizona.
Michigan's systems and its preceptor pilot
The Detroit-Warren-Dearborn metro, at about 4.39 million people, is the natural center of a Michigan search. Greater Grand Rapids counts roughly 1.18 million. The Lansing and East Lansing metro sits near 480,000, only a little larger than Flint's, near 401,000. Students ask about Corewell Health and Henry Ford Health, about Michigan Medicine at the University of Michigan, and about McLaren Health Care and Trinity Health Michigan. Each decides on students through its own process; the list maps the state, not NAU ties.
Michigan has experimented with paying preceptors. Partnering with Michigan State University's nursing college, MDHHS's Office of Nursing Programs piloted incentive payments, sized by the hours each preceptor committed across two semesters, but only for those teaching MSU's own FNP and PMHNP students. The pilot has closed, and no Michigan preceptor tax credit appears in our research.
Why Michigan-based NAU students choose us
A Michigan student balances a Does Not Meet row, a single-state license and restricted practice, and we sort those threads before approaching anyone, starting from what your program coordinator allows. If Michigan sites are in play, we look for NPs whose Michigan specialty certification and national credential are current, then check each against NAU's standard. Relocating? The search starts in your destination state before you pack.
You receive each preceptor's CV, license and certification, confirmation that the site agreed, plus early word if the site needs an affiliation agreement, so your Green Form arrives whole. Begin with the contact form.
Questions NAU students ask
Is NAU's online NP program open to Michigan residents?
You can enroll, with a condition. Because NAU's table reads Does Not Meet for Michigan, a student located there reads NAU's disclosure and then attests to career plans outside Michigan. On NAU's reading it does not lead to Michigan NP licensure, so choose it with a career elsewhere in mind.
Will my Michigan RN license work for NAU?
For clinical hours inside Michigan, a Michigan license is what Arizona's rule calls for. Admission is the harder part: NAU wants an Arizona license, eligibility for one, or a compact multistate license, and Michigan licenses cannot be multistate while Michigan stays outside the compact. Raise it with graduate admissions before you apply.
Is there Michigan money for NP preceptors?
Only a finished pilot. The state's Office of Nursing Programs, partnering with Michigan State University, tested incentive payments for preceptors of MSU nurse practitioner students, scaled to their committed hours. It has closed and never extended to programs based in other states, NAU included.
What should I check before a Michigan NP precepts me?
Look up the preceptor's Michigan license for two things: an active RN license and the NP specialty certification Michigan attaches to it once a recognized national credential is on file. Then compare them with NAU's standard, which adds a minimum of one year in practice as an NP or physician and a population focus that matches yours.
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.