PMHNP clinicals outside Texas for UTRGV students
Students in UTRGV's online PMHNP certificate do their clinical hours at home, in their own state of residence. UTRGV takes part in NC-SARA and names every state but California on its list, along with the U.S. Virgin Islands, Puerto Rico and Washington, D.C., but publishes no nursing-specific findings for any state. Below are each board's rules for out-of-state NP programs, grouped by what the board asks.
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Where UTRGV PMHNP clinicals take place
The PMHNP certificate is 100% online. UTRGV's archived program answers put your clinical site in your state of residence, approved by its clinical advisors, and the current syllabi have your clinical faculty member clear the site before hours start. The catalog ties the admission license to that state too. Clinical settings can be outpatient, inpatient or private practice, and the NURS 6620 syllabus even asks students to discuss how much physician involvement their own state requires.
Who lines up the preceptor is a question with two UTRGV answers. The removed question-and-answer page, archived in May 2025, said placement was the student's job; the current flyer, dated June 2025, carries a line on preceptor placement assistance without defining its scope. Our PMHNP placement assistance page sets the two side by side. Either way, the hours happen in your state, under your state's rules, and that is where we search for you.
UTRGV's NC-SARA participation and its state list
NC-SARA's directory shows UTRGV as a Texas participant in the Southern Regional Education Board region; its portal agency is Texas's Higher Education Coordinating Board, and its status is not provisional. SARA is a reciprocity pact among member states, and it is what allows a participating school to teach online learners based outside its home state.
UTRGV Online's state authorization page lists the states and territories where UTRGV has written approval, an exemption, or approval in process to offer online programs. Its SARA list runs to 49 states and three other jurisdictions: two territories and the nation's capital. California is the one state left off, and Guam, the Northern Mariana Islands and American Samoa are absent as well.
SARA settles whether UTRGV may enroll you from your state. Whether your board lets an out-of-state program place you in clinicals, and whether the certificate leads to APRN licensure there, are board questions.
No nursing-specific findings for your state
UTRGV publishes no state-by-state licensure finding (meets, does not meet, not determined) for any nursing program. Its general disclosure says its licensure programs are designed around Texas requirements and tells students heading to other states to consult that state's licensing board. The PMHNP flyer is more pointed: it advises prospective students "to confirm whether the board of nursing in their home state has approved" UTRGV as a nursing education program before applying.
- Find your board's ruleUse the table below as a starting point, then read your board's own page on out-of-state programs.
- Ask whether UTRGV is coveredWhere a board approves, registers or wants notice of programs, ask both the board and the PMHNP program whether UTRGV has done so. Our research did not check any state's list.
- Ask the licensure question on its ownPermission to train in your state and eligibility for APRN licensure there are separate questions. Ask your board whether the certificate qualifies you.
- Put the answers in writingSend what you learn to the PMHNP program coordinator before you apply, as the flyer suggests.
What state boards require of out-of-state NP programs
The table summarizes our research into each board's published rules, compiled in September 2026. These are state rules, not UTRGV statements, and whether UTRGV holds any approval listed here is not published. Boards change their rules, so confirm with yours before you rely on a row.
| What the board asks | States | What it means for a UTRGV PMHNP student |
|---|---|---|
| Required: the program is approved, registered or reviewed first | Alabama, Arizona, California, Louisiana, Mississippi, New York, North Dakota, Utah, Washington, Wisconsin | Clinicals wait until the program clears the state's process. Lead times differ: at least 15 days in Alabama, 60 days in North Dakota, a review request at least four months ahead for Mississippi's higher-education board, six months in Louisiana. New York registers the NP program itself, and Washington limits approved placements to Washington residents. |
| Required: notice or conditions, without board approval | Delaware, Iowa, Wyoming | The program notifies the board before clinicals (Delaware, Wyoming) or meets set conditions (Iowa), such as preceptors holding that state's license or a multistate one and a written contract with the site. |
| Required of the student: a personal registration | Alaska | You register with the Alaska board for an APRN preceptorship, attaching the school, site, student and preceptor agreement. It lasts up to 12 months and can be renewed once. |
| Not required for NP programs: the rule covers pre-licensure only | Hawaii, Massachusetts, Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oklahoma, Oregon, South Carolina, Texas, West Virginia | The approval rule is written for programs that prepare new nurses. Montana, Nebraska, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Oregon and Texas place graduate or APRN programs outside it; Hawaii, Massachusetts and South Carolina are silent on them; West Virginia refers graduate programs to its higher-education commission. Oklahoma still wants an Oklahoma RN license and Oklahoma-licensed faculty oversight. |
| Not required: no approval step | Connecticut, Georgia, Indiana, Kansas, Kentucky, Minnesota, Ohio, South Dakota, Virginia | No board approval for an out-of-state NP program. License rules can still apply: Georgia wants clinical teaching by a nurse with Georgia APRN authorization, Kansas expects a Kansas-licensed APRN preceptor and reviews the program when you apply for licensure, and South Dakota expects one program faculty member licensed to practice there. |
| Unclear: a rule exists, but its reach is uncertain | Illinois, Nevada, New Mexico, Tennessee | Illinois and Nevada have approval rules that do not say whether graduate programs are included. New Mexico's applies when clinicals there run longer than one semester. A 2026 Tennessee bill would pause new out-of-state approvals for two years; its enactment could not be confirmed. |
| Unclear: no rule found | Arkansas, Colorado, District of Columbia, Florida, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Michigan, Missouri, New Jersey, Pennsylvania, Rhode Island, Vermont | Our research found no board rule requiring approval or notice before an out-of-state program places students, and none was recorded for DC. Pennsylvania does let an RN licensed elsewhere practice in the clinicals an accredited graduate program requires. Idaho's board asks out-of-state schools to contact it. |
The archived past-states list, and California
The removed question-and-answer page once listed where PMHNP students had been accepted from: Ohio, Delaware, Arkansas, Florida, Nevada and California. It gives no years, and UTRGV publishes no current list. Read against the table, those six span the range, from Ohio's lack of any approval step to California's prior-approval rule, so a classmate's state tells you little about yours.
California stands out twice. It is the only state missing from UTRGV's SARA list, and its Board of Registered Nursing makes any nurse practitioner program headquartered in another state obtain Board approval first, before a single California clinical placement. Preceptors there must satisfy Board standards and be California licensed, and the curriculum has to cover the state's own NP statutes. Each student also needs a current California RN license; California is not a compact member, so a multistate license earned elsewhere carries no weight there. Whether UTRGV has sought that approval is not published.
If you live in California, ask the PMHNP program in writing, before you apply, whether it can enroll you and approve California clinical sites.
How we set up PMHNP clinicals in your state
We search where you live, for the only preceptors UTRGV accepts for PMHNP hours: a psychiatrist with ABPN board certification who finished residency over a year ago, or a PMHNP holding ANCC board certification, at a site that is not your workplace. Preceptor requirements has the full rule. Before we contact anyone, we read your board's rule on out-of-state programs, so any notice or approval can be raised with the program early.
We start well inside the 30-to-90-day window UTRGV gives for affiliation agreements, and we plan your in-person hours, telepsychiatry hours and child and adolescent exposure with the preceptor from day one. Should a preceptor leave partway through, lining up a new one in your state becomes our first job. Send your state, your start term and your license details through the request form.
Questions UTRGV students ask
Does NC-SARA mean my state's board of nursing has approved UTRGV?
No. SARA covers a school's permission to enroll online students across state lines. Nursing boards run their own rules for clinical placements and licensure, and some apply them to SARA schools too: Mississippi, for example, reviews out-of-state nursing programs holding clinicals there on top of requiring SARA participation or other state authorization. Check your board's rule and UTRGV's standing with it.
Will I have to travel to Texas for UTRGV's PMHNP certificate?
UTRGV's catalog calls the certificate 100% online, and the archived question-and-answer page answered no when asked about travel to UTRGV. The same archived page mentioned on-campus weeks in another answer, so the old guidance was not fully consistent. Ask the program about any required visits when you are admitted, and plan your clinical hours at home.
Can my PMHNP hours happen across the state line, outside my home state?
UTRGV's guidance points to your state of residence, and your license is tied to that state. A site across the line would need your clinical faculty member's approval, a license valid in that state, and whatever that board expects of programs based elsewhere. Clear it with the program before any preceptor commits, since the answer may be no.
Does UTRGV's PMHNP certificate qualify me for APRN licensure in my state?
UTRGV has not published a finding for any state. Its disclosure says its licensure programs are designed around Texas requirements, and its archived question-and-answer page told nurses to ask their own board whether the certificate would support licensure there. Put that question to your board directly, and see the RN license page for how licenses fit together.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against UTRGV's own catalog, course syllabi, School of Nursing pages and Texas Board of Nursing rules. Your course faculty and the School of Nursing have the final word.
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Tell us your UTRGV program, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We line up a willing preceptor who fits the course and UTRGV's rules, and hand you the details the Clinical Request Form, the affiliation agreement and the preceptor agreement ask for, well before the semester.
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NURS 6612andNURS 6613, and two NP sites forNURS 6347 - Board-certified psychiatric preceptors for
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