Hawaii and UL Lafayette: the doctorate is the open door
For a nurse in Honolulu, on Maui or in Hilo, UL Lafayette's post-MSN Doctor of Nursing Practice is the program that fits: Hawaii is on its accepted list, and residency hours may be done at home. The FNP, PMHNP and PMHNP certificate hold every rotation in Louisiana and are not taking Hawaii residents.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your UL Lafayette program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your UL Lafayette course.
Hawaii's row, program by program
Read across UL Lafayette's state authorization page for online programs and Hawaii comes out as below. That page is the source of record, so recheck it before you apply.
| UL Lafayette program | Hawaii status | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Doctor of Nursing Practice (post-MSN) | Accepted | Residency may run in Louisiana or your home state |
| MSN FNP and MSN PMHNP | Not accepting | No determination made for Hawaii; clinicals are Louisiana-only |
| PMHNP Post-Master's Certificate | Not accepting | Same Louisiana rotations and Louisiana RN license |
| MSN in Nursing Education | Not on its list | Its eight accepted states are all on the mainland |
A nursing license that stops at the shoreline
On the islands, nurses answer to a Board of Nursing run through the state's DCCA licensing office. Hawaii remains a non-compact state with no compact bill pending, so a mainland multistate RN license buys no privilege there, and nurses caring for patients in Hawaii carry a Hawaii-issued license. The APRN Compact has not been adopted. On scope, AANP counts Hawaii as a full practice state.
That cuts both ways for a UL Lafayette applicant. A Hawaii license is single-state, so the MSN's Louisiana-or-multistate license wording would point a nurse who relocates for an NP track toward a Louisiana license. The DNP asks for current U.S. RN licensure and, after an MSN, a U.S. nurse practitioner license. The license guide sorts out each program.
How Hawaii handles programs from other states
Pre-licensure students meet Hawaii's firmest rule. HRS 457-13 excuses student nursing from licensure only inside programs the board itself accredits, and a 2016 Education Committee decision kept a North Dakota BSN program from sending a pre-license student to the islands for clinicals.
Programs for nurses who already hold a license are treated more loosely. The board's FAQ says an online or distance post-licensure program without a Hawaii campus files no application and owes the board no notice, and a faculty member needs Hawaii licensure only for in-person teaching or precepting there. Graduate APRN programs are not named in any Hawaii source, so check with the DNP Coordinator and the board before you place a residency on the islands.
Care on Oahu and the neighbor islands
Honolulu's urban core holds most of the population, with smaller hubs at Kahului-Wailuku and Hilo-Kailua. Large systems include The Queen's Health Systems and Kaiser Permanente Hawaii, along with Hawaii Pacific Health (its hospitals include Straub and Kapiolani) and the Hawaii Health Systems Corporation. They sketch the terrain and are not sites tied to UL Lafayette.
Hawaii has a preceptor income tax credit too. Its terms tie it to students of programs accredited in the state or physically there, with mostly local enrollment, so the preceptor of a UL Lafayette student falls outside it.
Planning a UL Lafayette DNP from the islands
The DNP runs 39 credits, begins each Fall and takes applications until May 1. Its 420 residency hours across NURS 821, NURS 822 and NURS 823 sit in your own specialty area and may be completed in Hawaii. Plan for two trips to Lafayette: the DNP Orientation Intensive before coursework starts and the on-campus Synthesis Project presentation at the close. The DNP program guide lays out the plan of study.
Why Hawaii nurses bring their search to us
A residency planned across an ocean and several time zones needs a partner who knows UL Lafayette's requirements well. Whatever role UL Lafayette takes in your placement, our placement desk finds a residency mentor and site in Hawaii or Louisiana that fit its rules, checks each mentor's Hawaii license, and keeps your file moving on Hawaii time. Start your search.
Questions UL Lafayette students ask
Can I study UL Lafayette's online PMHNP from Honolulu?
Not while you live in Hawaii. UL Lafayette is not accepting Hawaii residents into the PMHNP, the FNP or the PMHNP certificate, having made no determination for the state, and all three hold every rotation in Louisiana under a Louisiana RN license. Relocating? The Louisiana guide covers what changes.
Does a DNP residency mentor in Hawaii need a Hawaii license?
In practice, yes. Because Hawaii sits outside the compact, anyone giving nursing care there holds a Hawaii license, and the board's FAQ asks the same of program faculty who teach or precept in person in the state. UL Lafayette's project committee includes an approved mentor from the agency where the project runs, so confirm its mentor criteria with the DNP Coordinator early.
Can my preceptor use Hawaii's preceptor tax credit?
Not for a UL Lafayette student. Its terms point at programs with Hawaii accreditation or a Hawaii location and a mostly resident student body. A Louisiana program meets neither test, whatever specialty or setting the residency uses.
Is Hawaii's pre-licensure bar a problem for the DNP?
The 2016 decision concerned a pre-license BSN student, while UL Lafayette's post-MSN DNP builds on the nurse practitioner license you already hold rather than preparing you for a new one. The state authorization page still warns that online programs may not meet another state's license rules, so confirm your plan with UL Lafayette and the Hawaii board.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against UL Lafayette's 2026-27 catalog, its online program and state authorization pages, the ICMSN student handbook and Louisiana's nursing rules. Your course faculty and your plan of study have the final word.
Whether UL Lafayette helps or you start alone, we find the preceptor.
Tell us your UL Lafayette program, the practicum coming up and the Louisiana town you train near. We look for preceptors and sites that fit the course and gather the license, CV and agency details that must be on file before your first clinical day.
- Preceptors who meet Louisiana's rules: an active Louisiana license, most hours with an APRN in your population focus
- The preceptor's CV, the agency details and your letter of agreement items gathered early
- Across Acadiana and the rest of Louisiana, plus DNP residencies in your home state
Start your placement plan
Your program, your town and your next clinical semester is all we need to begin.