Samford NP students in Washington State

Updated September 25, 2026 · Reviewed by the Samford Preceptor placement team

Samford accepts Washington residents into every FNP and PMHNP track, and Samford's disclosure clears those tracks for Washington licensure. Washington is also one of the most demanding states for schools based elsewhere: its Board of Nursing approves a distance program before any placement, and a student's relatives or friends may not serve as ARNP preceptors.

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Table. Samford programs for Washington residents, from Samford's 2025 disclosures: FNP: MSN, ADN to MSN, BSN to DNP, MSN to DNP, Accepted; PMHNP: MSN, ADN to MSN, MSN to DNP, Accepted; FNP and PMHNP post-graduate certificates, Accepted; Nurse Anesthesia DNP, No state bar; online at first, then Birmi — Samford programs for Washington residents, from Samford's 2025 disclosures: FNP: MSN, ADN to MSN, BSN to DNP, MSN to DNP, Accepted; PMHNP: MSN, ADN to MSN, MSN to DNP, Accepted; FNP and PMHNP post-graduate certificates, Accepted; Nurse Anesthesia DNP, No state bar; online at first, then Birmingham a

Samford's Washington status

Samford's list of 16 states closed to NP applicants leaves Washington off. The Washington row in the September 3, 2025 disclosure points to the state health department's nursing page, and Washington gets the disclosure's standard finding: Samford's nurse practitioner degrees meet the licensure education standard there.

Samford programs for Washington residents, from Samford's 2025 disclosures
Samford program	Washington applicants	Licensure
FNP: MSN, ADN to MSN, BSN to DNP, MSN to DNP	Accepted	Meets (September 3, 2025)
PMHNP: MSN, ADN to MSN, MSN to DNP	Accepted	Meets (September 3, 2025)
FNP and PMHNP post-graduate certificates	Accepted	No published disclosure
Nurse Anesthesia DNP	No state bar; online at first, then Birmingham and assigned sites	Meets (August 28, 2025)
Online RN to BSN	Accepted	Meets (BSN disclosure)

The state authorization guide covers Samford's other lists.

WABON approval comes before any placement

Start with WAC 246-840-571. It says a school teaching at a distance from outside Washington needs a yes from WABON, the state's Board of Nursing, and only then may its students begin clinical or practice hours in Washington. To earn that yes, the school submits an application, shows its program is equivalent to Washington's, keeps its own supervision and evaluation of students happening in the state, stays nationally accredited and reports annually. WABON's approved roster spans RN to BSN, MSN and NP tracks.

Two further limits apply. Approved placements from outside programs are for students who live in Washington, and WABON handles any exception individually; any of their faculty teaching ARNP practice in Washington must be licensed there as ARNPs. Only Samford can say whether it holds WABON approval, so ask your program coordinator before you contact a preceptor. Rulemaking on these education rules opened December 5, 2025, with clinical placement barriers on the agenda, so the details may shift.

The preceptor rule that reshapes the search

Samford's pages steer students toward personal and professional connections, and Washington fences off the personal kind. Nobody related to you, and no personal friend, may precept you as an ARNP student, and whoever does precept must be licensed, actively and without encumbrance, as an ARNP, a physician (MD) or an osteopathic physician (DO), or hold the equivalent elsewhere. The friend from your old unit who became an NP is ruled out here, while a professional introduction to someone new fits the rule exactly.

AANP counts Washington as full practice, so ARNP-run clinics join physician offices in the pool, subject to Samford's approval. The Census Bureau's 2025 estimates give the Seattle area roughly 4.2 million residents, greater Spokane around 608,000 and the Tri-Cities metro near 324,000, and place about 545,000 Washington residents in the Vancouver portion of the Portland region. NP students look at systems such as Virginia Mason Franciscan Health, Providence (based in Renton), PeaceHealth, UW Medicine and MultiCare.

The state preceptorship grant

The legislature set up a Student Nurse Preceptorship Grant that WABON runs every quarter. It is open to ARNP, RN and LPN preceptors who have at least a year of experience, counted per student taught for a minimum of 80 hours. Programs based outside Washington are shut out of the grant by WABON's own terms, however many hours are worked in the state, so a Samford rotation carries no grant.

Licensing: a compact state since 2024, with Oregon next door

Samford's graduate handbook ties clinicals to licensure: a current, unencumbered RN license at home and in every rotation state. Washington's Nurse Licensure Compact membership took effect January 31, 2024; the state has not enacted the APRN Compact. Across the Columbia, Oregon sits outside the compact and on Samford's NP exclusion list, so a Vancouver student eyeing a Portland clinic faces an Oregon license and an open question for Samford. Idaho, a compact state Samford accepts, has its own Idaho guide.

Why Washington students choose us

Washington's ban on friends and relatives as preceptors turns Samford's connections advice into a search for professional contacts, and that is our work. We find an unrelated ARNP or physician near your home whose license and specialty fit the Samford course, check the points WABON's rule and Samford's review will raise, and prepare the details for a new affiliation agreement early. Should a preceptor pull out partway through, a replacement search is already underway. Share your course and term in the form below.

Questions Samford students ask

Can Washington residents enroll in Samford's online NP programs?

Yes. Washington is not on the exclusion list, which leaves both Samford specialties open at every degree level. Intensives bring you to Birmingham, Alabama; clinicals stay in Washington. Because Washington requires state approval of schools from elsewhere, raise Washington placements with Samford early.

Could a friend who is an ARNP serve as my Washington preceptor?

Not under Washington's education rules, which exclude relatives and personal friends as preceptors for ARNP students. Someone you know only through work may be treated differently, so ask Samford how it reads the rule. The preceptor also needs an unencumbered license as an ARNP or physician, from Washington or an equivalent from another state.

Is Samford approved by WABON for clinicals in Washington?

WABON publishes its approvals, and Samford can confirm its own status. Raise it with your program coordinator ahead of any preceptor outreach: WABON wants approval in place before placement, and it limits approved placements to Washington residents apart from case-by-case exceptions.

What if I live in Oregon and work in Washington?

Samford's NP tracks decline applicants who live in Oregon or hold only an Oregon license, and approved placements from outside programs are limited by WABON to people living in Washington. Taken together, those rules leave little room for an Oregon resident, so talk to Samford's Graduate Student Services before applying.

GuideOther statesThe states and DC where Samford accepts nurse practitioner applicants, with RN license rules, NP practice and clinical planning in each.StatesState authorization and excluded statesSamford's NP licensure disclosure, the 16 states it takes no NP applicants from, the RN to BSN and Nurse Leader lists, and what to do if you move mid-program.Other statesClinicals outside AlabamaSamford NP clinicals outside Alabama: the RN license rule, state rules that can stop a rotation, the 16 excluded states and what to do before you move.ComplianceRN license requirementsSamford requires an unencumbered RN license where you practice and in every clinical state. How the nurse compact fits, excluded states and ADN entry.Samford systemConnections and clinical placementSamford says professional and personal connections are essential to NP clinical placement. The passage in full, what each sentence asks and how to meet it.Compact stateIdahoIdaho guide for Samford NP students: Samford's disclosure status, Idaho rules for APRN students and preceptors, compact licensing and where to look around Boise.

Last checked 2026-09-25

We check these pages against Samford's own program pages, plans of study, the 2026-27 Graduate Nursing Student Handbook and Alabama rules. Your course, your program coordinator and Graduate Student Services have the final word.

Samford says connections are essential. We are the connection.

Tell us your Samford track, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course and prepare the details Samford needs to approve the rotation, including a new affiliation agreement where one is needed.

Preceptors matched to the course: adult primary care for NURG 723, family practice across the lifespan for NURG 724, psychiatric care for NURG 788
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