NAU's online NP programs for Virginia nurses
Virginia is a Meets state on Northern Arizona University's licensure table for the FNP and PMHNP tracks of the MS and for both certificates, so you can enroll from Arlington, Richmond, Norfolk or Roanoke. Virginia's nursing board approves neither out-of-state programs nor post-licensure ones, and a Virginia statute exempts advanced practice students in some cases; what remains is NAU's own rules and a qualified preceptor near you.
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.
Virginia on NAU's licensure table
Every NP row reads Meets, with the Virginia Board of Nursing as the board NAU links.
| NAU plan | Virginia |
|---|---|
| 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 |
Meets is an answer about licensure education, nothing more. One wrinkle for Northern Virginia: the Washington metro spills into Maryland, a Does Not Meet state on NAU's table, and NAU's policy keys the answer to where you are located at initial enrollment, so a move across that line changes your row; see the Maryland guide.
Practice agreements and who precepts in Virginia
AANP rates Virginia restricted. The dividing line is experience. An NP short of the equivalent of three full-time clinical years works inside a patient care team, bound to a physician by a practice agreement; after attesting to those years, the NP can practice without one. Candidates on either side of that line can precept you.
What they must satisfy is NAU's standard, drawn from Arizona rule R4-19-502 and set out on who can precept an NAU student. The three-year attestation has no bearing on it; NAU's own experience floor is one year as an NP or physician, and the FNP Program Coordinator approves each preceptor.
What Virginia's board regulates, and what it leaves alone
The Virginia Board of Nursing says it has no regulatory or approval role over out-of-state programs or post-licensure ones. So no Board approval step stands between NAU and a Virginia practicum. You may come across the Board's 80% rule for clinical hours inside Virginia and its site approval rules at 18VAC90-27; those govern Virginia's own pre-licensure schools.
Virginia Code § 54.1-3001 adds an exemption aimed at students like you. An RN with a current unrestricted license from another state, D.C. or a U.S. territory may practice in Virginia without a Virginia license while enrolled in an advanced practice program, limited to the clinical work its curriculum sets. Whether NAU counts that toward its own rule of a license valid where the clinical happens is for your program coordinator to say; NAU's side is on the state authorization page.
Where Virginia NP students search
Most Virginians live in four metros: Richmond, Roanoke, the Virginia Beach-Chesapeake-Norfolk area, and the Virginia share of the Washington metro. Sentara Health and Inova are two of the large systems; Carilion Clinic is a third, and two more carry university names, VCU Health and UVA Health. They are reference points for your map, each with separate student rules and no NAU connection claimed here.
Virginia also pays preceptors, just not yours. The Nurse Preceptor Incentive Program pays Virginia-licensed clinicians, but the student must attend a public or private nonprofit nursing school in Virginia. A 2026 law, SB 405 (signed March 31), shifted it from the Virginia Department of Health, whose last applications closed April 30, 2026, to the Virginia Nursing Workforce Center, which counts hours from July 1, 2026.
Your RN license for Virginia clinicals
Virginia's compact start date is Jan. 19, 2018. For Virginia residents, the multistate license the Board issues is the one that works both for local clinicals and for NAU's admission test, which accepts Arizona's multistate rules in place of an Arizona license; the RN license guide shows NAU's wording. Virginia has no APRN Compact law on its books either, so after certification you apply to Virginia directly.
Why Virginia NAU students choose us
We build Virginia searches around the practice-agreement split. Your placement advisor looks at each NP candidate's certification and time in practice, checks that the practice, physician team included, is ready to host a student, and only then collects paperwork, so the Green Form you submit shows the site approved and a preceptor file NAU can assess at once.
In Virginia we line up NUR 661, NUR 663 and NUR 665 together for FNP students, so summer, fall and spring are planned at once; PMHNP students are matched with psychiatric practices set up for NUR 680, which NAU says requires in-person engagement. If a preceptor withdraws mid-semester, your advisor is back on the phones for you.
Questions NAU students ask
My RN license is from another state. Can I do NAU clinicals in Virginia on it?
Often, yes. A multistate license from your compact home state works in Virginia, and the § 54.1-3001 exemption above may cover a single-state license from elsewhere. NAU wants a license valid in the practicum's state, so check your route with your program coordinator.
Will Virginia's preceptor incentive reward the NP who precepts me?
Not for precepting an NAU student. Eligibility depends on the student's school, and NAU sits outside Virginia, so the NPIP, housed today at the Virginia Nursing Workforce Center, leaves your preceptor out.
I live in Northern Virginia. Could I train in D.C. or Maryland instead?
NAU's table reads Meets for D.C. and Does Not Meet for Maryland, but those answers track where you live, not where you train. A rotation outside Virginia brings that jurisdiction's own clinical rules and NAU's license rule for the state of practice. Ask your program coordinator before you pursue a site across the line.
Can a Virginia NP who still has a practice agreement precept me?
Yes. The agreement is a Virginia practice requirement, while NAU's approval turns on its own preceptor standard, so a newer NP inside a patient care team can qualify once past NAU's one-year mark. The FNP Program Coordinator decides.
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.