Colorado for Post NP students: open clinicals, a mentorship after graduation
Colorado RNs can take any of Post University's three MSN nurse practitioner tracks: Post's current NP disclosure lists the FNP, AGPCNP and PMHNP as a Yes here, and licensed residents train at home. Nothing in the Colorado board's rules asks Post for approval first. The requirement that stands out comes after graduation: a mentorship tied to prescriptive authority.
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Tell us your Post program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
Colorado's row in Post's table
Post judges its coursework sufficient for Colorado's Nurse Practitioner license and for prescriptive authority, in all three specializations.
| Post specialization or item | Colorado, per Post |
|---|---|
| MSN Family Nurse Practitioner | Yes |
| MSN Adult Gerontology Primary Care NP | Yes |
| MSN Psychiatric Mental Health NP | Yes |
| License title | Nurse Practitioner |
| Other requirements, license | Unencumbered, active Colorado or multistate RN license; certification through national nurse practitioner organization |
| Other requirements, prescribing | Mentorship agreement with a physician or APRN; DEA number |
| Governing body | Colorado Board of Nursing |
Colorado's prescribing cell is the unusual one: a mentorship agreement with a physician or APRN, and a DEA number Post leaves unmarked as optional. By AANP's account the mentorship runs 750 hours, attested by the new NP, even though Colorado otherwise grants full practice. It comes after your 540 or 630 precepted hours at Post, not during them.
Colorado's rules and schools from other states
Approval by Colorado's nursing board, part of the Department of Regulatory Agencies, is for programs that train people toward their first RN or LPN license. Post's NP tracks begin after the RN, and the rule has no clause asking such programs to apply or send notice before a student trains here. The board's site did not load for this guide, so check current practice with Post's compliance officer and Clinical Coordinator. States that do ask are compared in the board notification guide.
A state income tax credit exists for preceptors who teach in Colorado's rural and frontier shortage areas. Since a 2022 bill, HB22-1005, the students who count must attend an accredited Colorado school, which appears to rule out preceptors working with Post, a Connecticut university.
Denver, Colorado Springs and the northern metros
Some 3.09 million Coloradans live in the Denver-Aurora-Centennial metro, about four times the population of Colorado Springs, which is near 782,000. Fort Collins-Loveland and Greeley each hold about 377,000 to 378,000. Denver Health and UCHealth are two systems to research, and HCA HealthONE is a third. CommonSpirit Health runs Colorado hospitals too, while Intermountain Health, based in Utah, operates Saint Joseph Hospital in Denver. FNP and AGPCNP students target primary care, PMHNP students behavioral health services across the lifespan, and none of these systems is presented here as a Post partner.
Aurora also has a place in Post's own story. American Sentinel University, the online nursing school Post acquired in March 2021 to create the American Sentinel College, was based there; the clinical rules for Colorado students are the same Post rules that apply in every approved state.
Licensing and the states around Colorado
Compact licensing has applied in Colorado since January 19, 2018, and Post's CastleBranch license item takes a multistate license. Wyoming, Nebraska, Oklahoma, New Mexico and Utah are compact states with a Yes in Post's table, and Utah gained the PMHNP after the 2023 version. Hours in any of them need Post's prior approval, and Wyoming also expects written notice from the program.
Kansas is the hard edge. Its July 1, 2019 compact start means your license would reach it, but Kansas lost its Yes in Post's table after the 2023 version, which puts every Kansas practice beyond an eastern Colorado student's reach for Post clinicals. Arizona, touching the southwest corner, is closed in the table as well. Colorado has not enacted the APRN Compact, which would bear on NP licenses rather than the RN license in Post's clinical-state rule.
Why Colorado students choose us
Colorado's large metros hold many practices, so our job is matching one to your Post course, a primary care clinic for N 581 or a psychiatric service for N 561, and confirming it will sign Post's affiliation agreement in time for Week 1. For students outside the big metros, the search reaches the smaller towns too.
Your preceptor's license report, certification and CV come to us, not you; we also see the agreement letter through to signature and file the affiliation request well ahead of Week 1, leaving the Clinical Coordinator a complete packet to review. We plan the whole preceptorship sequence with you, and if a preceptor pulls out, we go find the next. Tell us where you live through the form below.
Questions Post students ask
Does Colorado's board approve Post before I train here?
Its approval rule concerns schools preparing first-time RNs and LPNs and says nothing about graduate programs from elsewhere. The board's website was unavailable to this guide, so the Clinical Coordinator and compliance officer are the ones to confirm whether Post files anything for Colorado sites.
Can my preceptor claim Colorado's rural preceptor tax credit?
Probably not. The 2022 changes in HB22-1005 tied the credit to precepting students of accredited Colorado colleges or universities, and Post University is in Waterbury, Connecticut. A preceptor who wants a definite answer should ask the Colorado Department of Revenue.
Can a Colorado student log hours in Utah or New Mexico?
Yes, with Post's prior approval, since the hours fall outside your state of residence. Both are compact states and a Yes for all three tracks in Post's table, so a Colorado multistate license reaches them. Utah's PMHNP Yes is recent: it was added after the 2023 version of the table.
What is the mentorship agreement in Post's Colorado row?
It belongs to prescriptive authority after you are licensed, not to your clinicals. Post pairs it with a DEA number, and AANP puts the mentored experience at 750 hours. Check the current rule with the Colorado Board of Nursing before you accept an NP job.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Post University's own catalog, program pages and published nursing documents. Your course faculty and the Clinical Coordinator have the final word.
Post asks you to select your own preceptor. We make the search the easy part.
Tell us your Post track, your city and your next preceptorship course. We line up preceptors who fit the course, collect the license report, certification and CV the Clinical Coordinator reviews, and start the affiliation agreement early so your Week 1 packet is complete before the term opens.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for FNP and AGPCNP, mental and behavioral health for PMHNP, doctoral nurse leaders for DNP hours
- Preceptor agreement letter, license report, certification and CV ready for Post's approval
- Every preceptorship planned together, close to home in a state where you hold your license and Post's disclosure says yes
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Track, city and next preceptorship course is all we need to begin.