Studying with Rivier from Vermont
Rivier University's State Guide gives Vermont green in every column, pre-licensure study on the Nashua campus included. What sets a Vermont practicum apart is who may supervise it: the state's Board of Nursing excludes physician assistants from precepting APRN students, and NPs early in their careers still practice under a collaborative agreement.
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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.
Vermont's row on Rivier's State Guide
| Rivier program | Vermont | What it tells you |
|---|---|---|
| FNP, MSN and certificate | Green | Vermont applicants can be accepted |
| PMHNP, MSN and certificate | Green | Open to Vermont residents |
| Nursing Education, MSN and certificate | Green | Open |
| Leadership in Health Systems Management | Green | Open |
| DNP, both tracks | Green | Open |
| ASN/BSN pre-licensure | Green | Green, unlike most states |
| RN-BSN | Green | Open |
Green is Rivier's admissions answer, not a verdict on Vermont licensure. The chart omits the AG-ACNP, so acute care applicants ask the Program Director. Our State Guide page covers each color.
Who may precept an APRN student in Vermont
The Vermont Board of Nursing's FAQ lets either an APRN or a physician serve as preceptor to an APRN student, provided the clinician holds a current Vermont license without encumbrances, has clinical experience that fits the population focus and role you are preparing for, and works directly with the school's faculty. PAs do not qualify.
Rivier's Handbook lets a PA fill in for, never replace, an FNP student's primary preceptor; at a Vermont site, plan no PA days at all. The FNP preceptor rules list Rivier's other criteria.
AANP counts Vermont as full practice, subject to a transition: until an NP clears two thresholds, 24 months of practice and 2,400 hours, a collaborating agreement is required, and it must be with a physician or APRN holding a Vermont license. Rivier's two-year floor for FNP and PMHNP preceptors falls at that same 24-month point.
Vermont's rules and an out-of-state program
In the Board's rules, in effect since May 11, 2023, Part 5 makes Board approval a precondition for operating a nursing education program in Vermont, except online-only programs that Vermont's Agency of Education has approved, and section 1584 of Title 26 says the same. Clinical training at a Vermont site by students of an out-of-state school is a topic neither the rules nor the FAQ takes up, while the exemption for students in section 1583(2) of Title 26 only reaches programs holding Board approval.
Rivier's Handbook cautions that board or labor rules keep out-of-state practicums from going ahead in some states, so ask the Program Director whether Rivier knows of a Vermont barrier for your track before you commit to a site.
Where Vermont NP students look
Burlington-South Burlington is the largest population center, a metro of roughly 228,000 in 2025. Rutland's area counts close to 60,000, and some 87,000 Vermonters live on the Vermont side of the cross-border Lebanon-Claremont area. Central Vermont Medical Center, Porter Medical Center and UVM Medical Center all belong to University of Vermont Health, and Rutland Regional Medical Center stands alongside them.
Southwestern Vermont Medical Center is a Dartmouth Health member, and our New Hampshire page notes Dartmouth takes APP students only from currently affiliated schools, so ask the hospital how that applies to its clinics. Vermont's past preceptor incentive is covered in the FAQs below.
Licensing in Vermont and the trips to Nashua
Vermont's part in the Nurse Licensure Compact took effect on February 1, 2022. Its Rule 4.1 spares an RN holding another compact state's multistate license from getting a Vermont license, until Vermont becomes home. Vermonters with a multistate license can likewise train in New Hampshire and attend the Nashua campus days (the FNP's nine days, the PMHNP's three weekends, the AG-ACNP's ten days).
Relocating to Vermont mid-program brings Rule 4.1 into play along with Rivier's 90-day written notice to the Dean, covered in moving during your program. Vermont is not an APRN Compact state, so after graduation you apply for a Vermont APRN license directly.
Why Rivier students in Vermont choose us
Vermont trims the pool before a search starts: no PA days, a preceptor licensed in Vermont whose role and population match yours, and one past the state's collaboration stage. We screen every candidate for those points and Rivier's own rules, and confirm early that the practice will sign Rivier's agreement. Your Preceptor Request Form packet arrives in time for your deadline and your Nashua dates. Approval of the site rests with Rivier's graduate faculty; our job is a complete file. The form below starts a Vermont search.
Questions Rivier students ask
Are physician assistants allowed to precept Rivier NP students in Vermont?
Not under Vermont's rules. The Board's nursing FAQ names only APRNs and physicians as acceptable preceptors for APRN students. Rivier normally lets a PA cover occasional FNP days without being the primary preceptor, but a Vermont site needs an APRN or physician for every clinical day.
What license does a Vermont preceptor need?
Vermont's Board wants the preceptor's Vermont license current and without encumbrance. The preceptor must also be an APRN or physician, have worked in your population focus and in the role you are entering, and coordinate directly with Rivier's faculty. Check that the license shows on the CV attached to the Preceptor Request Form.
Can a Vermont resident do a Rivier practicum in New Hampshire?
Yes, when the RN license reaches New Hampshire. A multistate Vermont license, with Vermont as your primary residence, does, and it also covers the campus intensives in Nashua. Rivier's graduate faculty still approve the site, and New Hampshire systems keep their own student rules, Dartmouth Health's affiliated-schools limit among them.
Could Vermont's preceptor incentive grants help my preceptor?
Vermont's legislature created Nurse Preceptor Incentive Grants in Section 21 of Act 183 (2022) for fiscal 2023 alone. Recipients had to be nurses working at a critical access hospital in Vermont and precepting students from a Vermont-based nursing program. Enrolled at a New Hampshire university, you were never in that group, so the grants do not bear on your search.
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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