Colorado: a Meets state with a footnote attached
Clarkson College's 2026-27 workbook marks Colorado Meets Requirements for Graduate Nursing, then adds a footnote: Clarkson has limited authorization in Colorado for programs that require internships, and students should contact their program. An NP degree built on 750 or more supervised clinical hours sits right inside that question, so settle it in writing before you approach a single Colorado preceptor.
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Colorado's row, asterisks and all
Two asterisks follow Colorado's name on every tab, and they all lead to one note.
| Clarkson tab | Answer for Colorado |
|---|---|
| Graduate Nursing (every MSN, certificate and DNP track) | Meets Requirements ** |
| CRNA | Meets Requirements ** |
| RN-BSN | Does Not Meet Requirements ** |
| Footnote ** | "Please contact your program to discuss as Clarkson College has limited authorization to offer programs that require internships in Colorado." |
The note is recent. Clarkson's October 2024 disclosure said nothing about Colorado; the October 2025 edition introduced the line, then ending "in the state of Colorado," and the 2026-27 file carries it forward. Clarkson never defines an internship. Its state authorization page does class experiential learning as distance education under NC-SARA and insists that approval be confirmed before placement, which gives an NP student every reason to read the footnote as a question about clinicals.
Contacting the program means your Graduate Nursing advisor and your program director. Ask whether Colorado clinicals are open to your track this year and whether anything must happen before one begins, then keep the reply. The state authorization guide sets Colorado's note beside the two other footnoted states.
Colorado's Board adds no gate for visiting graduate programs
Research traced Clarkson's limit to no Board of Nursing rule. Colorado's nursing education chapter, cited as 3 CCR 716-1, puts program approval in its Rule 1.2, and that rule is aimed at entry-level programs producing new practical and registered nurses. It says nothing about graduate or APRN programs from other states sending students into Colorado. The Board's own website could not be checked.
Nor does Colorado's student permit fit. That permit serves people from out-of-state "nontraditional" programs, those with no faculty-supervised clinical component, which is not how Clarkson's NP courses work. Your Colorado answer comes from Clarkson.
Front Range preceptors and Colorado's own 750 hours
AANP lists Colorado as full practice, yet a new Colorado NP must log 750 mentored hours with a physician or APRN, and attest to them, before prescribing. That figure matching Clarkson's MSN clinical total is pure coincidence, though it means some recently licensed Colorado NPs are still mid-mentorship. Clarkson's own experience floor for preceptors is on the preceptor requirements page.
Most Colorado NP students hunt along the Front Range, where metro Denver-Aurora-Centennial outweighs Fort Collins-Loveland, Greeley and the Springs combined. Denver itself holds Saint Joseph Hospital (run by Intermountain Health), Denver Health and HCA HealthONE, while UCHealth and CommonSpirit Health's Colorado hospitals reach well past the city. Each handles student requests its own way.
Colorado offers rural and frontier preceptors a state income tax credit, which HB22-1005 extended to tax years starting before Jan. 1, 2033. The same bill reserved it for preceptors teaching students of Colorado's own accredited schools, so a Clarkson rotation does not appear to qualify. Tell a rural preceptor that up front.
Licensing for a Colorado clinical
Colorado and Nebraska entered the Nurse Licensure Compact together on Jan. 19, 2018, so a multistate RN license from Nebraska or any member state is good at a Colorado clinic. A nurse whose only license is a single-state one issued elsewhere would add Colorado's first. Colorado is not an APRN Compact state, so NP licensure there after graduation is a separate application.
Clarkson's workbook still links an older colorado.gov address for the Board; today it lives at dpo.colorado.gov. Your preceptor must be licensed in Colorado, and the RN license guide explains how both licenses are checked.
Why Colorado students choose us
Clarkson leaves the preceptor search to each student (what that means), and Clarkson students in Colorado choose us because we start with the footnote: we help you put the right two questions to your program and hold the search until its written answer lands. Once Colorado is confirmed for your track, we work Denver, the Springs and the northern Front Range for Colorado-licensed preceptors who fit each of your five courses, and we explain the tax credit honestly to rural candidates. If the program points you elsewhere, we plan around the options your program director sets out. Start on the contact page.
Questions Clarkson students ask
What does Clarkson mean by internships in the Colorado footnote?
Clarkson has not said. Its state authorization page treats experiential learning, clinicals included, as distance education under NC-SARA and requires approval before placement. Until your program says otherwise, assume the footnote touches your NP clinical courses and ask outright whether Colorado sites are open to your track.
Does precepting me earn a Colorado provider the rural preceptor credit?
Probably not. HB22-1005 narrowed the rural and frontier credit to preceptors of students from accredited Colorado schools, and Clarkson is in Omaha. A preceptor who wants a firm ruling should ask the Colorado Department of Revenue, which administers the credit, before counting on it.
Is Clarkson's RN to BSN open to Colorado nurses?
Clarkson's RN-BSN tab marks Colorado Does Not Meet Requirements, with the same internship footnote alongside. That tab reads Meets in only seven states, and Colorado is not one of them. A Colorado nurse drawn to Clarkson's RN to BSN should speak with the program before applying.
I enrolled before October 2025 and live in Colorado. Does the footnote apply to me?
It may. The note first appeared in Clarkson's October 2025 disclosure, and Clarkson reviews its state determinations at least yearly under Policy OG-33. Ask your program director how the current Colorado wording affects your remaining clinical courses before you file the next agreement, and keep the reply with your records.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Clarkson College's own catalog, program pages and published nursing documents. Your course faculty and Graduate Nursing advisor have the final word.
Clarkson asks you to find your preceptor. We make the search the easy part.
Tell us your Clarkson track, your city and your next clinical course. We line up preceptors who fit the NRS course and Clarkson's rules, gather the details the site and preceptor agreement asks for, and flag early whether the site needs a new affiliation agreement.
- Preceptors matched to the course: all-ages primary care for FNP, acute care units for AGACNP, psychiatric providers for PMHNP
- License, experience and site details checked against Clarkson's rules before the agreement is filed
- Every clinical course planned in sequence, close to home in a state where Clarkson's graduate nursing meets requirements
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