Saint Xavier University FNP Programs

Saint Xavier University offers 2 Family Nurse Practitioner Tracks:

  • MSN
  • Post-Master’s Certificate

Program Tracks Overview

ProgramEst. TuitionEst. DurationCredit Hours
MSN$37.6K3 yrs47
CertificateNot statedNot statedIndividualized

Saint Xavier’s defining advantage is a structured on-campus clinical skills sequence built into an otherwise online program. Students return to Chicago for hands-on assessment days, a standardized-patient session covering sensitive exams, and a procedural skills intensive teaching suturing, office procedures, radiograph interpretation, and orthopedic examination.

Two conditions shape who can use it. Applications are accepted only from nurses who live and work in Illinois, Indiana, or Wisconsin, and admission opens once a year for a fall start.

Quick Facts

FeatureDetails
Program TypesMSN-FNP; Post-Master’s FNP Certificate
FormatMostly Online. Online coursework, intermittent synchronous sessions, required campus skills days in years 2 and 3
Clinical Hours600 for the MSN, across the final three semesters
Clinical PlacementFaculty and graduate staff assist in identifying sites and preceptors. Student is not solely responsible
PopulationPrimary care across the lifespan, including pediatrics, women’s health, and family medicine
Distinctive CourseworkOSCE assessment day, standardized-patient sensitive exams, FNP Skills Intensive, OtoSIM and OphthoSIM simulation
RN License RequirementsU.S. RN license plus one year of recent direct patient care experience by program start
Enrollment RestrictionApplicants must live and work in Illinois, Indiana, or Wisconsin
Start TermsFall only, one intake per year. Applications reviewed on a rolling basis
Tuition$799 per credit hour for online nursing, 2026-27 rate
AccreditationCCNE for the master’s and the post-graduate APRN certificate; HLC institutionally

MSN – Family Nurse Practitioner

The estimated tuition for the MSN-FNP at Saint Xavier University is approximately $37,553 (47 credits at $799 per credit). The program can generally be completed in about three years of full-time study, with students typically carrying two courses per semester.

Full program details are available on the MSN Family Nurse Practitioner program page.

MSN Curriculum

The 47-credit curriculum divides into 27 credits of core and supportive coursework and 20 credits of FNP specialty courses. That 47-credit total sits at the ceiling of the 38-to-47 range Saint Xavier publishes for its MSN majors, so the FNP is the longest of the school’s master’s pathways.

Pharmacology is taught twice, in two different modes. Most FNP programs deliver a single three-credit advanced pharmacology course. Saint Xavier requires NURSG 552 (3 credits, FNP-specific pharmacology) and then adds NURSG 525 (1 credit) as a separate applied prescribing course taken alongside the second clinical management course. The one-credit course focuses specifically on prescriptive authority, controlled substances, and varying state prescribing regulations. The practical effect is that prescribing law and DEA-scheduled medication management are revisited at the point where students are actively writing prescriptions under a preceptor, rather than covered once in the abstract two years earlier.

The clinical sequence is didactic-practicum paired. Each of the three primary care management courses has a matched practicum course that must be taken concurrently: NURSG 519 with NURGP 519, NURSG 535 with NURGP 535, and NURSG 536 with NURGP 536. Students cannot take the theory ahead of the clinical hours or bank practicum separately. The sequence is also strictly gated, since each management course requires the prior pair as a prerequisite.

Assessment precedes pathophysiology-dependent content. NURSG 505, Advanced Health Assessment and Clinical Reasoning, lists NURSG 503 (Advanced Pathophysiology) as a prerequisite, and NURSG 505 in turn gates the entire clinical sequence. Pathophysiology is therefore the structural bottleneck of the program.

Representative required courses:

  • NURSG 503: Advanced Pathophysiology (3)
  • NURSG 505: Advanced Health Assessment and Clinical Reasoning (3)
  • NURSG 552: Advanced Pharmacology for FNPs (3)
  • NURSG 525: Pharmacology for Advanced Practice Nursing (1)
  • NURSG 519 / NURGP 519: Primary Care of Women and Children plus practicum (3 + 2)
  • NURSG 535 / NURGP 535: Management of Common Problems in Primary Care plus practicum (3 + 3)
  • NURSG 536 / NURGP 536: Management of Complex Problems in Primary Care plus practicum (3 + 3)
  • NURSG 537: FNP Role Synthesis (2)
  • NURSG 544: Epidemiology and Population Based Health Care (3)
  • NURSG 553: Culture, Communication and Conflict Resolution in Interprofessional Practice (3)

More curriculum details are available here.

You Should Know
  • The graduate catalog lists two advanced health assessment courses (NURSG 502 and NURSG 505) and two general pharmacology courses (NURSG 512 and NURSG 552). FNP students take NURSG 505 and NURSG 552. The others serve the Nurse Educator major and are not part of the FNP plan of study.
  • A statistics prerequisite applies to NURSG 509 (Nursing Inquiry). Students without a basic statistics course can satisfy it through NURSG 409, a zero-credit self-paced online tutorial, which carries no tuition charge but must be completed.
  • A maximum of six credit hours of non-clinical coursework from other accredited institutions may be transferred in, and only by formal written request after admission. No clinical coursework transfers.
  • Students must maintain a 3.0 cumulative GPA and earn a B or better in every required nursing course. One semester of academic probation is permitted, and only one course may be repeated in the entire program.

MSN Clinical Requirements

  • 600 total clinical practicum hours, completed during the final three semesters of the program
  • Hours are distributed across three practicum courses totaling 8 practicum credits, at a consistent 75 hours per practicum credit (derived from the catalog’s stated 225-hour minimum for NURGP 536)
  • Derived distribution: NURGP 519 approximately 150 hours, NURGP 535 approximately 225 hours, NURGP 536 a stated minimum of 225 hours
  • Sites are outpatient: clinics and primary care practices, with exposure spanning pediatrics, women’s health, and family medicine
  • Faculty and graduate staff assist students in identifying appropriate practicum sites and preceptors
  • Students must carry professional liability insurance through Saint Xavier University while enrolled in clinical courses, plus current RN licensure, health insurance, and CPR certification
  • Required campus skills events: five on-campus days during fall of year two, a standardized-patient session at the start of spring in year two, and FNP Skills Intensives during fall of year three

At 600 hours, Saint Xavier sits 100 hours above the 500-hour national certification floor and at the entry point of the 600-to-700 range most FNP programs occupy. The volume is standard. What is not standard is the amount of supervised skills instruction layered on top of it. Four of the five fall campus days are devoted to hands-on assessment practice with faculty feedback, with a fifth reserved for a head-to-toe OSCE. The spring session uses standardized patients so students perform sensitive male and female examinations in a formative setting before encountering them with real patients. The year-three intensive covers suturing, office procedures, chest and abdominal radiograph interpretation, and orthopedic examination. Many online FNP programs leave these procedural skills to whatever a preceptor happens to have time to demonstrate.

The placement model matters as much as the hour count. Saint Xavier’s language is that faculty and graduate staff assist in identifying sites and preceptors. That is genuine institutional involvement, short of a guarantee, and it sits between programs that place students outright and programs that hand students a list and wish them luck.

You Should Know
  • Saint Xavier discloses that some clinical agencies charge a fee for placing a student or assigning a preceptor, and that the student pays that fee directly to the agency. No amount or range is published, so this cost cannot be estimated in advance.
  • Two of the campus skills events carry their own lab fees: $250 attached to NURSG 505 for the OSCE evaluation and $250 attached to NURSG 535 for the FNP Skills Intensive.
  • The number of days in the year-three FNP Skills Intensives is not stated, nor is the length of the spring standardized-patient session. Travel and time-off planning for those two events cannot be finalized from published information.
  • Graduate malpractice insurance is billed at $83 per semester during clinical semesters, which works out to roughly $249 across three clinical terms.
  • Illinois, Indiana, and Wisconsin each set their own APRN licensure requirements. Because enrollment is limited to residents of those three states, students should confirm their board’s specific clinical-hour and supervised-practice rules before matriculating.

MSN Admissions

Two features narrow this program considerably: a hard three-state residency and employment requirement, and a single annual intake with no spring or summer entry point.

  • Graduation from an ACEN or CCNE accredited baccalaureate nursing program
  • Current U.S. RN license
  • At least one year of recent full-time direct patient care experience as an RN by the time the program begins
  • Applicant must live and work in Illinois, Indiana, or Wisconsin
  • Minimum 3.0 GPA preferred; applicants below 3.0 considered case by case, with weight given to strong science or graduate coursework
  • Personal statement of 300 to 400 words addressing preparation for the FNP role and a professional story illustrating the applicant’s approach to patient-centered care
  • Resume or curriculum vitae, plus official transcripts sent directly from each registrar
  • Applicants may be asked to complete a faculty interview
  • No application fee
  • Pre-enrollment health clearances: physical exam, titers, tetanus, annual TB screening, influenza immunization, complete immunization record, and current BLS certification
  • Negative 12-panel drug screen before clinical experiences begin, with random screening permitted on reasonable suspicion
  • Criminal background check as a condition of admission, repeated annually thereafter
You Should Know
  • Graduate nursing programs begin once per year in the fall term. The application deadline is typically mid-July each cycle and may vary, so treat mid-July as the annual pattern rather than a fixed date. Applications are reviewed on a rolling basis year-round, which rewards applying early.
  • The residency requirement is stricter than a typical state-authorization restriction because it requires both living and working in Illinois, Indiana, or Wisconsin. A nurse who lives in one of the three states but commutes to work in another may not qualify.
  • Saint Xavier does not publish a policy on what happens if an enrolled student relocates outside the three-state area mid-program. Prospective students planning a move should raise this with the graduate admission office before enrolling.
  • Cohort size is not published. Saint Xavier describes small class sizes taught mostly by full-time faculty, but no number is given.
  • The interview is discretionary rather than universal, so applicants should be prepared for one without assuming it will be scheduled.

Post-Master’s Certificate in Nursing: Family Nurse Practitioner

Saint Xavier does not publish a credit total or per-student cost for this track, because every plan of study is built individually. The duration likewise depends on how much of the applicant’s prior master’s coursework transfers, so no completion estimate is available.

Program information is available on the Post-Master’s Certificate in Nursing: Family Nurse Practitioner page.

Certificate Curriculum

The certificate is constructed through a gap analysis against the MSN-FNP major. Saint Xavier evaluates the applicant’s previous master’s coursework for successful completion of courses or content equivalent to its own MSN requirements, then builds a plan covering whatever remains.

In practical terms, the FNP specialty block is unlikely to be waived. The 20 credits of specialty coursework, three paired practicum courses, and the applied prescribing course exist specifically to prepare the FNP role, and a nurse holding a master’s in a different specialty will not have equivalents. The variable portion is the 27 credits of core and supportive coursework, where a prior MSN may cover research methods, health policy, theory, or informatics. Advanced pathophysiology, advanced health assessment, and advanced pharmacology are the three courses most often carried over from a prior degree, but they must be recent enough to satisfy the review.

The realistic planning range therefore runs from roughly 20 credits at the low end to the full 47 at the high end, but Saint Xavier publishes neither figure and this range should be treated as an inference rather than a quoted estimate.

You Should Know
  • No credit count, cost, or duration is published for this track anywhere in the program pages or the graduate catalog. A written plan of study from the school is the only reliable basis for budgeting.
  • The catalog notes that previous master’s study is evaluated for both course completion and content recency. An older MSN may yield less credit than a recent one, even where course titles match.
  • The six-credit transfer cap on non-clinical coursework from other institutions applies to graduate nursing programs generally. Whether that cap constrains the certificate gap analysis or operates separately from it is not clearly stated.

Certificate Clinical Requirements

Clinical requirements are not stated separately for the certificate. Because the plan of study is drawn from the same MSN-FNP specialty sequence, and because the three practicum courses carry the 600 hours as a fixed structural feature, certificate students should expect the same 600-hour requirement and the same campus skills events attached to NURSG 505 and NURSG 535.

You Should Know
  • Saint Xavier does not confirm the certificate’s clinical hour total in writing. The 600-hour expectation above is an inference from shared course structure, not a published figure, and should be confirmed with the school.
  • Whether a certificate student who transfers in an equivalent advanced health assessment course still attends the year-two campus assessment days is not addressed in published materials.
  • The certificate’s delivery format is not separately stated. It is classified here as Mostly Online on the basis of shared coursework with the MSN track.

Certificate Admissions

Requirements largely mirror the MSN track, with the entry credential being the substantive difference.

  • Graduation from an ACEN or CCNE accredited master’s in nursing program
  • Current U.S. RN license
  • At least one year of recent direct patient care experience as an RN by the start of the program
  • Applicant must live and work in Illinois, Indiana, or Wisconsin
  • Minimum 3.0 GPA preferred, with the same case-by-case consideration below that threshold
  • Personal statement, resume or curriculum vitae, and official transcripts from all institutions attended
  • Same health clearance, drug screening, and background check requirements as the MSN track
  • Applicants may be asked to complete a faculty interview
You Should Know
  • The certificate page states that limited spots are available and directs applicants to call a graduate admission counselor. Whether the certificate follows the same single fall intake as the MSN is not explicitly confirmed, though graduate nursing programs at Saint Xavier are described as beginning once per year in the fall.
  • The three-state live-and-work requirement applies to the certificate on the same terms as the MSN.

Tuition

Saint Xavier charges $799 per credit hour for online nursing, a published rate covering both the FNP and Nurse Educator programs for the 2026-27 academic year. This is a flat rate with no in-state or out-of-state distinction, which is standard for a private university.

The MSN derivation is straightforward and matches the school’s own published figure exactly:

ComponentAmount
47 credits at $799 per credit$37,553
Academic Service Fee$225
Graduation fee$225
NURSG 505 OSCE evaluation lab fee$250
NURSG 535 FNP Skills Intensive lab fee$250
Graduate malpractice insurance, $83 x 3 clinical semesters$249 (derived)
Derived all-in floor$38,752

Confirmed costs:

  • Tuition of $37,553 for the MSN, published by Saint Xavier and confirmed by multiplying 47 credits by the $799 published rate
  • Two named lab fees totaling $500, both tied to specific required courses
  • Graduate malpractice insurance at $83 per semester during clinical semesters
  • Academic Service Fee of $225 and graduation fee of $225
  • Transcript fee of $10 where requested
  • Tuition discounts are offered to nurses employed by Saint Xavier clinical partner agencies, and FNP students may apply for scholarships

Be aware that:

  • The $38,752 all-in figure is derived, not published. Saint Xavier publishes only the $37,553 tuition subtotal.
  • The basis of the $225 Academic Service Fee is not stated. If it is charged once, the derived all-in floor is $38,752. If it is charged every semester across eight or nine terms, the total rises to roughly $40,327 to $40,552. This is the single largest unknown in the cost picture.
  • Clinical agency placement or preceptor fees are disclosed as a student responsibility with no published amount. Saint Xavier states these are paid directly to the agency, not through the university.
  • The $799 rate is stated for fall 2026 through summer 2027. No multi-year rate lock or cohort pricing guarantee is published, so a three-year program will likely encounter at least two rate revisions.
  • Health clearances, immunizations, titers, BLS certification, the 12-panel drug screen, and annual background checks are all required and none are priced in university materials.
  • Travel and lodging for the required campus events in years two and three are not included in any published figure. Nurses commuting from Indiana or Wisconsin should budget for these separately.
  • No cost, credit count, or duration is published for the post-master’s certificate. The theoretical ceiling, if no coursework were waived, would be the same $37,553.

Current rates are published on the Graduate Tuition and Fees page.

The honest read on cost is that Saint Xavier’s published number is unusually close to reality. A $1,199 gap between the advertised tuition and the derived all-in floor is modest by the standards of nurse practitioner programs, and every component of it is published rather than buried. The two genuine uncertainties are the Academic Service Fee basis, which could add up to $1,800 across a three-year program, and agency placement fees, which the school flags but cannot quantify because they vary by site. Neither is hidden. Both are worth a phone call before enrolling.

Why Choose This FNP Program?

Best suited for nurses in Illinois, Indiana, or Wisconsin who want online coursework but do not want to learn procedural skills entirely from a preceptor’s improvised bedside teaching.

Structured hands-on skills training is the reason to choose this program. Three separate in-person blocks are built into the curriculum, each with a defined purpose. Year two brings five days of faculty-supervised assessment practice with OtoSIM and OphthoSIM simulation technology, closing with a head-to-toe OSCE. A separate spring session uses standardized patients so students can perform sensitive male and female examinations in a low-stakes teaching environment rather than for the first time on a real patient. Year three adds the FNP Skills Intensive covering suturing, office procedures, radiograph interpretation, and orthopedic examination. For a nurse who intends to work in a setting where minor procedures are part of the job, this is training that many fully online programs simply do not provide.

Placement support is real without being a guarantee. Faculty and graduate staff assist in identifying practicum sites and preceptors, and every student is assigned a graduate advisor. Saint Xavier also names a long list of Chicago-area clinical partners, and offers tuition discounts to nurses already employed by those agencies. The school is candid that some agencies charge placement or preceptor fees the student must pay, which is a real cost but a disclosed one. The trade-off is that this is assistance rather than a placement guarantee, so students still carry some responsibility for securing sites.

The eligibility gate is narrow and the timeline is long. Applications are accepted only from nurses who both live and work in Illinois, Indiana, or Wisconsin, admission opens once a year for a fall start, and one year of RN experience is required before the program begins. The program then runs three years, longer than many 24-month MSN-FNP options, at two courses per semester. That pace suits a nurse continuing to work full-time and unsuited to anyone trying to finish quickly. Saint Xavier reports a 100% pass rate on the national FNP certification exam among its graduates over the past five years, which suggests the extended timeline and skills instruction are doing real work.

Accreditation

The nursing programs at Saint Xavier University are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. Saint Xavier’s published scope statement reads that the baccalaureate degree program in nursing and the master’s degree program in nursing are accredited by CCNE, which covers the MSN-FNP track directly.

The Council for Higher Education Accreditation directory additionally lists a Post-Graduate APRN Certificate at Saint Xavier as CCNE-accredited. ⚠ Saint Xavier’s own institutional boilerplate names only the baccalaureate and master’s programs, so the school’s published wording appears narrower than the accreditor directory record.

At the institutional level, Saint Xavier is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Institutional accreditation is what makes a school eligible to participate in federal financial aid programs and is what most employers and graduate schools check when evaluating a credential. Saint Xavier’s nursing program also holds a history of accreditation by the National League for Nursing, and the College of Nursing, Health Sciences and Business is recognized as an NLN Center of Excellence.

Graduates of the FNP program are eligible to sit for the national FNP certification exam through either the American Nurses Credentialing Center or the American Association of Nurse Practitioners. Dual eligibility is worth noting, since the two exams differ in emphasis and some employers or state boards express a preference.

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