Colorado residents in Miami Regional University's nursing programs
Living in Colorado keeps you inside MRU's SARA residency rule, so the MSN-FNP, the three NP certificates, the RN-to-BSN and the leadership MSN are all available to you. Colorado's nursing rules are aimed at programs leading to first licensure, and we found no Board rule requiring an out-of-state graduate program to register before its students start clinicals.
Plan your Colorado clinicals
Tell us your MRU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with what an MRU-ready preceptor and site look like for you.
Colorado and MRU: the program list
MRU's NC-SARA licensure disclosure lists Colorado and gives each NP specialty (FNP, AGACNP, PMHNP) a "Meets". MRU's catalog is narrower: it stands behind licensure requirements in Florida only and tells students elsewhere to check with their own board first. Yours is the Colorado State Board of Nursing, part of the Department of Regulatory Agencies' Division of Professions and Occupations.
| Program | Colorado residents | Delivery | Clinical load |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSN-FNP | Open | Online or onsite | MSN5700, MSN6050, MSN6150, MSN6400; no printed total |
| FNP Post-Master's Certificate | Open | Online or onsite | Same four courses; certified NPs may need fewer after a gap analysis |
| PMHNP Post-Master's Certificate | Open | Online | 765 hours |
| AGACNP Post-Master's Certificate | Open | Online plus a 3-day skills weekend in Miami Springs | 810 hours |
| DNP | Open with a Colorado multistate or Florida RN license | Offsite and online | 765 practice hours |
| MSN Healthcare Systems Leadership | Open | Online or onsite | 180 hours |
| RN-to-BSN | Open | Online or onsite | 135 hours |
| ASN, BSN, MSN Direct Entry | Not from Colorado | Onsite in Miami Springs | 450, 675, 495 |
What Colorado's Board rules cover, and what they leave out
Program approval falls under 3 CCR 716-1, Rule 1.2. Its definition of a nursing education program is a basic course of study for people heading toward initial licensure as an RN or LPN. Nothing in it requires an out-of-state graduate or post-licensure program to obtain Board approval, or to notify the Board, ahead of placing students in Colorado.
One caveat: the Board's own website could not be loaded during research, so any guidance it publishes beyond the rules was not checked. Before you lock in a start date, ask MRU's Office of Academic Affairs whether it needs anything from you for Colorado. See MRU clinicals outside Florida.
No Board filing found is not the same as no paperwork: your site and MRU each keep their own checklists.
Full practice with a prescribing mentorship
AANP classes Colorado as a full-practice state, though prescriptive authority carries one condition: the NP must attest to having worked 750 hours under an agreement with a mentor, either a physician or an APRN. That clause is about the NP's own prescribing, not precepting, but it means some newly licensed Colorado NPs still work under a mentor's agreement. For MRU's side of the question, read what MRU requires of preceptors; the full rules sit in the handbook.
Denver-Aurora-Centennial (about 3.09 million people in 2025) is home to Denver Health, UCHealth, Intermountain Health's Saint Joseph Hospital, HCA HealthONE and CommonSpirit Health's Colorado hospitals. Next in size come Colorado Springs at roughly 782,000 residents, then Greeley and Fort Collins-Loveland at roughly 378,000 and 377,000. None of them is named as an MRU clinical site; they show where the state's largest systems are.
Licensing and clearance for Colorado clinicals
Colorado's Compact membership dates from 19 January 2018. A Colorado multistate RN license lets you train in Colorado and any other Compact state, and it meets the DNP's requirement of a Florida or Compact license.
Since Colorado's program rules do not reach graduate programs, the gates you will actually meet are site onboarding, MRU's clearance through American Data Bank with its Level II fingerprint check, MRU's approval of your preceptor, and proof of individual liability insurance at least 15 days before your externship.
Why Colorado students choose us
Along the Front Range, from Fort Collins through Denver to Colorado Springs, or anywhere else in Colorado, we search for a preceptor and site matched to the MRU course in front of you. We help you pull together what MRU verifies about that preceptor, and we go back to searching if the arrangement falls apart. MRU approves the final match, and we make sure it sees a complete picture of that preceptor. Contact the placement desk.
Questions MRU students ask
Will my Colorado preceptor qualify for the rural preceptor tax credit?
Not for an MRU student. Colorado does have a Rural and Frontier Health Care Preceptor Tax Credit for preceptors who work unpaid in rural and frontier shortage areas, including advanced practice nurses; HB22-1005 extended it to tax years starting before 1 January 2033. That bill also confined eligibility to students enrolled at accredited Colorado colleges and universities, which puts MRU rotations outside it.
Is a Colorado student permit required for MRU clinicals?
No. Colorado issues its student permit only to people from out-of-state nontraditional programs (programs without a faculty-supervised clinical component), whether students or graduates, who need clinical hours in the state before they can be licensed. It is not a general clinical permit, and an MRU student who already holds an RN license has no reason to apply for one.
Can a Colorado NP who was only recently licensed precept me?
Colorado's 750-hour mentorship concerns the NP's own prescriptive authority and says nothing about precepting. Whether MRU accepts a recently licensed NP depends on MRU's preceptor qualifications, which MRU keeps in the student handbook behind the portal login. Check before you ask, and remember MRU approves every preceptor before hours count.
Is MRU's AGACNP certificate workable from Colorado?
Yes, with planning. It is online except for a three-day skills and simulation weekend in Miami Springs in semester I, which you must pass to progress, so budget a flight from Denver. ACLS and BLS are required at admission, and the 810 acute-care hours run through three clinical courses that usually call for hospital-based preceptors.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-24
We check these pages against MRU's own catalog, addenda and program pages. The nursing student handbook on the MRU student portal and MRU's Office of Academic Affairs have the final word.
MRU says secure your own preceptor. We start the search now.
Tell us your MRU program, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We look for preceptors who fit the course and help you gather what MRU checks before approving them.
- Preceptors matched to the course: adult primary care for
MSN5700, women's health, pediatrics, psychiatric or acute care - Credentials, license and site details collected before MRU's credential check
- Miami-Dade, Broward and Palm Beach, or wherever in a SARA state you live
Start your placement plan
Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.