Pennsylvania nurses and NAU's online NP programs
For Pennsylvania, every nurse practitioner plan and every BSN format on Northern Arizona University's licensure table reads Does Not Meet. You may still enroll, provided you attest to plans to work outside Pennsylvania. On clinicals, Pennsylvania is fairly open: a state regulation lets RNs licensed elsewhere train in their graduate program's required clinical settings, and Pennsylvania entered the Nurse Licensure Compact in July 2025.
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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.
Pennsylvania's rows and the attestation
All eight NAU nursing rows read Does Not Meet for Pennsylvania, graduate and BSN alike. NAU links the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing twice, once at an older Department of State address and once at its current pa.gov page.
| NAU plan | Pennsylvania |
|---|---|
| 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 |
In NAU's judgment its NP education falls short of Pennsylvania's licensure requirements, so the degree is not a route to a Pennsylvania NP license. You can still enroll from Pennsylvania after an automated disclosure, by signing NAU's attestation that you intend to seek employment elsewhere. For some, geography helps: the Philadelphia metro reaches into New Jersey and Delaware, both Meets states, and the Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton metro crosses into New Jersey too. Maryland, the fourth state in the Philadelphia metro, reads Does Not Meet. The licensure disclosure guide has the policy.
Clinicals under 49 Pa. Code § 21.118
Section 21.118 of Pennsylvania's nursing rules settles the visiting-student question in four parts:
- Who it covers: nurses holding an RN license from any other U.S. jurisdiction or from Canada, while enrolled in an accredited graduate nursing program.
- What it allows: nursing practice in the clinical settings the program itself requires, with no Pennsylvania license.
- The condition: no pay for that clinical work, apart from scholarships and other awards tied to the program.
- The limit: holding an RN job in Pennsylvania on the side means applying for endorsement and a temporary practice permit.
Research found no Board rule forcing programs from other states to win approval first; the Board's Distance Education Application is a tool for schools it already approves. A broad rewrite of the education rules is also in review, covered in the FAQ below, and leaves § 21.118 largely unchanged. Your program coordinator still decides whether NAU will count hours logged in Pennsylvania.
Practice rules, systems and metros
AANP files Pennsylvania under reduced practice. Collaboration never ends for a Pennsylvania NP: a written agreement with physicians lasts the whole career, and prescriptive authority rests on collaborative agreements with two or more physicians. Your preceptor works inside that framework, and NAU's preceptor requirements sit on top of it.
The Philadelphia metro's Pennsylvania counties hold about 4.24 million people and greater Pittsburgh some 2.42 million, while Harrisburg-Carlisle and Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton top 600,000 apiece. NP students bring up UPMC, Penn State Health and Geisinger, along with Jefferson Health and Penn Medicine, the University of Pennsylvania's health system. Their student rules are their own, and a name here signals geography only. No Pennsylvania preceptor incentive appeared in research.
Your license: Pennsylvania joined the compact in 2025
Full compact implementation arrived in Pennsylvania on July 7, 2025. Since then, nurses from other compact states have worked in Pennsylvania on their home multistate RN license, provided it is active and in good order, with no Pennsylvania license added. For a Pennsylvania resident, a multistate license answers NAU's Arizona-or-compact test and covers clinical hours at home; the RN license guide walks through the rest. Pennsylvania has not enacted the APRN Compact.
One Arizona requirement travels with you: NAU NP students need the Arizona DPS IVP Fingerprint Clearance Card even when they live out of state, and the fingerprint card guide walks through applying from outside Arizona.
Why Pennsylvania-based NAU students choose us
Pennsylvania students carry a Does Not Meet row alongside fairly open clinical rules, and we plan around both. Step one is learning what your program coordinator permits. If Pennsylvania sites are open to you, we look close to home, around Philadelphia, Pittsburgh, Allentown or Harrisburg, for nurse practitioners who clear NAU's standard. If you are relocating, the search starts in your new state.
Each preceptor comes with a CV, license and certification already gathered, the site's agreement confirmed and any affiliation agreement flagged early, so nothing is missing from your Green Form. Share your plans on the contact form.
Questions NAU students ask
Will NAU admit me to its NP program if I live in Pennsylvania?
Yes, through NAU's attestation. Because all four NP plans read Does Not Meet for Pennsylvania, a student located there at initial enrollment receives NAU's disclosure and then signs a statement about working in another state. Talk with a graduate nursing advisor about what that means for you before accepting an offer.
Which RN license covers NAU clinical hours in Pennsylvania?
Either a Pennsylvania license or, since mid-2025, a multistate compact license. If you hold a license from a non-member state, § 21.118 still covers the unpaid clinical practice your graduate program requires. A paid Pennsylvania RN job during the program would need endorsement and a temporary permit.
Is Pennsylvania changing its nursing education regulations?
Yes. Separately, the Board's wide education rewrite, tracked by the IRRC as regulation 16A-5141, landed with that review commission as a final-form package on Sept. 8, 2026, with a commission meeting on it set for Oct. 15, 2026. The final annex leaves the § 21.118 exemption for students licensed elsewhere largely intact.
Can a Pennsylvania NP precept me under the state's collaboration rules?
Yes, provided they pass NAU's review. Pennsylvania's physician agreements are part of how the NP practices, and NAU's approval looks elsewhere: whether their license is clean in Pennsylvania, whether they bring a year or more as an advanced practice nurse or physician, and whether their certification and patients match your course. The FNP Program Coordinator signs off first.
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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