Pennsylvania residents in Rivier's online NP programs
For the FNP, PMHNP and every other graduate program, Rivier University's State Guide shows Pennsylvania as green. Pennsylvania's code allows nurses licensed in other states to do required graduate clinical work there, and multistate licenses became available to Pennsylvania nurses in mid-2025. That leaves the preceptor search as the main job for students in the state.
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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.
Pennsylvania's colors, program by program
| Rivier program | Pennsylvania | In plain terms |
|---|---|---|
| FNP (MSN and post-master's certificate) | Green | OK to accept |
| PMHNP (MSN and post-master's certificate) | Green | OK to accept |
| Nursing Education (MSN and certificate) | Green | OK to accept |
| Leadership in Health Systems Management | Green | OK to accept |
| DNP (Professional Practice and Systems Leadership) | Green | OK to accept |
| ASN/BSN pre-licensure | Yellow | Limiting criteria: call the undergraduate program director |
| RN-BSN | Green | OK to accept |
Graduate columns are all green; the ASN/BSN column is yellow and the RN-BSN green. The chart has no line for the AG-ACNP, so acute care applicants should put Pennsylvania to the Program Director. Reading the State Guide explains what a color settles.
Section 21.118 and Rivier's license rule
Pennsylvania's rulebook makes room for nurses who come to study. Under § 21.118 of the nursing regulations, a current RN license from elsewhere in the U.S. or from Canada can carry you through the clinical work your accredited graduate program requires in Pennsylvania, with no Pennsylvania license needed. The catch is money: apart from a stipend, a scholarship or an award from the program, that clinical work must be unpaid.
Rivier sets a tighter bar. Its Handbook wants an RN license from the state where the practicum happens, so follow Rivier first and ask the Clinical Practicum Coordinator before counting on the exemption. Separately, the Board's big nursing-education rulemaking (16A-5141) has reached final form: it was delivered in September 2026, the review commission meets on it October 15, and § 21.118 comes through that rewrite essentially unchanged.
Reduced practice: collaborative agreements
On AANP's map, Pennsylvania is reduced practice. Pennsylvania NPs sign collaborative agreements with physicians that last as long as they practice, and two physicians must be party to those agreements before an NP can prescribe. So a Pennsylvania FNP preceptor works in a practice with physician partners, and an MD or DO in that office may qualify as your primary preceptor directly, given an outpatient family practice setting and two years in practice.
Names to research include Geisinger, Jefferson Health and Penn State Health, along with UPMC and Penn Medicine, the University of Pennsylvania's system. The Philadelphia and Pittsburgh areas are the biggest metros, followed by Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton and Harrisburg-Carlisle. Check each system's rules for outside students before you approach it.
The multistate license and your campus days
Pennsylvania's compact membership went fully live on July 7, 2025. A resident can now carry a multistate RN license, which matches Rivier's practicum-state rule and covers campus work in New Hampshire; nurses from other compact states may likewise practice in Pennsylvania on theirs. No APRN Compact exists in Pennsylvania law. License details.
Campus time in Nashua runs nine days for FNP students, three weekends for the PMHNP cohort and ten days in the AG-ACNP. Moving into or out of Pennsylvania mid-program? The Dean needs your written notice 90 days or more before moving day; moving mid-program explains the rest.
Why Pennsylvania students choose us
We work Pennsylvania one metro at a time, Philadelphia to Pittsburgh, for preceptors who meet Rivier's track rules. Each match comes with the documents Rivier's request form lists and a named contact for the contract, early enough to clear the August 1 or December 1 cutoff. Rivier's faculty weigh every site, starting from a full file.
Questions Rivier students ask
Which license covers a Rivier practicum in Philadelphia?
Plan on a Pennsylvania license, which residents can hold as a multistate license since July 2025, because Rivier's Handbook asks for an RN license from the practicum state. Section 21.118 does open the door to unpaid, program-required clinicals for nurses licensed in other states, but check with the Clinical Practicum Coordinator before leaning on that in place of Rivier's rule.
Is Pennsylvania green for Rivier's DNP?
Yes, for both DNP tracks, Professional Practice and Systems Leadership. Doctoral students keep an unencumbered RN license valid wherever the project or practicum takes place, and Professional Practice students add an APRN license there. If either license lapses, Rivier moves the student to a leave of absence.
Could I take a paid nursing job in Pennsylvania during my practicum?
That is a separate matter from your clinicals. The § 21.118 exemption reaches only unpaid clinical work your program requires. Paid RN work in the state during the program is a licensing question of its own: the Code points to endorsement into a Pennsylvania license plus a temporary practice permit, unless a Pennsylvania or multistate license already covers you.
What does reduced practice mean for my PMHNP preceptor?
Psychiatric NPs in Pennsylvania share the state's collaborative model: a written agreement with physicians that lasts their whole careers. Rivier's rule for your preceptor is unaffected: a psychiatrist or a nurse certified in psychiatric mental health with two years or more in practice, in any age group, inpatient or outpatient.
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.