UC nursing clinicals in Hawaii
UC's graduate and RN-to-BSN programs can place you in Hawaii, but the state is outside the Nurse Licensure Compact, so a mainland multistate license won't carry you: UC's rule means a Hawaii RN license. NPs there have full practice authority, physician assistants can't precept UC students, and UC adds no Hawaii form or supplemental background check.
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UC programs open to Hawaii students
Hawaii isn't on any of UC's exclusion lists, so the islands work for UC's online master's, doctoral, certificate and RN-to-BSN students alike. Only the tracks UC keeps for tri-state residents are out of reach.
| UC program | Hawaii |
|---|---|
| Online MSN: FNP, AGPCNP, Nurse-Midwifery, WHNP, Nursing Education | Open |
| PMHNP or FNP post-master's certificate | Open |
| DNP tracks | Open |
| AGACNP; AGPCNP and PNP-AC certificates | Ohio, Kentucky, Indiana residents only |
| RN-to-BSN | Open |
Distance is the practical catch. From Spring 2027, APRN students taking NURS8020C spend three days on campus in Cincinnati for the Advanced Health Assessment immersion, so plan the flights well ahead; health assessment immersion has the dates.
No compact, so the license comes first
Hawaii has no place in the Nurse Licensure Compact, and no bill to add it shows as pending on the compact's map. Your mainland multistate license therefore carries no practice privilege on the islands, and UC's rule of an RN license valid in the clinical state comes down to a Hawaii-issued one. The APRN Compact isn't enacted either.
If you're moving to Hawaii mid-program, get the Hawaii license moving before the preceptor search, since you can't log hours without it. Telehealth works differently: there, the license has to match where the patient is. RN license for clinicals and moving during UC clinicals cover the rest.
An Ohio or other mainland multistate license doesn't work in Hawaii. Without a Hawaii RN license, you can't start clinical hours there.
How Hawaii's Board treats out-of-state programs
Hawaii's Board, which sits in DCCA's Professional and Vocational Licensing Division, draws a hard line for students not yet licensed. HRS 457-13(2) exempts from licensure only students of programs the Board itself accredits, and in 2016 its Education Committee concluded that a North Dakota BSN program couldn't bring a pre-license student to Hawaii for clinicals.
Nurses who already hold a license face far less. Per the Board's FAQ, post-licensure programs taught online or at a distance with no Hawaii campus don't apply to the Board at all and needn't tell it they're there; only faculty physically in Hawaii to teach or precept a student need a Hawaii license. The FAQ's illustrations, LPN-to-RN and RN-to-BSN programs, leave graduate APRN education unaddressed, and we found no Hawaii source that covers it.
Preceptors and Hawaii's tax credit
AANP rates Hawaii as full practice. For UC, a Hawaii preceptor needs the usual credentials, set out on UC preceptor requirements, plus an unencumbered Hawaii license, and NP-track students spend 20% of their hours or more beside a certified NP in their population. UC's PA list leaves Hawaii out.
Under HRS 235-110.25 (Act 43, 2018), Hawaii grants a nonrefundable income tax credit per unpaid, supervised clinical training rotation; each preceptor faces an annual ceiling and the state caps the total. Eligible claimants are Hawaii residents in primary care practice there, whether physicians, APRNs or pharmacists, and the Hawaii Department of Health certifies each rotation. Whether the student must attend a Hawaii school is a question a preceptor should put to the Department. The volunteer condition fits UC, which doesn't pay preceptors.
Honolulu, Maui, Hawaii Island, and our search
Honolulu's urban metro is by far the largest, at roughly 989,000 residents in the Census Bureau's 2025 figures; Hilo-Kailua, a micropolitan area, had around 210,000, and Kahului-Wailuku around 161,000. The Queen's Health Systems and Kaiser Permanente Hawaii employ many clinicians; so do Hawaii Pacific Health, which runs Kapiolani, Straub, Wilcox and Pali Momi, and the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation. They're examples, not sites known to take UC students.
A small market raises the stakes if a search stalls, since UC's Clinical Site Coordinator may then offer tri-state partner sites a long flight away. That is why island students come to us early. We search Oahu, Maui and Hawaii Island for NPs and physicians who fit UC's rules, confirm each holds an unencumbered Hawaii license, and keep a second name in view in case the first steps back. Your CSC approves every placement, and the packet lands complete; see how it works.
Questions UC students ask
Does my Ohio compact license work for Hawaii clinicals?
No. Because Hawaii has stayed out of the compact, a multistate license from Ohio or anywhere else confers no right to practice there. UC wants your RN license valid in the state of the clinical, and in Hawaii only a Hawaii license qualifies. Apply for it before you approach preceptors.
Does the Hawaii Board need to approve UC's online program?
Probably not, going by the Board's FAQ: post-licensure programs based elsewhere with no Hawaii campus have nothing to file and no one to notify. It cites LPN-to-RN and RN-to-BSN programs as examples, though, and we found nothing on graduate NP programs. Separately, Hawaii is absent from every UC exclusion list.
Will my Hawaii preceptor qualify for the state tax credit?
Maybe. Eligibility runs to Hawaii-resident primary care clinicians (physicians, APRNs, pharmacists) who precept unpaid, with each rotation certified by the Department of Health. Whether a student from a mainland school qualifies is still open, so your preceptor should raise that with the Department before counting on it.
How often would I need to fly to Cincinnati?
Starting Spring 2027, the Advanced Health Assessment course (NURS8020C) brings APRN students to campus for three days, and nurse-midwifery students add a two-day on-campus intensive in the first week of the ANW8062 term; the WHNP and PMHNP intensives are online. For DNP project defenses, UC's DNP FAQ allows a virtual defense beyond a two-hour drive, but another UC FAQ says post-MSN students come to campus, so confirm with your program.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-24
We check these pages against UC's own sources. Your Clinical Site Coordinator, your course faculty and UC's current documents have the final word.
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