Washington State and Northern Arizona University's NP Programs
Washington reads Meets for all four nurse practitioner plans on Northern Arizona University's licensure table, so the education fits Washington's licensing rules. The clinical side is stricter: Washington's board, WABON, must clear an out-of-state distance program before its first student sets foot in a Washington clinic, so check NAU's standing with WABON before you plan hours.
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.
NAU's table for Washington
Four Meets answers mean NAU's NP education satisfies Washington's requirements for the ARNP license you would seek after graduating. The practicum rules below come from WABON, not the table; our licensure disclosure guide explains the table itself.
| NAU plan | Answer for Washington |
|---|---|
| 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 |
WABON approval comes first
Washington screens out-of-state schools before their students arrive. WAC 246-840-571 makes a distance nursing program based in another state apply to the Washington State Board of Nursing and win approval before anyone starts a clinical or practice experience in Washington. Approved programs show equivalence to Washington's standards, supervise and evaluate their own students on Washington soil, stay nationally accredited and report annually.
WABON keeps a dated roster of approved schools from other states, MSN and NP tracks included, and says approved placements are meant for Washington residents, other cases handled individually. Look for NAU and your track on the current list, then take the question to your program coordinator: NAU's pages place clinicals in Arizona and leave out-of-state graduate hours unaddressed. Programs placing students without a listing are asked to contact WABON's education unit. SARA is a separate layer, covered in our state authorization guide.
Change may come: WABON's Dec. 5, 2025 CR-101 filing launched rulemaking across sections 500 to 571 of chapter 246-840, and easing clinical placement is one aim.
A Meets row on NAU's table does not clear a Washington practicum; WABON's out-of-state approval is its own question.
Who may precept an ARNP student in Washington
In Washington an NP is licensed as an ARNP, and the state has full practice authority by AANP's reckoning. For ARNP students, the education rules want a preceptor holding an ARNP, MD or DO license that is active and unrestricted (an equivalent credential from another state also works), who is neither related to the student nor a personal friend. For NAU's own faculty, teaching ARNP practice inside Washington requires a Washington ARNP license.
NAU then applies Arizona rule R4-19-502, meaning every candidate passes two separate screens; compare our preceptor requirements page with the note on who cannot precept you.
The Seattle-Tacoma-Bellevue area, home to roughly 4.2 million, is where most searches begin; students there weigh MultiCare, Providence Swedish (Providence is headquartered in Renton), UW Medicine and Virginia Mason Franciscan Health. Spokane-Spokane Valley, about 608,000, covers the east side, Kennewick-Richland about 324,000, and Washington's slice of the Portland metro, around Vancouver, about 545,000, where PeaceHealth is a familiar name. Each sets its own student rules; none is tied to NAU.
The preceptor grant, and why it skips NAU students
Washington does pay preceptors, via its Student Nurse Preceptorship Grant (created by the legislature, run by WABON). Preceptors qualify as ARNPs, RNs or LPNs with a year or more in practice, and are reimbursed per student once they log 80 or more precepted hours, for at most two students a term, in quarterly rounds; the Summer 2026 round closed Sept. 15, 2026. ARNP students qualify in every round. Out-of-state programs are left out, though, Washington hours or not, so the grant cannot reward a preceptor who takes an NAU student.
License: a compact state since 2024
Washington implemented the Nurse Licensure Compact on Jan. 31, 2024, years after Arizona. An Arizona multistate license now carries an RN privilege in Washington, which answers NAU's rule that you be licensed where you train. The APRN Compact has no Washington enactment, leaving your post-graduation ARNP license as a Washington-only application. Our RN license guide covers NAU's wording.
Why Washington NAU students choose us
In Washington the first question is regulatory. Before the search starts, your placement advisor checks WABON's current list and your residency, so the question reaches your program coordinator early. Then we search near your home and screen each candidate against WABON's family-and-friends bar and NAU's Arizona standard.
What NAU receives is complete: the preceptor's documents in hand, the site's approval ready for your Green Form, agreement needs raised early, and the 780 FNP hours of NUR 661, NUR 663 and NUR 665 planned together. When a preceptor bows out mid-semester, we are already sourcing the next. Start on the contact form.
Questions NAU students ask
Is NAU approved by WABON for NP clinicals in Washington?
Check WABON's current list of approved out-of-state programs, which it dates and updates, for NAU and your NP track. If NAU is missing, WABON asks the program to contact its education unit, and approval must come before any clinical in Washington. Your program coordinator can tell you where NAU stands.
Does an Arizona multistate license work in Washington?
Yes, for RN practice. Washington joined the Nurse Licensure Compact on Jan. 31, 2024, so an Arizona multistate license covers RN practice in Washington and meets NAU's license-where-you-train rule. It does not settle WABON's separate approval of NAU as an out-of-state program.
May a close friend or relative precept me in Washington?
Washington says no. For ARNP students, its education rules exclude preceptors with a family or personal friendship link to the student, whatever their license. NAU's own review adds Arizona's standard, so pick someone you know only professionally.
How does the PMHNP practicum work in Washington?
Two checks stack up. On NAU's side, NUR 680 involves in-person engagement, and the PMHNP hour count and preceptor steps are unpublished. On Washington's, WABON approval and the ARNP preceptor rules cover psychiatric tracks like any other. Put both to your program coordinator before a Seattle or Spokane psychiatric clinic hears from you.
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.
- Northern Arizona University: Professional licensure by state
- Washington State Board of Nursing: education and out-of-state programs
- Washington State Board of Nursing: approved out-of-state nursing programs (Sept. 21, 2026)
- Washington State Board of Nursing: Student Nurse Preceptorship Grant
- Washington State nursing education rules (WAC 246-840)
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.