Rivier University online nursing from Hawaii
Rivier University's State Guide gives Hawaii green in its FNP and PMHNP columns and in every other graduate column, so island residents can enroll online. Two things set Hawaii apart from most green states. Mainland multistate licenses do not reach it, which makes a Hawaii RN license the key to any island practicum, and every campus intensive starts with a very long flight.
Get your placement plan
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 guide and Hawaii
Rivier rates each program separately. Hawaii's entries in the January 2025 guide:
| Program | Color | Rivier's meaning |
|---|---|---|
| FNP (MSN or certificate) | Green | OK to accept |
| PMHNP (MSN or certificate) | Green | OK to accept |
| Nursing Education | Green | OK to accept |
| Leadership in Health Systems Management | Green | OK to accept |
| DNP | Green | OK to accept |
| ASN/BSN pre-licensure | Yellow | Limiting criteria: call the program director |
| RN-BSN | Green | OK to accept |
Acceptance is what the guide measures. Hawaii licensure is a separate matter, and the AG-ACNP has no column, so acute care applicants should put Hawaii to the Program Director. The State Guide page sets out the color key.
Your RN license will be Hawaii's
Hawaii holds no Nurse Licensure Compact membership, and NCSBN's map records no bill pending there. Whatever multistate license you carry from the mainland ends its reach at the coast; island sites need an RN license Hawaii issued itself. That lines up exactly with Rivier's rule for the practicum state. Hawaii has not adopted the APRN Compact either, so your NP license after graduation is a Hawaii application too.
Now flip it around. The license Hawaii issues is valid only in Hawaii, and New Hampshire is not covered by it. On its 2018 practicum form, Rivier required FNP students to have a New Hampshire RN license for the on-campus work. Whether that still binds you is a question for the Program Director, and the answer should come months before your first intensive. The RN license guide compares the routes.
How the Hawaii Board treats schools from elsewhere
For post-licensure education delivered into Hawaii from outside, the Board's FAQ takes a hands-off line. Lacking a Hawaii campus, such a program receives no Board approval, has no application to file and owes no notice. Its worked examples are RN-BSN and LPN-to-RN programs; it never names graduate or APRN programs, so ask the Program Director how Rivier reads it for your track.
Pre-licensure is handled more strictly. The student exemption in Hawaii's nursing law covers only programs the Board accredits, and a 2016 decision of the Board's Education Committee concluded that a North Dakota BSN program could not place one of its pre-licensure students in Hawaii clinicals. Rivier's ASN/BSN column for Hawaii is yellow.
Oahu, Maui and Hawaii Island
Honolulu's metro dwarfs the rest of the state; Kahului-Wailuku on Maui and the Hilo-Kailua area of Hawaii Island are far smaller. The Queen's Health Systems, Hawaii Health Systems Corporation, Hawaii Pacific Health and Kaiser Permanente Hawaii are names students commonly research, each on its own student terms.
On AANP's map Hawaii is full practice, which puts experienced FNPs and PMH-certified NPs on your list next to physicians; Rivier asks that each have two years in practice. Hawaii's Healthcare Preceptor Income Tax Credit rewards volunteer preceptors, yet its fine print limits it to students of programs rooted in Hawaii, accredited or physically based there, with mostly Hawaii-resident enrollment. A Rivier student falls outside it.
Planning the trips to Nashua
Every Rivier NP track has campus time. FNP students attend three intensives adding up to nine days, the PMHNP cohort comes for three weekends, and the AG-ACNP MSN asks for ten days. On the 2026-27 calendar the FNP windows are August 24 to September 4 and January 4 to 15.
From Hawaii, build travel days onto both ends of each visit and give your preceptor the absence dates before the clinical schedule is drawn up; your practicum cannot start before the semester's first day, so a late return eats into time you need. The campus intensives page has the specifics.
Why Hawaii students choose us
Island searches depend on local relationships and an early start, and we plan for both. We look for Rivier-qualified preceptors on your island, confirm their Hawaii licenses, prepare the documents the Preceptor Request Form calls for, and set the timeline around your flights to Nashua and Rivier's August 1 and December 1 deadlines. Rivier's graduate faculty approve the site; our part is making sure the request is complete when it lands with them.
Questions Rivier students ask
Will my mainland multistate license work for a Hawaii practicum?
It will not. Because Hawaii is not a compact member, a multistate credential from any other state gives you no right to practice on the islands. You need an RN license Hawaii issued, and that same license satisfies Rivier's practicum-state rule. Apply early if you are moving there.
Must Rivier register with the Hawaii Board before I train there?
Hawaii's Board, in its FAQ for post-licensure programs based elsewhere, approves none that lack a Hawaii campus and expects no notice from them. The FAQ's examples stop at LPN-to-RN and RN-BSN programs, and Hawaii's published guidance never names APRN programs, so ask Rivier's Program Director to confirm the position for your track.
Is a New Hampshire license needed for Rivier's campus days if I live in Hawaii?
It may be. A license from Hawaii is valid in Hawaii alone. Rivier's 2018 practicum form, citing the New Hampshire Board, told FNP students to hold a New Hampshire RN license for the on-campus work. Check with the Program Director how Rivier treats that today, and do it long before you book flights.
Does Hawaii's preceptor tax credit apply to Rivier students?
It does not. The credit rewards volunteer physicians, APRNs and pharmacists with a Hawaii primary care practice, but only for rotations with students from programs based or accredited in Hawaii whose enrollment is mostly Hawaii residents. Precepting a Rivier student falls outside those terms.
Related pages
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 forNURS 521, a hospitalist or intensivist forNURS 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
Start your placement plan
Track, city and semester is all we need to begin.