Studying with Rivier from Maine
Rivier University's State Guide gives Maine a green light for every graduate track it charts, from the FNP and PMHNP through the DNP, and a yellow only for on-campus ASN and BSN study. Your Maine practicum rests on an RN license valid in Maine, and a multistate one also counts in New Hampshire, where the campus intensives take place.
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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.
Maine on Rivier's State Guide
Rivier's January 2025 chart, identical to the 2022 version its licensure page still links, reads like this for Maine.
| Rivier program | Maine | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| FNP, MSN and certificate | Green | OK to accept a Maine resident |
| PMHNP, MSN and certificate | Green | Open to applicants living in Maine |
| Nursing Education, MSN and certificate | Green | Maine residents can be accepted |
| Leadership in Health Systems Management | Green | No barrier flagged |
| DNP, both tracks | Green | Accepted from Maine |
| ASN/BSN pre-licensure | Yellow | Limiting criteria: call the program director first |
| RN-BSN | Green | Accepted from Maine |
Green speaks for Rivier's admissions, not for Maine's licensing rules, and the chart has no column for the AG-ACNP, so Maine applicants to the acute care track check with the Program Director. The key sits on our State Guide page.
Who precepts in Maine, and where to look
Maine sits in AANP's full practice group, but independence is earned. A new NP first logs 24 months of practice under a physician's or an NP's supervision, or as an employee of a hospital or clinic where a physician serves as medical director, before practicing alone.
Rivier adds its own two-year minimum: for the FNP, an MD, DO or FNP whose practice is outpatient family care; for the PMHNP, a psychiatrist or a nurse certified in psychiatric mental health. In Maine the two clocks run side by side, so an NP past the transition also clears Rivier's bar. The dates should be plain on the CV that travels with the Preceptor Request Form.
Portland-South Portland is Maine's largest metro, roughly 578,000 people in 2025 Census figures; the Bangor metro (about 158,000) and Lewiston-Auburn (about 116,500) come next. Northern Light Health and MaineHealth are two of the state's health systems, and Central Maine Healthcare and MaineGeneral Health are two more.
Each handles students its own way, and Rivier names no graduate partner in Maine, so the practical first step is a clinician willing to precept, with the practice's approval to follow.
What Maine's Board says about out-of-state programs
The Maine State Board of Nursing approves schools through Chapter 7, a rule written for prelicensure programs based in Maine. It says nothing about clinical placements arranged by schools elsewhere, nor do the Board's education pages offer separate guidance for them.
Section 2103(2) of Title 32, the practice act's exemption for students, covers those in Board-approved programs heading toward a first license. An RN in a Rivier graduate track is past that point, so you train on your Maine-valid RN license instead. Because Rivier's Handbook warns that some states' boards or labor rules block out-of-state practicums, confirm with the Program Director that Rivier sees no Maine obstacle for your track.
Licensing and the trip to campus
Maine's multistate RN licenses have carried compact privileges since January 19, 2018. With Maine as your primary residence, a multistate license covers a Maine site and also practice in New Hampshire, which OPLC accepts in place of a separate license. That helps on campus days in Nashua, where the FNP asks for nine days, the PMHNP cohort three weekends and the AG-ACNP ten days. The campus intensives page covers a 2018 form's license note.
Maine sits outside the APRN Compact, which it has not enacted, so the APRN license after graduation is a Maine application. A move to Maine mid-program needs written notice to the Dean 90 days ahead, as moving during your program explains.
Why Rivier students in Maine choose us
We run the Maine search for you, screening clinicians against both the state's transition period and Rivier's two-year rule and checking that each practice will sign Rivier's agreement. When the best-fit preceptor practices over the line in New Hampshire, we first confirm that your Maine license is multistate. You get the Preceptor Request Form packet complete, ahead of your deadline, and a clinical schedule planned around your Nashua dates. Rivier's graduate faculty hold final approval of the site, with the Clinical Practicum Coordinator confirming the paperwork; our part is making sure it reaches them right the first time. The form below is where a Maine search begins.
Questions Rivier students ask
Can I do Rivier's online FNP while living in Maine?
Yes. Maine shows green in the FNP column of Rivier's State Guide, in both the MSN and the post-master's certificate. Classes are online, you come to Nashua for nine campus days, and the practicum can sit in Maine provided you hold an RN license that is valid in Maine and your preceptor meets Rivier's family practice rule.
Can a brand-new Maine nurse practitioner precept me?
Not under Rivier's FNP or PMHNP rules. Rivier asks for two years in practice, and a first-year Maine NP is still in the state's 24-month supervised transition. Once that period ends, the same clinician meets Rivier's experience rule if the setting fits your course.
Does my Maine RN license work for the intensives in Nashua?
A multistate Maine license, held with Maine as your primary residence, counts for practice in New Hampshire under OPLC's guidance, with no second license. If yours is single-state, raise it with the Program Director before your first intensive, because a 2018 Rivier form tied on-campus FNP work to a New Hampshire RN license.
Can I apply to Rivier's BSN from Maine?
Maine is yellow for pre-licensure ASN and BSN study on Rivier's State Guide, which means limiting criteria apply and the program director should hear from you first. Those programs run on campus in Nashua with clinical agencies Rivier assigns, so ask how the yellow status affects a Maine resident before you apply.
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
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