Taking a UTA nursing program while living in Montana
With a Montana mailing address you can enroll in three of UTA's online programs, namely the RN-to-BSN and the Education and Administration master's degrees, while every NP track, NP certificate and the DNP stays off limits. The Montana Board of Nursing says RN-to-BSN and graduate programs need no Board approval for clinicals there, as long as your license is valid in Montana.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your UTA track and where you live. A placement advisor replies with what a UTA-ready preceptor and site look like for you.
Your options from a Montana address
| UTA program | Montana residents | What the practice work involves |
|---|---|---|
| RN-to-BSN | Can enroll | Application-based assignments at work and in the community, a NURS 4685 capstone, no preceptor |
| MSN Nursing Education | Can enroll | A nurse educator precepts 135 hours in NURS 5362 |
| MSN Nursing Administration | Can enroll | 270 practice hours in total alongside senior nurse leaders, 90 of them in NURS 5340 |
| NP tracks, post-master's NP certificates | Cannot enroll | Montana is not on UTA's list |
| DNP | Cannot enroll | Montana is not on UTA's list |
UTA goes by the state your MyMav mailing address shows. If you plan to relocate, take a travel job or line up a preceptor outside Montana, the graduate handbook asks you to write to NursingSOA@uta.edu ahead of time; the reasoning is on out-of-state clinicals.
Montana's Board sorts students by program type
Montana is strict about one group: pre-licensure students from other states. Under ARM 24.159.608, placing one in a Montana clinical setting takes approval from the Board or its executive director. The program director's signed request must include proof of accreditation, preceptor and faculty details, a faculty supervision plan, the facility agreement and verification from Montana program directors that no Montana student will be displaced.
The Board's FAQ exempts RN-to-BSN and graduate programs from that approval. The single string attached: because the patients you see are in Montana, UTA must verify that your license is active and good there. How UTA meets that is for its state authorization team to confirm.
Billings, Bozeman, Missoula and Helena
Billings holds two of Montana's larger systems: Billings Clinic, part of the combined Billings Clinic-Logan Health system, and Intermountain Health's St. Vincent Regional Hospital. Benefis Health System and Providence Montana, whose St. Patrick Hospital is in Missoula, complete the list. After Billings, the metros are Bozeman, Missoula and Helena.
A Montana preceptor for NURS 5362 must work in nursing education, whether in a hospital, a clinic or an academic setting. Nursing Administration students work beside senior nurse leaders, and NURS 5340 adds a community partnering project to its 90 hours. The systems named here show where to start looking; none has told us it takes UTA students.
RN-to-BSN assignments from a Montana workplace
Montana RN-to-BSN students do their practice work where they already are: the workplace for NURS 3315 and NURS 4455, the community for NURS 3325 and NURS 4465, where the state health department to know is DPHHS (Montana's Department of Public Health and Human Services). The NURS 4685 capstone asks you to pick management, clinical practice or education for a concentrated project. More on RN-to-BSN practice experiences.
Compact licensing in Montana
Montana's compact membership dates from January 19, 2018. According to its RN licensing page, a Montana license is unnecessary for a nurse practicing there on a multistate privilege issued by another compact state. That lines up with UTA's handbook, which accepts a compact license in place of a separate state license for clinical work.
Holding only a single-state license from outside the compact? Neither rule lets it work in Montana, so check which kind you hold on RN licensing for clinicals. Neighboring Idaho and South Dakota are compact states too. Montana has not enacted the APRN Compact.
A UTA NP student relocating to Montana
Montana's openness and UTA's map point in different directions. The Board would let a graduate program place students without Board approval, and AANP rates Montana a full practice state, yet UTA lists Montana for none of its NP tracks, post-master's NP certificates or the DNP.
The handbook ties program completion to states where CONHI, UTA's nursing college, can operate. For a student in an unlisted state, that can mean graduating late or not at all, withdrawal, traveling back to Texas or another listed state for clinicals, or a placement held up. Contact NursingSOA@uta.edu before the move, not after.
What we can do for Montana students
Our part in Montana is the Education and Administration practicums. A placement advisor searches for a nurse educator or nurse leader whose role fits your UTA course, near Billings, Missoula or wherever you live, and helps you gather what UTA's clinical team reviews. UTA makes every approval decision; tell us your course and term.
Questions UTA students ask
Does my UTA faculty member need a Montana nursing license?
Only in one case, according to the Montana Board's FAQ: out-of-state faculty delivering direct patient care must be Montana-licensed; an instructor who just consults with you and your preceptor needs no such license. Either way this is UTA's responsibility, not something you have to arrange, so raise it with your course faculty only if a site asks.
Will my compact multistate license from another state work for a Montana practicum?
Yes, provided it is a multistate license that is active and unencumbered. Montana's licensing page confirms that such a privilege lets you practice there without a separate Montana license, which satisfies UTA's rule for clinical work. A single-state license does not carry over. If Montana is now your home, ask the Montana Board which license you should hold.
Can I enroll in UTA's FNP program from Bozeman?
No. The FNP, like every UTA NP track, is listed only for Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, Texas and Virginia. Montana's Board would not stand in the way of a graduate program's clinicals, but UTA's map decides who can enroll. If you expect to move to a listed state, ask UTA before you apply.
Which out-of-state students does Montana's approval rule cover?
ARM 24.159.608 is aimed at students of pre-licensure programs based outside Montana; RN-to-BSN and graduate programs, per the Board's FAQ, are exempt from its approval. UTA's pre-licensure BSN is listed for Texas only, so the rule does not reach UTA students living in Montana. The license condition in the FAQ still applies to you.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-23
We check these pages against UTA's own sources. UTA's current handbook and your course faculty have the final word.
Hand us the search. Keep your term.
Tell us your UTA track, your county and when your clinical course opens. We look for a preceptor and a site that fit what UTA asks for, and we help you put the approval packet together.
- Matched to your track's population and setting
- Paperwork prepared the way UTA's clinical team expects it
- In person near you, or a virtual option where your course allows it
Start your placement plan
A placement advisor replies with what a UTA-ready preceptor and site look like for you.