Colorado and the University of Southern Indiana's online NP programs
The University of Southern Indiana's licensure disclosure gives Colorado no answer for its MSN nurse practitioner tracks: Colorado is missing from both licensure columns and from the enrollment ban. Every other online USI nursing program bars Colorado residents, and the post-master's certificates also mark Colorado "does not meet". Get USI's answer in writing before you apply, move or plan clinicals here.
Colorado question? Start here
Tell us your USI program status and whether you live in Colorado or plan to move there.
Colorado, row by row
Across USI's table ("Updated Fall 2025"), Colorado's cells split: blank for the MSN nurse practitioner rows, closed for every other online program.
| Program | Licensure columns for Colorado | On the Enrollment Not Allowed list? |
|---|---|---|
| MSN FNP, AGACNP, PMHNP | Blank: in neither Meets nor Does Not Meet | No |
| Post-master's FNP, AGACNP and PMHNP certificates | Does not meet | Yes |
| BSN-to-DNP FNP, AGACNP, PMHNP and the post-MSN DNP | Blank in both columns | Yes |
| MSN NEL and HSL, BSN-to-DNP OSL, online RN-to-BSN | No license involved | Yes |
| On-campus BSN | Meets | No |
The only online option left visibly open is the MSN NP track, and for it the table says nothing about whether the degree would satisfy Colorado's board. The licensure disclosure guide sets Colorado beside the table's other conflicts, in Massachusetts and North Dakota.
Why a blank cell is a real problem
USI's Full Admission Requirements page shuts out applicants living "in a state in which USI does not meet licensure/certification requirements" or in a state it is not authorized to enroll from. A blank cell is neither of those, and it is not a yes either. Whether it is an omission or an unfinished review, the page does not say. The certificates, which run the same specialty courses and hours, are marked does not meet, which counsels caution.
Only USI can close the gap. Before applying from Colorado, ask for a written answer: the disclosure page names online.learning@usi.edu as its contact, and the Program Chair and APRN Director is the graduate nursing role that handles where students live. Keep that reply on file.
Treat Colorado's blank MSN NP cells as unanswered until USI replies to you in writing.
USI students thinking of moving to Colorado
USI says a move into a state its graduate nursing program does not recognize "will lead to inability to continue in coursework," active military status excepted, and it expects notice to the Program Chair and APRN Director before you relocate. Certificate and BSN-to-DNP APRN students already see Colorado on their ban list. MSN NP students face the same open question applicants do, so settle it with USI before signing a lease; the relocation guide lays out the steps.
USI's campus BSN is the one program marked meets for Colorado, so a campus graduate heading west can rely on that row for RN licensure, subject to the Colorado board's other conditions.
What Colorado itself would ask of NP clinicals
If USI clears the way, Colorado is a full-practice state with one twist: before a new NP can prescribe, Colorado wants an attestation of 750 hours practiced under an agreement with a physician or APRN mentor. That is a post-licensure step, unrelated to USI's 750 direct clinical hours.
Colorado's board rules treat a "nursing education program" as one preparing people for a first RN or LPN license (Rule 1.2), with no provision for another state's graduate program sending students in; board guidance beyond those rules was not reviewed. Its student permit covers a different case: nontraditional programs with no faculty-supervised clinicals. Colorado's compact membership dates to January 19, 2018, which means a Colorado resident's multistate RN license would reach sites across the state (license rules).
NP students there search the Denver-Aurora-Centennial, Colorado Springs, Fort Collins-Loveland and Greeley metros, in systems such as UCHealth, Denver Health, HCA HealthONE, CommonSpirit Health and Intermountain Health, whose Colorado hospitals include Saint Joseph in Denver. Colorado's rural and frontier preceptor tax credit, after HB22-1005, counts only preceptors of students at accredited Colorado schools.
How we help Colorado nurses and USI students
Our work starts once USI's answer is in hand. For a Colorado RN whose MSN NP enrollment USI confirms, we search practices from Denver and Colorado Springs outward for preceptors credentialed for your track and deliver a complete, typed packet early. For an enrolled student weighing a move, we map clinicals in a state your program recognizes so the Fall, Spring and Summer sequence holds. Tell us your situation.
Questions USI students ask
Can Colorado residents enroll in USI's online FNP program?
USI's table does not say. Colorado is missing from both licensure columns for the MSN FNP, AGACNP and PMHNP rows and absent from their enrollment ban, while USI's admission rules exclude applicants from states where it does not meet requirements or lacks authorization. Ask the Program Chair and APRN Director, or online.learning@usi.edu, for a written answer before you apply.
Can I take a USI post-master's NP certificate from Colorado?
No. All three post-master's certificates list Colorado under Enrollment Not Allowed for Residents of These States, and the same rows put Colorado in the Does Not Meet column. The BSN-to-DNP APRN tracks and the post-MSN DNP bar Colorado residents too, as do the leadership MSNs, the OSL doctorate and the online RN-to-BSN.
I'm a USI student with military orders to Colorado. What now?
USI's relocation rule makes an exception for active military status, so a move on orders is treated differently from a civilian move. Tell the Program Chair and APRN Director before you go, confirm in writing how the exception applies to your program, and make sure your RN license reaches the state that will host your clinical site.
Could a Colorado preceptor claim the rural preceptor credit for teaching me?
It appears not. The Rural and Frontier Health Care Preceptor Tax Credit rewards unpaid precepting in Colorado shortage areas, but HB22-1005 narrowed it to preceptors whose students attend accredited Colorado colleges and universities. Teaching a student from an Indiana school falls outside that; the Colorado Department of Revenue publishes the current terms.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against USI's own bulletin, program pages and Graduate Nursing Handbook. Your handbook, course faculty and the Nursing Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
- University of Southern Indiana Professional Licensure Disclosure
- Colorado State Board of Nursing (Division of Professions and Occupations)
- University of Southern Indiana Graduate Nursing Handbook: Full Admission Requirements
- Colorado 3 CCR 716-1, Rule 1.2: nursing education programs
- Colorado General Assembly: HB22-1005, preceptor tax credit
USI makes the search your job. We make it the easy part.
Tell us your USI track, your city and your next clinical semester. We find preceptors who fit the NRSG course and fill the Preceptor Packet and Clinical Education Agreement request with typed, complete details, well before USI's 6-week window.
- Preceptors matched to the course: family primary care for FNP, acute care teams for AGACNP, PMHNPs and psychiatrists for PMHNP
- Preceptor license, certification, years of practice and the site's agreement signer ready for the packet
- Fall, Spring and Summer planned together, close to home in a state USI enrolls
Start your placement plan
Track, city and clinical start is all we need to begin.