West Virginia and USU's FNP: which agency matters and where you can search
If you live in West Virginia, USU will enroll you in its FNP or any of its other current nursing programs. The West Virginia RN Board regulates prelicensure programs only, and the state's higher education commission reviews out-of-state graduate clinicals only when a school is outside NC-SARA or places at least 10 students at one site.
Need a West Virginia preceptor for a USU course?
Tell us your course, your term and your county.
Which West Virginia agency covers a graduate program?
Not the nursing board. Only prelicensure programs are regulated by the West Virginia Board of Registered Nurses. For clinical placement requirements in advanced-degree and graduate programs, the Board points schools to their national nursing accreditor and to West Virginia's Higher Education Policy Commission (WVHEPC).
The graduate rule is set out by the Office of Nursing Education and Workforce Development at WVHEPC. WVHEPC approval for clinicals in West Virginia is required of APRN and graduate programs from other states in just two cases: the institution doesn't participate in NC-SARA, or it places at least 10 students at a single site. USU participates in NC-SARA, so the site count is the only trigger that could apply, and any filing would be USU's to make.
USU's Board of Nursing disclosure lists no extra West Virginia filing. Your approvals come from USU: the Program Director for your preceptor, an Affiliation Agreement for the site and an OFE Approval Letter before any hours, as set out in the placement process.
USU programs open to West Virginians
| USU program | West Virginia residents | Hours you'll need |
|---|---|---|
| MSN Family Nurse Practitioner | Open | 540: FNP592, FNP594, FNP596, FNP597 at 135 each |
| MSN Nurse Educator | Open | 100 (MSN578) |
| MSN Health Care Leadership | Open | 100 (MSN587) |
| RN-to-BSN | Open | 90 (NUR378, NUR499) |
| DNP (post-master's) | Open | 1,000 post-baccalaureate |
Next door, Maryland is closed to every USU nursing program, which matters most in the Eastern Panhandle. For the FNP's four courses one by one, see our FNP guide.
Collaborative prescribing, and who can precept you
AANP classes West Virginia as reduced practice. For their first three years of prescriptive practice, NPs must have a physician collaborative agreement, and the supply of Schedule II narcotics is capped at three days.
USU layers its own checklist on top. It takes NPs with national board certification and MDs or DOs, provided they work for the clinical facility, have practiced for a year or more, hold an active West Virginia license and have their employer's backing to precept. NPs must cover no fewer than 135 of the 540 hours; nurse-midwives are limited to women's health, and PAs don't appear on the list. Details are on preceptor requirements.
Charleston, Huntington, Morgantown and the Eastern Panhandle
West Virginia's four metro areas are close in size. Charleston has about 200,000 residents, the West Virginia side of Huntington-Ashland about 185,000, the state's share of Hagerstown-Martinsburg about 158,000 and Morgantown about 142,000. Systems FNP students search include WVU Medicine, Vandalia Health (which includes CAMC, Mon Health and Davis Health) and Marshall Health Network. They're examples of where students look, not sites committed to USU, and only their outpatient practices help, since inpatient hours never count.
Two borders matter. Huntington-Ashland reaches into Kentucky and Ohio, where USU's FNP is open, but USU encourages hours in your home state and treats others as requests. Hagerstown is in Maryland, and USU only considers out-of-state hours where it's approved, so that side of the metro is out. USU also says travel time isn't a reason to refuse a placement, so a distant West Virginia site is fair game in its view.
Your license: West Virginia or multistate
The Nurse Licensure Compact took effect in West Virginia on January 19, 2018, per NCSBN; the APRN Compact hasn't been enacted. According to the state's clinical rotation guide, APRN and graduate students with clinicals there need a multistate license if their primary state of residence is elsewhere, or a West Virginia RN license if it is West Virginia.
USU's requirement fits with that: a current, unencumbered license for West Virginia and for any other state where you'd see patients, plus malpractice coverage in the licensed state. Telehealth hours, up to 40 for the program, need patients located in West Virginia. The license page has more.
What a placement advisor does for West Virginia students
We look for an NP or physician preceptor and an outpatient site in your region that fit your USU course, then help you put together the Appendix H form, license and certification details and site information USU reviews. If a preceptor backs out, we search again. The Office of Field Experience and the Program Director approve every placement. Start with your course and county.
Questions USU students ask
Does the West Virginia RN Board have to approve USU for my FNP clinicals?
No. The RN Board regulates prelicensure programs only and refers graduate programs to WVHEPC. WVHEPC's guide requires approval for out-of-state APRN clinicals only when the school isn't in NC-SARA or places 10 or more students at one site. USU participates in NC-SARA, and its Board of Nursing disclosure lists no extra West Virginia filing.
I live in Martinsburg. Can I do USU clinicals in Hagerstown?
Not in a USU nursing program. Hagerstown is in Maryland, where USU hasn't obtained Board of Nursing approval for any nursing program, and USU only considers out-of-state hours in states where it's approved. Search the West Virginia side of the metro or elsewhere in the state. Virginia is open to USU's FNP, though USU prefers home-state hours.
What if I move to West Virginia partway through USU's FNP?
Tell USU before you move. The FNP is open in West Virginia, but USU's handbook says a change of address can stop progress and that USU isn't responsible for finding a placement when a student moves after a term starts. Once West Virginia is your primary state of residence, the state's clinical guide says you need a West Virginia RN license for clinicals there.
Can a physician precept all of my USU hours in West Virginia?
Not all of them. A licensed MD or DO employed by the site can precept USU FNP hours, but a board-certified NP must supervise at least 135 of your 540 hours. Plan which rotations will carry the NP hours before you nominate preceptors, because a late swap means another round of Program Director approval.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-23
We check these pages against USU's own catalog, handbooks and disclosures. USU's current handbook and your Clinical Placement Coordinator have the final word.
Six months out is USU's rule. We start now.
Tell us your USU program, your state and when your next practicum opens. We look for preceptors who meet USU's rules and help you build the packet the Office of Field Experience and Program Director review.
- Preceptors matched to the course: family practice, pediatrics, women's health, urgent care within USU's caps
- Appendix H, license, CV and board certification gathered the way OFE asks
- In person near you; telehealth only inside USU's 40-hour limit
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