TAMUCC's licensure disclosure, its SARA list and the Texas-only rule
TAMUCC discloses that its MSN meets the educational requirements to apply for Family Nurse Practitioner certification in every U.S. state, with four jurisdictions where it has made no determination: California, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. That statement concerns where the MSN can take you after graduation. It is a different matter from TAMUCC's state authorization list, and from the rule that keeps every MSN clinical hour inside Texas.
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What TAMUCC's disclosure says
The disclosure lives on the Nursing Practice Department page. It opens: "Completion of the Master of Science in Nursing program meets educational requirements to apply for certification as a Family Nurse Practitioner in all U.S. states except the following states or territories." It then names California, the District of Columbia, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, and states that TAMUCC has not determined whether the program meets the educational requirements to apply for a nurse practitioner license in those four places.
Read the wording with care. Not determined is different from does not meet. It means TAMUCC has made no published finding either way, so a student who plans to practice in one of those jurisdictions should treat the question as open and raise it before enrolling.
The same text appears on the university's Professional Licensure/Certification page, whose archived March 2026 copy also carries a BSN statement. The FNP program page links to a licensure disclosure page that currently returns an error, so the Nursing Practice Department page is the live version to consult.
The BSN statement: three places or four
Pre-licensure students meet a slightly different list depending on which page they read. The Nursing Education Department page says BSN graduates can be licensed in every U.S. state except California, the U.S. Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico. The archived university licensure page gives the BSN the same four exceptions as the MSN, which adds the District of Columbia.
If you expect to seek your first RN license outside Texas, and in particular in DC, confirm the current position with the Nursing Education Department before you rely on either page. BSN clinicals are assigned by the program in the Corpus Christi area, so the question for BSN students is licensure after graduation, not where rotations happen. Graduate students who hold an RN license already can set this section aside.
TAMUCC's NC-SARA list
State authorization answers another question entirely: may TAMUCC deliver online education to a student living in a given state? TAMUCC takes part in NC-SARA. Its state authorization page, as archived in March 2026, lists every state except California and Maryland, and adds the District of Columbia, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands.
California is covered by a different route. The same page says other specific agreements allow TAMUCC to conduct 100% online learning activities for students residing in California. Maryland gets no explanation at all. The live address for that page now redirects to the university's program finder, which leaves the archived copy as the fullest version available.
The archived page also carries advice that fits nursing students well. It asks anyone weighing a nursing program that leads to a license in a particular state, or that requires a clinical internship there, to contact the College of Nursing and Health Sciences before starting the program from outside their home state.
Where the disclosure, the SARA list and the Texas rule part ways
Three sources answer three separate questions, and the places where they disagree are the ones worth knowing. The table sets them side by side.
| Place | NC-SARA list (archived March 2026) | MSN licensure disclosure | MSN clinicals |
|---|---|---|---|
| California | Not listed; a separate agreement covers fully online learning | Not determined | In Texas |
| Maryland | Not listed; no reason given | Meets educational requirements | In Texas |
| District of Columbia | Listed | Not determined | In Texas |
| Puerto Rico | Listed | Not determined | In Texas |
| U.S. Virgin Islands | Listed | Not determined | In Texas |
| Texas | Home state | Meets educational requirements | Every hour happens here |
| All other states | Listed | Meets educational requirements | In Texas |
DC, Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands clear the SARA list but not the disclosure, while Maryland clears the disclosure but not the SARA list. Neither list moves the clinical rule. The MSN Student Handbook keeps all clinical education and training in Texas whatever your address, and the Texas-only clinicals guide covers what that means for students living elsewhere.
California: flagged on every list
California is the only state that appears on both exception lists. TAMUCC sits outside NC-SARA there and relies on a separate agreement for online learning, and its disclosure has made no determination about California's educational requirements for NP licensure. The California Board of Registered Nursing's list of approved non-California nurse practitioner programs, checked in September 2026, did not include TAMUCC.
California's board requires its own prior approval before an out-of-state NP program runs clinicals inside California. TAMUCC keeps MSN clinicals in Texas, so that approval never comes into play for your rotations, but the licensure question after graduation stays open. If a move to California is possible, raise it with the Nursing Practice Department before you apply. Our California guide gathers what the state's board publishes.
Every other state: what the disclosure settles
For the remaining states, TAMUCC says the MSN meets the educational requirements to apply for FNP certification. That covers the education side of the question. Each state's nursing board then runs its own NP licensing process; in Texas, 22 TAC §221.4 asks for three things: the RN license, a completed NP-role graduate program and national certification. The Texas RN license guide covers the license side while you are enrolled.
Many boards also regulate out-of-state programs that send students to clinical sites within their borders. Washington requires approval from its nursing board, for example, and TAMUCC was not on Washington's September 2026 list of approved out-of-state programs. Rules like that bind schools that place students across state lines; with every MSN hour earned in Texas, they have no bearing on your rotations. Our Washington guide and the other state guides summarize each board's position.
Maryland residents face a narrower question: the disclosure covers Maryland, but the SARA list leaves it out. Ask the college how it handles online enrollment from Maryland before applying; our Maryland guide has the board-level detail.
How we support students with a move in mind
Where you will practice after graduation is your decision, and TAMUCC's disclosure and the relevant state board are the sources to base it on. Our part happens in Texas. Every clinical hour in TAMUCC's MSN has to be earned at a Texas site with a qualified Texas preceptor, and that is the search we run for students across the Coastal Bend, the Rio Grande Valley, San Antonio, Houston, Austin and Dallas-Fort Worth.
If you live near the state line or expect to relocate after finishing, we line up Texas rotations that fit TAMUCC's clinical calendar and prepare the preceptor documents and site details the Preceptor Agreement Packet and affiliation agreement need. Read how our placement process works, or share your course and city through the form below.
Questions TAMUCC students ask
Can TAMUCC's MSN FNP lead to NP licensure in California?
TAMUCC's disclosure makes no finding on whether the program satisfies California's educational standard for NP licensure, and TAMUCC was absent from the California board's list of approved non-California NP programs in September 2026. That leaves the question unanswered rather than closed. Speak with the Nursing Practice Department and the California Board of Registered Nursing before enrolling if California is in your plans.
Can I enroll in TAMUCC's online MSN if I live in Maryland?
TAMUCC's archived NC-SARA page omits Maryland without saying why, even though the licensure disclosure says the MSN meets FNP educational requirements there. Because the clinical rule still puts every hour in Texas, a Maryland resident would also need a Texas site and preceptor. Put the enrollment question to the College of Nursing and Health Sciences before you apply.
Is the licensure disclosure the same thing as the Texas-only clinical rule?
They are separate. The disclosure is about using your MSN after graduation, state by state. The Texas-only rule, which comes from the MSN Student Handbook, governs where you complete clinical hours during the program and applies wherever you live. A student in a state the disclosure covers still completes every precepted hour at a Texas site.
Where do I find TAMUCC's current licensure disclosure?
The live version sits on the Nursing Practice Department page at tamucc.edu. The disclosure link on the FNP program page currently leads to an error, and the university's older state authorization and licensure pages survive mainly as archived copies from March 2026. When pages differ, the Nursing Practice Department is the office to confirm with.
Does TAMUCC's disclosure cover the DNP?
The disclosure text TAMUCC publishes names the Master of Science in Nursing and FNP certification, and the university page adds a BSN statement; no DNP statement appears in it. DNP Nurse Practitioner students already hold a Texas APRN license at admission, so their situation differs. Ask the program directly if you need a written position for the DNP in another state.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against TAMUCC's catalog, FNP clinical guides, MSN and DNP handbooks and college pages. Your course, your clinical faculty member and the handbook for your cohort have the final word.
- TAMUCC Nursing Practice Department (licensure disclosure)
- TAMUCC Nursing Education Department (BSN licensure statement)
- TAMUCC State Authorization page (archived March 2026)
- TAMUCC Professional Licensure/Certification page (archived March 2026)
- California Board of Registered Nursing: non-California NP programs
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