Can Spring Arbor students train in Utah?
Yes, with one extra check. SAU authorizes Utah for nursing, but Utah regulates out-of-state programs that place students in its clinics, at every level, under Utah Admin. Code R156-31b-609. Ask SAU's program director whether SAU has met those conditions before you line up a Utah preceptor.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Spring Arbor track and where you live. A placement advisor replies with what your preceptor and site need to look like for Spring Arbor to approve them.
01Utah on SAU's list
Spring Arbor's nursing list, checked September 24, 2026, authorizes Utah. Arizona, just south, is off the list, along with Alabama, Louisiana and New York.
| Program | Utah | Clinical piece |
|---|---|---|
| Nurse practitioner tracks | Authorized | A Utah preceptor, approved by SAU faculty |
| Nurse Educator; MSN/MBA | Authorized | NUR 780B, 125 hours |
| Post-master's certificates | Authorized | Hours by certificate |
| DNP | Authorized | Practicum work |
| RN-to-BSN | Authorized | No outside preceptor |
SAU's 2023-24 catalog is where the NUR 780B code comes from; confirm the current one with your advisor.
02What R156-31b-609 asks of SAU
Utah's Division of Professional Licensing and its Board of Nursing and Certified Nurse Midwives want to be satisfied about an outside program before it sends students into a Utah agency for clinical or practicum work. The rule applies to graduate programs just as it does to pre-licensure ones. Put simply, SAU would need to show:
- Approval from its home-state board, plus accreditation by a nursing accreditor the U.S. Department of Education recognizes (SAU's MSN is CCNE-accredited).
- Faculty the program employs, who meet accreditor and home-state standards, belong to a college or university and, when they supervise face to face, carry a clean Utah license or a compact-state one.
- A plan for choosing and supervising faculty, preceptors and clinical sites.
Every August 1, a program with students in Utah files a report with the board: how many it placed, a signed attestation that every face-to-face faculty member and preceptor is licensed through Utah or the compact, and evidence the accreditation is current. Whether SAU has done this is a question for the program director, so ask before you ask a preceptor.
03Preceptors and the Utah license test
For preceptors the test is simple: an out-of-state program may only use people whose license, issued by Utah or by a state in the Nurse Licensure Compact, is in good standing. Add SAU's own list, which runs from certified NPs to physicians and PAs, and you are looking for clinicians with Utah credentials, which local preceptors will usually have anyway.
AANP ranks Utah as full practice, so NPs there need no physician agreement. University of Utah Health, MountainStar Healthcare (an HCA Healthcare system) and Intermountain Health are the large systems, and most people live in the Ogden, Salt Lake City-Murray and Provo-Orem-Lehi metros, with St. George in the south. The program director can share SAU's volunteer providers and tell you which Utah sites already have an affiliation agreement.
04Licensing in a two-compact state
Multistate RN licenses have been honored in Utah from the compact's first day, January 19, 2018, so one issued by Utah or by the compact state you live in covers RN work during clinicals. Utah also passed the APRN Compact, signed March 24, 2022, but it sits idle until seven states join, and five have. See our RN license page.
05Why Spring Arbor students in Utah choose us
Once SAU confirms its Utah standing, we search for Utah-licensed clinicians suited to your track and prepare the file faculty will review, four weeks or more before the course. The approval itself is theirs, and the file is ready for it. Send us your details.
Questions Spring Arbor students ask
Has SAU met Utah's conditions for placing students?
That is SAU's to confirm. Utah Admin. Code R156-31b-609 expects an out-of-state program to satisfy the Division and the board before placing students, then report each August 1. Ask SAU's program director whether SAU is set up for Utah placements before you approach a preceptor.
Could my Utah preceptor hold a Nevada license instead?
Not under Utah's rule. The rule accepts only preceptors whose good-standing license comes from Utah or a Nurse Licensure Compact member, and Nevada has not joined the compact. A clinician who practices in Utah will normally hold a Utah license already, and SAU's faculty still approve every preceptor.
I live in St. George. Can I use a clinic in Arizona?
Don't count on it. Arizona is off SAU's nursing list entirely, and the university's FAQ assumes a preceptor in your home state. Look first at practices in St. George itself and the surrounding towns, and ask the program director before you contact anyone across the line.
Does Utah's rule reach the Nurse Educator practicum?
The rule makes no distinction by program level, so on its text it covers any out-of-state nursing program sending students into Utah agencies for clinical or practicum work, a NUR 780B rotation included. Put the question to SAU's Director of DNP and MSN-EDU/MSN-MBA Programs before planning a Utah practicum.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-24
We check these pages against Spring Arbor's own published sources. SAU's nursing faculty and current catalog have the final word.
More preceptor leads, sooner, for your SAU clinicals.
Tell us your Spring Arbor track, where you live and when your clinical course starts. We look for a preceptor and site that fit SAU's rules for your track and help you get the paperwork in on time.
- Matched to your track: FNP, AGPCNP, PMHNP, PNP, Nurse Educator or DNP
- Clinical agreement, affiliation and preceptor verification forms ready early
- In your home state, near where you live
Start your placement plan
A placement advisor replies with what an SAU-ready preceptor and site look like for you.