Hawaii and Loyola University New Orleans nursing programs
Loyola University New Orleans' School of Nursing marks Hawaii red, not approved, on its State Approvals Map, and has done so since at least the August 20, 2025 version; the July 15, 2026 map repeats it. The licensure table Loyola updated on June 2, 2026 tells a different story, listing Hawaii as meeting requirements without comment. Until the School of Nursing answers for your program, treat Hawaii as a question to settle before you apply, not after.
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Hawaii in Loyola's records
Few states show a wider gap: one document says yes without comment, and both versions of the other say no. Loyola has published nothing reconciling them, and the map is silent on whether red refers to where you live, where you train, or both. Ask the School of Nursing, name your track, and keep the reply; both sources are compared here.
| Loyola source | Date | Hawaii |
|---|---|---|
| Advanced practice (MSN and DNP) licensure table | June 2, 2026 | Meets, no note |
| Pre-licensure BSN licensure table | June 2, 2026 | Meets |
| School of Nursing State Approvals Map | July 15, 2026 | Not approved |
| State Approvals Map, earlier file | August 20, 2025 | Not approved |
Three starting points
- Applying from the islands. Before you submit, ask the School of Nursing whether your track accepts Hawaii residents and where its practicums would take place.
- Enrolled and living in Hawaii. If Hawaii sites are ruled out, each practicum means time in an approved mainland state, an RN license active there, and a preceptor able to take you for the hours your course requires.
- Moving to Hawaii. Loyola asks enrolled students to see their program advisor before any relocation, and a red state raises the stakes. The moving guide covers what to bring to that conversation.
What Hawaii's Board of Nursing says about outside programs
Hawaii's nursing statute, HRS 457-13(2), lets students perform nursing that is incidental to their studies without a license only when the Hawaii Board has accredited their program. Citing that section in September 2016, the board's Education Committee ruled out placing a pre-license student from a North Dakota BSN program in a Hawaii clinical setting.
For online schools with no Hawaii campus that teach nurses who are already licensed, such as RN-to-BSN or LPN-to-RN programs, the board's FAQ says it runs no approval process and expects no notice. Their faculty need Hawaii licensure only when physically present in the islands to teach or precept. That guidance does not treat graduate APRN programs as their own category, which leaves the working answer with Loyola.
Practice, preceptors and the islands
Hawaii NPs practice with full authority on AANP's map. The state also runs a Healthcare Preceptor Income Tax Credit for unpaid preceptors, with the Department of Health certifying each rotation, though its terms are tied to Hawaii-based programs (see the questions below).
Urban Honolulu is by far the largest metro, and Maui's Kahului-Wailuku and the Big Island's Hilo-Kailua area come next. The major systems are Queen's, Hawaii Pacific Health (Straub, Wilcox, Kapiolani and Pali Momi), Kaiser Permanente's Hawaii region and the state's Hawaii Health Systems Corporation. They show where care is concentrated; none becomes a Loyola site without the School of Nursing's clearance and a signed affiliation agreement.
Licenses in the islands and on the mainland
Hawaii has not joined the Nurse Licensure Compact and has no bill to join pending, so a compact license from another state gives you nothing there; you would need a license Hawaii itself issues. Hawaii has not adopted the APRN Compact.
Loyola's rules travel with you: an RN license current in each state that hosts your practicum, and a Louisiana or multistate license across every enrolled term. A Hawaii resident doing hours on the mainland would plan around the host state's license rules as well; clinicals outside Louisiana sets out the host-state side.
Why Hawaii students work with us
Hawaii students come to us for a plan built on Loyola's answer. We help you frame the question for the School of Nursing, then shape the search around what comes back: preceptors in an approved state you can reach, matched to your Loyola course, with every Wishlist upload ready and the site's agreement status checked early. Loyola's placement office and faculty own every placement decision; our job is making sure the request that reaches them is complete. Reach us here.
Questions Loyola students ask
Can a Hawaii resident enroll in Loyola's online FNP?
Loyola's sources disagree. Its licensure table of June 2, 2026 lists Hawaii as meeting requirements, while both approvals map files, from July 2026 and August 2025, show Hawaii not approved. Have the School of Nursing answer two things, whether you can enroll and where your practicums could happen, before you apply.
Would my Hawaii preceptor qualify for Hawaii's preceptor tax credit?
Not under the credit's current terms. Hawaii limits it to rotations for students of academic programs that are accredited in Hawaii or physically there, and whose enrollment is more than 50 percent Hawaii residents. A New Orleans program falls outside that definition, so a preceptor teaching you would not qualify.
Do I need a Hawaii nursing license to train in Hawaii?
Nursing practice in Hawaii takes a Hawaii-issued license, because Hawaii is outside the Nurse Licensure Compact. Loyola separately requires an RN license active in any state where you complete practicum hours. Whether a Hawaii site is possible at all is for the School of Nursing to decide, given the red on its map.
Where would a Hawaii resident complete Loyola practicum hours?
If the School of Nursing confirms that Hawaii sites are not available, the hours would happen in a state its map approves, with an RN license valid there and a Loyola affiliation agreement with the site. That means travel for each practicum, so plan the timing with your program director against your plan of study.
I'm relocating to Hawaii mid-program. What comes first?
A talk with your program advisor, ahead of the move. Loyola ties relocation to possible changes in licensure, practicum access and aid, and Hawaii's red status on the map adds the question of where your remaining practicums can happen. Get that answered in writing before you fix a moving date.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Loyola's own bulletin, program pages, practicum guides, forms and licensure disclosures. Your plan of study, your practicum guide, your program director and the Clinical Practicum Coordinator have the final word.
Loyola asks you to select your own preceptor and site. We make that the easy part.
Tell us your Loyola program, where you live and which term your next practicum starts. We find preceptors whose patients fit the course, check whether the site already has a Loyola affiliation agreement, and prepare everything your Exxat Wishlist needs.
- Preceptors matched to the course: outpatient primary care for
NURS G823, pediatrics and obstetrics forNURS G829, acute care forNURS G902, psychiatric care forNURS G856 - Preceptor CV, license and Nursys PDF, the Preceptor Agreement and the site's signer details ready for the Wishlist
- In your own community, in Louisiana or any state where Loyola approves your practicum
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