Delaware residents and Rivier University's graduate nursing programs

Updated September 26, 2026 · Reviewed by the Rivier Preceptor placement team

Rivier University's State Guide has no Delaware row, which means no color for any program and no published answer on acceptance. Ask Rivier's graduate admissions office before applying. If Delaware turns out to be workable, expect a paperwork-heavy state: the Delaware Board of Nursing expects advance notice and a document file from an out-of-state school before a Delaware facility hosts its students.

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Tell us your Rivier program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your Rivier course.

Rivier's State Guide (January 2025) does not list Delaware, so ask Rivier's graduate admissions before applying. RN license: in the compact. NP practice: full. — Delaware is not on Rivier's State Guide (January 2025): ask Rivier before applying. RN license in the compact; NP practice full (AANP).

What the missing row means

Delaware sits off the chart along with Alaska, Montana, Nebraska, West Virginia and Rivier's home state. With no row, the guide says nothing about the FNP, PMHNP, Nursing Education, Leadership, DNP or RN-BSN for Delaware residents, and no status should be assumed for any of them.

Rivier's graduate admissions office is where to ask. Get its answer for your specific track before you apply; our State Guide page shows how Rivier grades the states it does list.

Delaware's rules before a student sets foot in a facility

Delaware writes one set of education standards, 24 Del. Admin. Code 1900, and applies it to every nursing program, pre-licensure and graduate alike. A school based outside Delaware gives the Board advance notice of each Delaware facility it means to use, then files:

evidence that its home board approved it or a national body accredits it
a copy of each written clinical agency agreement
what it requires of the clinical faculty and preceptors it uses
a roster of those people, each matched to a site
copies of each of those people's current Delaware or multistate license

The facility must be Board-approved before a student is assigned, and Board representatives may visit. Delaware's rule reserves the word preceptor for a licensed nurse with a BSN or a higher degree, a point FNP students, whose Rivier preceptor may be an MD or DO, should raise early. These filings are Rivier's to make, so talk with the Clinical Practicum Coordinator well ahead; affiliation agreements covers the contract side.

Wilmington, Dover and Seaford

Delaware's population sits in three areas. About 588,000 Delawareans live at the Wilmington end of the greater Philadelphia metro, and the Dover metro and the Seaford area hold most of the rest. Major systems include Beebe Healthcare, Bayhealth, ChristianaCare and Nemours Children's Health (pediatric, with its Delaware hospital located in Wilmington), named from their own sites and not as Rivier partners.

AANP places Delaware among full practice states. Under Rivier's Handbook, a family NP with a two-year outpatient record can lead an FNP placement, and a nurse certified in psychiatric-mental health, again with two years, can precept PMHNP students.

A compact license, and a second compact waiting

Delaware nurses have had compact licensing since January 2018. A multistate license from Delaware therefore meets Rivier's practicum-state rule for a Delaware site and is honored in New Hampshire too. Delaware also adopted the APRN Compact, in August 2021; that compact switches on only with seven members and currently counts five. The license page covers the rest.

Nashua visits come with the NP tracks: the FNP's nine days in three intensives, the PMHNP's three weekends and the AG-ACNP's ten days. Nursing Education and Leadership are fully online.

Why Delaware students choose us

Delaware rewards a complete file, and complete files are how we work. After graduate admissions confirms your path, we find in-person preceptors near you who meet Rivier's track rules, gather each preceptor's license, credentials and CV (Delaware also asks schools for preceptor licenses), and time everything to Rivier's four-month lead. Every site is approved by Rivier's graduate faculty and its Clinical Practicum Coordinator, and our submissions reach them ready to read. Start your Delaware search.

Questions Rivier students ask

Can I take Rivier's online PMHNP from Wilmington?

Without a Delaware row, the guide is silent on the PMHNP and on every other Rivier track. Put the question to graduate admissions first. If you are cleared, your practicum needs an RN license valid in Delaware, and Rivier must file notice and documents with the Delaware Board before you train at a Delaware facility.

Does the Delaware Board approve my preceptor?

The Board approves the clinical facility before any student is assigned and receives each preceptor's name, license and site from the school. Within Rivier, the site decision rests with graduate faculty, and hours begin only after the Clinical Practicum Coordinator has every document and contract in hand.

Can a Delaware NP license travel under the APRN Compact?

Not at present. The compact activates only at seven enacting states, and the count stands at five, Delaware among them. Until then, practicing as an NP outside Delaware means a separate license from each state's board.

What if I move to Delaware during my Rivier program?

A written notice to the Dean, sent 90 or more days ahead, is what the Handbook asks when you change states. Because Delaware has no guide status, send graduate admissions your question in the same week. Spotting barriers is left to you. Our moving guide walks through the timing.

GuideRivier practicums by stateStudying nursing online with Rivier from outside New Hampshire? Fifty state guides: Rivier's State Guide colors, RN license rules and where to look locally.State GuideRivier's State GuideRivier's State Guide colors each state green, yellow or red for every nursing program: the red and yellow states, the unlisted ones, and what each color means.Change of residenceMoving during your programMoving mid-program? Rivier asks graduate nursing students to tell the Dean in writing 90 days ahead. What a move does to your license, practicum and preceptor.GreenMarylandMaryland is green for Rivier's graduate tracks. Student practice rules, MBON's NP program review, the preceptor tax credit, licenses and Nashua trips.State guidePennsylvaniaPennsylvania is green for Rivier's FNP and PMHNP. Section 21.118, the 2025 multistate license, two-physician prescribing, and where students search.GreenNew JerseyNew Jersey is green for Rivier's graduate programs. Joint protocols, the state's nursing rules, dense metros, a compact license and the Nashua intensives.

Last checked 2026-09-26

We check these pages against Rivier's own Nursing Student Handbook, program sheets, catalog, academic calendar and State Guide. Your program of study, your course faculty, your Program Director and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.

Rivier asks you to identify a qualified preceptor. We make that the easy part.

Tell us your Rivier track, where you live and which semester your next practicum starts. We find preceptors who meet your track's rules, check early whether the site can contract with Rivier, and prepare everything the Preceptor Request Form asks for, well ahead of August 1 and December 1.

Preceptors matched to the track: an MD, DO or FNP in outpatient family practice for NURS 511, a psychiatrist or PMH-certified NP for NURS 521, a hospitalist or intensivist for NURS 638P
Preceptor license, credentials and CV ready for the Preceptor Request Form, with the site's contact details for the contract
In your own area, in New Hampshire or any state Rivier's State Guide accepts

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