Michigan and Rivier University: a single-state license, a green light
Rivier University accepts Michigan residents into every graduate program its State Guide covers; all five graduate columns read green. The Michigan wrinkle is licensing. Michigan remains outside the Nurse Licensure Compact. An RN license issued there reaches Michigan sites only, a limit that matters for the campus days in Nashua and for any clinic over the Ohio or Indiana line.
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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.
Michigan's row on the guide
Rivier's January 2025 guide matches, color for color, the February 2022 edition still linked from its licensure page. Michigan's entries:
| Track | Guide color | In practice |
|---|---|---|
| Family Nurse Practitioner (MSN, PMC) | Green | Accepted |
| Psychiatric-Mental Health NP (MSN, PMC) | Green | Accepted |
| Nursing Education (MSN, PMC) | Green | Accepted |
| Leadership in Health Systems Management | Green | Accepted |
| Doctor of Nursing Practice | Green | Accepted |
| RN to BSN | Green | Accepted |
| ASN/BSN pre-licensure | Yellow | Call the program director first |
Neither edition includes the AG-ACNP; applicants to that track get their answer from the Program Director. How Rivier uses each color is explained on the State Guide page.
What a Michigan-only license covers
Compact membership is still only a proposal in Michigan, where HB 4246 awaits action. Until then, each Michigan RN holds a single-state license. At home it is exactly what Rivier's Handbook asks for, since the practicum license must match the state where your site operates.
Across a border it covers nothing. A clinic in Ohio or Indiana would need a license issued or recognized there. Nashua raises its own question: Rivier's 2018 practicum form, now dated, expected FNP students on campus to hold New Hampshire RN licensure. Put that to the Program Director well before your first intensive; the RN license page sets out both readings.
Still applying for your Michigan license? LARA wants a criminal background check first. It also wants proof of training: the one-time course on spotting victims of human trafficking, plus implicit bias instruction of at least two hours, taken in the five years before issue.
The Board and schools from elsewhere
Rules at R 338.10301 and following, in the Michigan Administrative Code, govern the Board's approval of schools located in Michigan, and the Board's Nursing Education Programs page keeps the same focus. Neither sets a notice or approval step for an out-of-state school whose students train at Michigan sites. For licensure, the Board recognizes schools from other states by their accreditation, whether ACEN, CNEA or CCNE; Rivier's nursing programs are ACEN-accredited (accreditation).
What remains is the site's own decision. Each hospital or practice sets its terms, and Rivier signs a contract with the site before a single hour counts.
Restricted practice, and checking a preceptor's credentials
Controlled-substance prescribing in Michigan requires a physician's delegation, which puts the state in AANP's restricted group. The label does not change who may precept you, and a practice built around that delegation can offer two candidates: the NP and the delegating physician. For NURS 511, whichever of them precepts needs the credentials Rivier names, physician or FNP, and at least a two-year stint in outpatient family practice.
Michigan's NP title is a specialty certification layered on the RN license: the state grants it only when an active Michigan RN license is paired with national certification from a body the Board accepts. When a Michigan NP says yes, that specialty certification is the credential to record on your Preceptor Request Form alongside the CV.
A state-funded incentive did exist: MDHHS's Office of Nursing Programs and Michigan State University's College of Nursing ran a pilot paying preceptors of MSU FNP and PMHNP students. The pilot has ended and was limited to MSU students.
From Detroit to Grand Rapids
More than four million people live in the Detroit-Warren-Dearborn metro alone. Greater Grand Rapids comes next, then the Lansing and Flint areas. Systems with a wide Michigan footprint include McLaren Health Care, University of Michigan Health (Michigan Medicine), Henry Ford Health, Corewell Health and Trinity Health Michigan. Use them as starting points, each with its own student requirements, and give independent practices the same attention.
How we help Michigan students
Michigan searches reward precision, and precision is our standard. No preceptor's name reaches you until we have confirmed the Michigan license, the specialty certification and the fit with your track. We assemble your Preceptor Request Form package with weeks to spare before the fall or spring cutoff, and we remain on call through the practicum. Tell us your track.
Questions Rivier students ask
Is my Michigan RN license enough for a Rivier practicum?
For a site inside Michigan, yes, because a Michigan license is exactly what Rivier's rule calls for there. For a site in any other state it is not, since Michigan licenses are single-state. Check the neighbor's page, such as Indiana, before considering a site across the line.
Will Michigan join the Nurse Licensure Compact?
A compact bill, HB 4246, is pending in Michigan. Until a law passes and takes effect, Michigan RNs hold single-state licenses. Build your practicum plan on the license you hold today, and revisit it if the compact arrives before your later practicum semesters.
Does Michigan offer my preceptor any incentive?
MDHHS's Office of Nursing Programs and Michigan State University ran a clinical preceptor pilot with payments to clinicians teaching MSU's family and psychiatric NP students. It is complete and applied only to MSU students, so it offers nothing to a clinician who takes a Rivier student now.
Can I complete Rivier's DNP from Michigan?
Michigan is green for the DNP. Doctoral work based in Michigan means a clean Michigan RN license for the scholarly project, plus a Michigan APRN license on the Professional Practice track. Let either lapse and the Handbook puts you on leave of absence, so renew early.
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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