Colorado and Graceland University's NP programs

Updated September 25, 2026 · Reviewed by the Graceland Preceptor placement team

Graceland University's June 2020 MSN chart marks Colorado "Yes": the row restates Colorado's call for a graduate degree that fits national certification in the APRN specialty and says the MSN satisfies it. Colorado's board rules, as written, aim program approval at pre-licensure schools, so practicum planning here turns on Graceland's approval, your RN license and finding preceptors who meet Graceland's standard.

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750mentored hours a Colorado NP attests to before gaining prescriptive authority

750practicum hours in each Graceland NP track, a separate requirement

Graceland licensure chart (June 2020) for Colorado: the MSN, including the RN-to-MSN and NP certificates, leads to licensure; the DNP and RN-BSN are post-licensure programs. An RN license in the state is needed for practicum hours there. RN license: in the compact. NP practice: full. — Colorado on Graceland's June 2020 licensure chart: MSN leads to licensure; DNP and RN-BSN post-licensure; RN license in the compact; NP practice full (AANP).

Graceland's Colorado rows

Graceland's licensure charts all carry a June 2020 date. Colorado's four rows:

Graceland University licensure charts, Colorado rows (June 2020)
Program	Colorado answer	Meaning
MSN (NP tracks, RN-to-MSN, certificates)	Yes	Colorado looks for a graduate degree suited to national certification in your APRN specialty; the row says Graceland's MSN qualifies.
DNP	No (post-licensure)	Routine for a degree licensed nurses enter; it yields no license.
RN to BSN	No (post-licensure)	Routine as well: you bring your RN license with you.
BSN to RN	Unknown	The campus pre-licensure degree is designed around Iowa; Colorado's board has not approved it.

A "Yes" here speaks to licensure, not to whether Graceland will approve practicums in Colorado, so confirm the state with the School of Nursing. The licensure disclosures guide explains the gap between those two questions.

Full practice, with a 750-hour mentorship for prescribers

On AANP's map Colorado is full practice, with a catch for prescribers. To earn prescriptive authority, a new NP must vouch for 750 hours worked under a mentorship arrangement; the mentor can be a physician or an APRN. The match with Graceland's 750 practicum hours is pure coincidence. Graceland's hours are student practicum time; Colorado's come after licensure.

For your search, full practice means plenty of Colorado NPs run practices of their own and can precept with no physician on site, provided they meet the bar on Graceland's preceptor requirements page. Board-certified or board-eligible physicians qualify too.

Colorado also offers a state tax credit to preceptors teaching in its rural and frontier shortage areas. After HB22-1005, though, the student must attend an accredited college or university in Colorado, which appears to rule out a clinician taking a Graceland student.

How Colorado's rules treat an out-of-state NP program

Colorado's State Board of Nursing sits within DORA, the Department of Regulatory Agencies. When the board's approval rule speaks of a nursing education program (Rule 1.2 of its chapter, 3 CCR 716-1), it means basic study that ends in initial RN or LPN licensure. The rule is silent on graduate and RN-BSN programs from other states: it neither asks them for approval nor asks them to tell the board when their students train in Colorado. The board's site was unreachable when this research was done, so check it for guidance issued since.

Colorado's student permit is not part of your path. It is meant for people whose out-of-state program was nontraditional, lacking a clinical piece that faculty supervise, and who need Colorado hours before licensure. Graceland pairs each local preceptor with Graceland nursing faculty.

Most searches start in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial metro, then Colorado Springs, Greeley and Fort Collins-Loveland. Students ask at UCHealth, at HCA HealthONE, at CommonSpirit Health's Colorado hospitals, at Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver (an Intermountain Health hospital) and at Denver Health, each with its own process for students.

RN licensing and telehealth from Colorado

Colorado is a compact state, with today's compact in force there since January 19, 2018, and a multistate license from Colorado covers RN practice across the other compact states. That matters most for PMHNP students who need licensure wherever each telehealth patient is; see PMHNP telehealth hours. Graceland asks for board verification for your home state and each practicum state.

Near the southern border, keep in mind that New Mexico is one of the 13 states where Graceland's chart reads "Unknown," so a site across that line raises its own approval question.

Why Colorado Graceland students choose us

Colorado's NP-led clinics give us a wide field, and we work it methodically: every site matched to your Graceland course, every preceptor's credentials confirmed, and the contract contact and license details Appendix A needs gathered up front. AGACNP students get hospital-based options plus a plan around the single trip to the Independence campus their focus session calls for. The second preceptor is lined up early, and we stay close if plans shift. Start your Colorado search.

Questions Graceland students ask

Does Colorado require Graceland to register before my practicum?

Colorado's board rules, as written, center program approval on pre-licensure education and give outside graduate programs no approval or notice step before their students train here. Newer board guidance could not be checked, and Graceland's approved-states answer governs your practicum either way, so ask the School of Nursing.

Is Colorado's 750-hour prescribing requirement the same as Graceland's 750 practicum hours?

No. Graceland's 750 hours, split 225, 225 and 300 across three practicums, are part of your degree. Colorado's 750 hours are a post-licensure mentorship: a new NP attests to them, mentored by agreement with a physician or APRN, as a condition of prescriptive authority.

Would my Colorado preceptor qualify for the state's rural preceptor credit?

It appears not. Since HB22-1005, the credit counts only students at accredited Colorado schools, and Graceland's campuses are in Iowa and Missouri. Your preceptor still completes Graceland's Appendix B each term.

Which RN license do I need for practicum hours in Colorado?

Colorado accepts its own RN license, or a multistate license that another compact state issued. Graceland will want verification from the issuing board, not a photocopy, for your home state and each practicum state.

GuideGraceland practicums by stateDoing Graceland practicums outside Missouri and Iowa? Fifty state guides: Graceland's licensure chart, RN license needs and how NP preceptors work there.LicensureState licensure disclosuresWhat Graceland's June 2020 licensure chart says for your state: 32 meets, 5 does not, 13 unknown, why the DNP and RN-BSN rows differ, and how to confirm.PMHNPPMHNP telehealth hoursGraceland PMHNP students may count up to two terms or 450 hours of telehealth. How the license rule works when your patients sit in another state.PreceptorsPreceptor requirementsWho can precept a Graceland University NP student: NP and physician credentials, years in practice, a license where the site is, and each track's own rules.New MexicoNew MexicoGraceland's June 2020 chart cannot say whether its MSN meets New Mexico licensure rules. What that means, the state's clinical placement rule and next steps.Neighboring stateKansasGraceland's chart says its MSN leads to Kansas licensure. How KSBN reviews it, the Kansas APRN preceptor rule, KU Health System and sites from KC to Wichita.

Last checked 2026-09-25

We check these pages against Graceland's own catalog, program pages and Graduate Student Handbook. Your handbook, your track coordinator and the contract coordinators have the final word.

Graceland's practicums are arranged by you, with Graceland's help. We do the searching.

Tell us your Graceland track, your city and your next practicum. We find preceptors who fit the course, line up what Appendix A and Appendix B ask for, and aim everything at Graceland's paperwork deadline for your term.

Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for FNP, hospital and ICU clinicians for AGACNP, psychiatrists and PMHNPs for PMHNP
Site address, contract contact and preceptor details ready before the June 15, October 15 or February 15 deadline
Close to home in your approved state, with a second preceptor planned for Graceland's two-preceptor rule

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