Rhode Island and Concordia University Wisconsin's nurse practitioner programs
Rhode Island is on the Does Not Meet side of every graduate NP table in Concordia University Wisconsin's current disclosure. Anyone hoping for a Rhode Island NP license should take that up with CUW before applying. Here: the row, what Rhode Island's rules leave unsaid about schools from elsewhere, its 2024 compact return, and where we fit.
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Rhode Island in CUW's disclosure
Rhode Island gets one answer across the graduate tables, and the online RN to BSN matches it. The traditional and accelerated BSN tables, which list every state as meeting, are the exceptions.
| CUW's program label | Rhode Island |
|---|---|
| Master of Science in Nursing - Primary Care Nurse Practitioner | Does not meet |
| Doctor of Nursing Practice - Post BSN to DNP Program | Does not meet |
| Doctor of Nursing Practice - Post MSN to DNP Program | Does not meet |
| Certificate After Graduate Education in Nursing (CAGE) (FNP/AGPCNP) | Does not meet |
| Certificate After Graduate Education in Nursing (CAGE) (PMH NP) | Does not meet |
| MSN PMHNP, PMHNP DNP | No entry: neither program has a table |
Unlike Oklahoma or Tennessee, Rhode Island never showed up on the archived 2022 or 2024 program-page lists of states CUW would not enroll from. Its change happened in the table alone. Copies from 2023 through May 2024 put Rhode Island in the Meets column for the MSN and the two DNP tables; the copy from August 14, 2024 is the first with Rhode Island under Does Not Meet, and no footnote explains the move. See the disclosure guide.
What Rhode Island's rules leave open
The governing regulation, 216-RICR-40-05-3 in Rhode Island's code, was drafted with in-state basic programs in mind. No provision found in it makes an out-of-Rhode-Island school obtain approval from the state's Board of Nurse Registration and Nursing Education before sending students to local sites. Silence is not permission, so treat the state as a question to ask rather than a green light.
One provision deserves attention. Rhode Island's approved programs, in their agreements with clinical agencies, must demonstrate that they take an active part in the central clinical placement registry the state runs. The rule never says whether out-of-state schools belong in that registry, but a hospital that runs its students through it may expect one. Take both points to the Graduate Clinical Coordinator, and read clinicals outside Wisconsin for the catalog's rule.
One metro, four systems, full practice
AANP rates Rhode Island full practice: once licensed, an NP there diagnoses, treats and prescribes with no physician contract required, so an NP preceptor brings only their own Rhode Island license to the table. No preceptor incentive program is on record for the state.
The census records a single metro for Rhode Island, Providence-Warwick, whose roughly 1.7 million people include about 1.1 million Rhode Islanders and a Massachusetts remainder. Brown University Health heads a short list of large systems that also takes in Care New England Health System, the CharterCARE Health of Rhode Island group and, on a smaller scale, South County Health. Each sets its own student policy.
Back in the compact since 2024
Rhode Island left the Nurse Licensure Compact once and came back: RIDOH gives January 1, 2024 as the effective date of its return, while NCSBN's implementation table lists January 8, 2024. Since then, qualified residents receive multistate RN licenses that reach Wisconsin, and a Wisconsin resident's multistate license reaches Rhode Island in turn.
NP licensure is another matter. No APRN Compact law exists in Rhode Island, and that compact has yet to start anywhere, so an NP license there stays single-state. CUW's graduate programs ask for an unencumbered RN license throughout; the details are on your RN license for CUW clinicals.
Who we help from Rhode Island
A short drive changes nothing in CUW's table: Massachusetts and Connecticut are Does Not Meet states too. The nearest New England states in the Meets column are New Hampshire and Maine, both of which meet in all five NP tables.
Our Rhode Island work starts there, with the CUW student relocating north or the Rhode Islander already planning to hold a license in a Meets state. Your placement advisor reads your program's row for that state, looks for primary care preceptors near your future home, builds the three clinical courses into one schedule around the move and gets CUW's graduate faculty a complete proposal. Start with the contact form.
Questions CUW students ask
Does CUW's online FNP qualify me for a Rhode Island NP license?
CUW's disclosure says its MSN primary care NP, the table covering the FNP and AGPCNP tracks, does not meet Rhode Island's requirements, and every other graduate NP table agrees. If a Rhode Island license is where you are headed, ask CUW for its position in writing before you enroll.
Why did Rhode Island's status change in CUW's table in 2024?
CUW has not said. Its nursing tables carry no footnotes, and the Rhode Island entry simply moved from Meets, in copies through May 2024, to Does Not Meet in the August 14, 2024 copy. Rhode Island never appeared on CUW's archived enrollment-exclusion lists. If the history matters to your plans, ask CUW admissions.
Will a Rhode Island site expect CUW to use the state placement registry?
The regulation ties the registry to agreements made by Rhode Island's own Board-approved programs and says nothing about schools elsewhere. A Rhode Island hospital may still route every student request through it under its own policy, so ask the site and the Graduate Clinical Coordinator before counting on a Rhode Island placement.
Can I study with CUW from Rhode Island if I plan to move to New Hampshire?
CUW publishes no enrollment restriction by state, and New Hampshire meets in all five of its graduate NP tables. The table is about licensure, so New Hampshire's row, not Rhode Island's, is the one that matters if that is where you will hold your license. Confirm your plan with CUW admissions and time the move with your clinical courses.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against CUW's own academic catalog, program pages and published nursing documents. Your course faculty and the Graduate Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
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