State authorization at NAU: SARA, host states and moving
NAU belongs to NC-SARA, which authorizes it to offer online courses and supervised practica to students in member states; as of November 2024 that meant every state except California, whose residents can still take NAU's distance courses. SARA settles NAU's own authorization, not a host state's nursing rules, and NAU asks you to confirm where you live every term and to contact your program before any move.
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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.
What SARA does for an NAU nursing student
NAU takes part in the National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements. Through it, NAU may offer distance education, continuing education, field trips and experiential activities to students located in other participating states. As of November 2024 the members were Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico, the U.S. Virgin Islands and every state except California.
California is outside SARA, yet NAU says students located there can take part in its distance education offerings. NAU also reports that no adverse action has been started against it by the Arizona Board of Regents, the Higher Learning Commission or NC-SARA.
What SARA leaves alone matters as much. It says nothing about whether the program meets a state's licensure education rules, which is the job of NAU's licensure table, and each state's board of nursing still sets its own rules for clinicals inside its borders.
Practicum hours in a host state
NAU's experiential learning page defines the term as supervised field experience located in the host state, and it names practica among them. An NP practicum in Colorado or Utah for a student living there would be exactly that kind of activity.
Where NAU's own nursing pages describe clinical sites, they talk about locations throughout Arizona, mostly with BSN students in mind. Its license rules point the other way: the 2021-22 FNP guidelines told graduate students living outside Arizona to hold a license in their own state. No NAU source says outright whether graduate NP clinicals may run outside Arizona today.
That leaves one reliable route. Ask your program coordinator before you plan a practicum in another state, NAU routes questions about experiential placements to its State Authorization Compliance office, which your coordinator can involve.
Host-state rules around Arizona
Each board sends NCSBN a summary of its rules for out-of-state APRN programs, which NCSBN says it updates periodically. For the states that ring Arizona, they read like this.
| State | What the host board expects |
|---|---|
| California | Clinicals only for students of programs the California board has approved; clinical faculty licensed in California |
| Nevada | APRN students hold a current Nevada RN license; APRN preceptors licensed in Nevada |
| Utah | Program shows home-state approval, recognized nursing accreditation and Utah or compact-licensed faculty and preceptors, then reports each year by Aug. 1 |
| Colorado | Students and advanced practice preceptors licensed to practice in Colorado; workers' compensation arranged by the school with the facility |
| New Mexico | Board refers programs to the Higher Education Department; on-ground faculty and preceptors able to practice as APRNs in New Mexico |
Arizona's own rule R4-19-502 adds a floor for NAU wherever you train: an unencumbered RN license valid wherever the clinical happens. Arizona, Utah, Colorado and New Mexico share the Nurse Licensure Compact; California and Nevada stand outside it. Our California and Nevada guides go further.
The location check at every login
Each of NAU's four terms opens with the same prompt: sign in through CAS as a continuing student and a SARA critical message is waiting. It asks you to confirm or update your physical location, and it keeps appearing until you answer.
You can also update the location in LOUIE. A business analysis team under NAU's Vice Provost of Academic Operations tracks each student's location term by term, and PeopleSoft uses that record to send licensure disclosures automatically. A stale answer can mean the wrong state's disclosure, or none, reaches your inbox.
Treat the message as a real form, not a pop-up to click past. The student systems guide covers where it sits among LOUIE, Canvas and NAU's other tools.
Before you move to another state
NAU is direct about the stakes: relocating after admission "may impact whether a student can remain in the degree program, meet the state licensure requirements and/or continue to receive financial aid funding." Work through these in order.
- Talk to your program firstNAU asks students to contact their academic program about how a change in location affects experiential activities. Do it before you sign a lease, especially with a practicum already approved.
- File the Change of Location formStudents moving to another state, D.C. or a territory must update their physical address on this form, or in LOUIE.
- Read the new state's licensure rowCheck that your program still reads Meets there, and learn what the attestation means if it does not.
- Sort out your RN licenseA multistate license may cover a compact state; California and Nevada need their own. The RN license guide has NAU's rules.
- Rebuild the preceptor planPreceptors must be licensed where they practice, and each site needs its own agreement and Green Form.
Out-of-state searches, handled with care
Students outside Arizona face two rulebooks at once, and we read both. Your placement advisor starts with your state's row on NAU's table and its host-state clinical rules, then finds preceptors near you who hold the license that state requires and satisfy R4-19-502, Arizona's preceptor standard, as NAU reads it.
What reaches NAU is a finished packet, with the preceptor's documents gathered and the site's yes on record, so your program coordinator can decide quickly. We confirm each candidate's license type against the host state's rule before asking for paperwork, so your time goes only to preceptors that state will accept. If you are planning a move, we map the destination's rules before you go. Start with the contact form or read how it works.
Questions NAU students ask
Can I live in California and study in NAU's online NP program?
NAU says students located in California can take part in its distance education offerings, even though California is outside NC-SARA. Clinicals are the harder part: California's board, as reported to NCSBN, limits clinicals to students of programs it has approved. Ask your program coordinator where your practicum hours would take place before you enroll.
Can NAU NP students do clinicals outside Arizona?
NAU publishes no rule either way for graduate NP clinicals. SARA lets NAU offer experiential activities such as practica in member states, NAU's license rules anticipate students in other states, and each host board adds its own requirements. Your program coordinator, working with State Authorization Compliance, gives the answer for your state.
What is the SARA message when I log in to NAU?
It is a SARA critical message that appears at CAS sign-in when each of NAU's four terms begins, asking continuing students to confirm or update their physical location. It repeats until you respond. NAU uses the answer to track where students are located and to send licensure disclosures automatically.
Do I have to tell NAU if I move during my program?
Yes. Students who move to another state, D.C. or a U.S. territory must update their physical address on NAU's Change of Location form or in LOUIE, and NAU asks you to contact your program about the effect on practica. A move can affect licensure eligibility, financial aid and whether you can stay in the program.
Does SARA cover my preceptor's license?
No. SARA covers NAU's authorization to operate in a state. Your preceptor still needs a current unencumbered license where they practice under Arizona rule R4-19-502, and some host states go further; Nevada, for example, requires APRN preceptors to hold a Nevada license.
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
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