Pennsylvania and UTA: a new compact state with three open programs
Pennsylvania residents have three UTA choices, all online: the RN-to-BSN and the two non-NP MSNs, Nursing Education and Nursing Administration. The NP tracks and DNP are closed to them. Licensing changed on July 7, 2025, the date Pennsylvania's Nurse Licensure Compact membership took full effect, and state rules already let RNs licensed elsewhere train in accredited graduate or BSN programs without a Pennsylvania license.
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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.
What a Pennsylvania address qualifies you for
UTA assigns you to a state using the mailing address in MyMav. Its state-authorization map treats Pennsylvania like this:
| Program | Available? | What you do for the hours |
|---|---|---|
| RN-to-BSN | Yes | Apply coursework at your job and in your community; no preceptor |
| MSN Nursing Education | Yes | Teach under a nursing education preceptor for 135 hours in NURS 5362 |
| MSN Nursing Administration | Yes | Practicum hours in four courses, hosted where senior nurse leaders work |
| NP tracks and NP certificates | No | Outside UTA's seven NP states |
| DNP | No | Outside UTA's seven DNP states |
To the north, New York gets the RN-to-BSN on UTA's map and neither MSN, so Pennsylvania MSN students cannot take a practicum across that line.
Where Pennsylvania's practice work can happen
Pennsylvania's two large metros are Philadelphia-Camden-Wilmington, whose Pennsylvania share holds about 4.2 million people, and Pittsburgh; Allentown-Bethlehem-Easton and Harrisburg-Carlisle are smaller. Geisinger, Jefferson Health, Penn State Health, UPMC and Penn Medicine are among its health systems. Listing them is not a claim that any of them takes UTA students.
In the RN-to-BSN, the NURS 4685 capstone asks you to choose management, clinical or education as your area of concentrated study, and the community courses draw on local agencies; at state level, that means the Pennsylvania Department of Health. For the MSNs, NURS 5340 pairs 90 logged hours with a community partnering project, and a 2015 UTA syllabus required Administration preceptors to hold a master's in nursing, health care administration or business administration. The Administration MSN page has the current picture.
Pennsylvania's rule for students from other states
Nothing in the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing's regulations or guidance, as far as our research went, makes an out-of-state or distance program seek approval ahead of Pennsylvania clinical placements. The board does have a Distance Education Application, but it serves programs that already hold board approval.
What Pennsylvania does have is a student provision. 49 Pa. Code § 21.118 lets an RN licensed in Canada or another U.S. jurisdiction practice nursing, with no Pennsylvania license, in a clinical setting that an accredited graduate nursing or BSN program requires, provided the student is enrolled in that program and receives no pay beyond stipends, scholarships or program-related awards. Anyone who also wants RN work in Pennsylvania while enrolled needs to apply for a temporary practice permit and for licensure by endorsement.
UTA's MSN handbook still requires a license in the state where you do clinical work. Confirm with UTA's state authorization team before relying on the § 21.118 exemption.
Licensing since the compact took effect
Pennsylvania's compact membership took full effect on July 7, 2025. RNs holding an active, unencumbered multistate license may now practice here under it, so a UTA student licensed through another compact state meets UTA's licensing rule without a separate Pennsylvania license. If Pennsylvania is home, your license questions go to the Pennsylvania State Board of Nursing.
New York is the one neighbor outside the compact; New Jersey, Delaware, Maryland, West Virginia and Ohio are members. See RN license for clinicals for UTA's side.
What a UTA NP student moving to Pennsylvania faces
Pennsylvania is not among UTA's NP and DNP states. Under UTA's handbook, NP programs can be finished only in states where the college operates, so a Pennsylvania move during an NP track puts your placement, enrollment and graduation date at risk, and UTA can send you back to Texas or another approved state for clinicals. Email NursingSOA@uta.edu before committing to the move.
Pennsylvania's AANP rating, if you practice here later, is reduced: NPs keep a career-long written agreement with physicians, and prescribing requires collaborative agreements with two or more physicians.
Our role
A placement advisor looks for nurse educators and nurse leaders in your part of Pennsylvania who fit the UTA course, helps you pull together what UTA reviews, and searches again if a preceptor falls through. UTA approves each preceptor and site. Use the form below to begin.
Questions UTA students ask
Is UTA's nurse practitioner program available in Pennsylvania?
No. Every UTA nurse practitioner track, each post-master's NP certificate and the DNP are limited to Arkansas, California, Colorado, Florida, New Mexico, Texas and Virginia. With a Pennsylvania mailing address, what remains open is the RN-to-BSN plus the Education and Administration MSNs.
Can I be paid for UTA practicum hours at my Pennsylvania job?
No. UTA's online FAQ rules out pay from your employer or your clinical site preceptor for the hours you log as a student. Pennsylvania's § 21.118 exemption for out-of-state RNs also depends on the student not being compensated, apart from stipends, scholarships or program-related awards. Keep paid shifts and practicum hours clearly separate in your logs.
Is Pennsylvania changing its nursing education rules?
The board has a comprehensive rulemaking on nursing education programs pending as IRRC #16A-5141. Its final-form version was delivered on September 8, 2026, and IRRC scheduled a public meeting on it for October 15, 2026. In the final annex, § 21.118, the out-of-state student provision, survives in substantially the same form. Check the board's site after that meeting.
Can I do my UTA Education practicum in Philadelphia if I live in New Jersey?
Pennsylvania is on UTA's map for Nursing Education, and a New Jersey multistate license covers Pennsylvania practice now that both states are compact members. Since that site is in a state other than your own, the handbook's rule applies: write to NursingSOA@uta.edu before you start looking for a Philadelphia preceptor.
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.
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