West Virginia RNs in NAU's nurse practitioner programs
For a West Virginia RN, Northern Arizona University's NP programs are open from home: NAU's licensure table gives West Virginia a Meets on both MS tracks and both certificates. West Virginia is also specific about graduate clinicals for schools elsewhere: its nursing education office says a SARA member such as NAU needs state approval only when ten or more students go to one site.
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 West Virginia rows
Each NP plan reads Meets. NAU links the WV RN Board (the West Virginia Board of Registered Nurses) beside them; LPNs answer to a different board with no role for NP students.
| NAU plan | West Virginia answer |
|---|---|
| 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 |
Borders matter here. Two West Virginia metros cross into states NAU marks Does Not Meet: Huntington-Ashland reaches into Kentucky, and Hagerstown-Martinsburg into Maryland. Under NAU's disclosure policy the deciding fact is your location when you first enroll; move across either line and your row changes. Our Kentucky and Maryland guides explain the attestation NAU uses there.
Reduced practice and the preceptor pool
AANP classifies West Virginia as reduced practice. Schedule II narcotics are limited to three days' supply, and for three years a new NP's prescribing runs under a physician collaborative agreement. Neither rule stops an NP from precepting; both shape the prescribing you will watch in clinic.
NAU's own test comes from Arizona rule R4-19-502, which NAU's preceptor rules quote. A West Virginia NP's collaborative agreement is not part of that test; experience, certification, population focus and license are, and the FNP Program Coordinator weighs them.
WVHEPC, SARA and the ten-student line
The WV RN Board's regulatory reach stops at pre-licensure programs, whose out-of-state schools need its approval before rotating students through West Virginia facilities. Graduate programs it sends to WVHEPC, the Higher Education Policy Commission, and to their national accreditor.
WVHEPC's nursing education and workforce office then draws a bright line: an outside APRN or graduate program needs WVHEPC approval only if its school stays out of NC-SARA or a single West Virginia site would take ten or more of its students. NAU takes part in NC-SARA, so one NAU student at a West Virginia practice trips neither condition.
That settles the state's side, not NAU's. NAU's own policy on graduate clinicals beyond Arizona has not been published, so run the plan past your program coordinator; state authorization covers NAU's SARA membership.
Where to look in West Virginia
Charleston, Huntington and Morgantown anchor the state's metros, with Martinsburg sharing a metro with Hagerstown, Maryland. WVU Medicine and Marshall Health Network are two large names. A third, Vandalia Health, counts Davis Health System, Mon Health and CAMC among its members. Student onboarding differs by system, and this list claims no NAU ties. Family practices in the towns between those hubs can supply the all-ages primary care NAU's FNP courses expect.
Licensing: resident or not
WVHEPC's clinical rotation guide states West Virginia's rule for graduate students plainly. Residents need a valid West Virginia RN license for the rotation. Anyone whose home base is a different compact state uses the multistate license from home. West Virginia's compact membership dates to Jan. 19, 2018, and NAU's admission page accepts a license that meets Arizona's multistate rules, which a West Virginia multistate license does. The RN license page covers NAU's wording.
The APRN Compact is not law in West Virginia, so a future NP license from the state stays inside its borders. And one Arizona document travels with every NAU NP student: the Arizona DPS IVP Fingerprint Clearance Card, required even if you never train in Arizona.
Why West Virginia NAU students choose us
West Virginia spells out its rules, and we put that clarity to work. Your placement advisor confirms the site sits under WVHEPC's thresholds and meets its own student requirements, reviews each NP's certification and years in practice, and packages the preceptor's documents with the site's yes, ready for your Green Form.
The full FNP sequence, 780 hours over NUR 661, NUR 663 and NUR 665, gets planned in one pass near home; for PMHNP students the target is a psychiatric practice that can host the in-person work of NUR 680. Lose a preceptor mid-term and your advisor reopens the search for you.
Questions NAU students ask
Does NAU need WVHEPC approval before I train in West Virginia?
Under the state nursing education office's guide, no, as long as NAU remains in NC-SARA and fewer than ten NAU students are at the same site. That is West Virginia's view only; NAU sets its own terms for clinicals outside Arizona, and your program coordinator is the person who can state them.
I live in West Virginia but my best preceptor is in Maryland. Does NAU's Does Not Meet row for Maryland matter?
The licensure row follows where you are located, and West Virginia reads Meets. Training in Maryland is a separate matter, governed by Maryland's clinical rules and by NAU's license-where-you-train requirement. Read our Maryland guide and ask your program coordinator before you commit.
Can a West Virginia NP in the first three years of prescribing precept me?
Yes, if they meet NAU's standard. The collaborative agreement shapes their prescribing, not their eligibility to teach, and NAU's experience floor is one year, so a second- or third-year NP can qualify. The FNP Program Coordinator decides.
Moving to West Virginia partway through NAU: what changes?
Tell NAU before you go: update your physical location through NAU's Change of Location form or LOUIE, and contact your program about the effect on practicums. West Virginia reads Meets on NAU's table. From the day West Virginia is your primary residence, WVHEPC's guide asks for a West Virginia RN license at any clinical site in the state.
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
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