Hundreds of nursing graduates could face an expensive return to the classroom after a California judge refused to give their college a legal shortcut around the state’s licensing dispute.

The ruling against Utah-based Nightingale College means graduates still face uncertainty over whether they’ll need another semester or more of clinical training before they can become licensed nurses in California.

Sacramento Superior Court Judge Stephen Acquisto rejected the school’s request for immediate legal relief Friday, finding its arguments unlikely to prevail. The broader lawsuit will continue, but the college failed to secure the quick win it wanted for its graduates.

At the heart of the fight is California’s requirement that nursing applicants complete 500 hours of direct patient care before receiving licenses. Nightingale argues the state cannot impose that standard on an out-of-state school, while regulators say every applicant must meet California’s minimum training requirements, regardless of where they earned a degree.

State officials have warned that allowing graduates to practice without the required clinical preparation could put patients at risk, particularly in specialties such as obstetrics and pediatrics.

Nightingale has pushed back, telling the court there was no evidence its alumni had provided anything other than the “highest quality of medical care.”

The college also argues the state’s position is unfair, noting that nearly 2,000 of its graduates have previously obtained California nursing licenses without incident.

But for graduates caught in the dispute, the legal battle has become more than a question of coursework.

Rachel Baxter, a San Diego resident who described her struggle to obtain a license to ABC 10, said she received death threats after the outlet covered the controversy in August.

The state nursing board warned that threatening graduates could provide grounds to deny a license, while Nightingale condemned the threats as “unacceptable at every level.”

Despite the setback, the college says it plans to keep fighting the state’s requirements and continue exploring academic options for affected students.

The next major showdown is scheduled for February, when the court is expected to consider the board’s motion to dismiss the lawsuit.