University of Texas at Tyler FNP Programs

School of Nursing • Tyler, TX • Mostly Online • $540/credit

University of Texas at Tyler offers 2 Family Nurse Practitioner Tracks:

  • MSN
  • Post-MSN Certificate

Program Tracks Overview

ProgramEst. TuitionEst. DurationCredit Hours
MSN$25.4K / $49.2KAbout 2 years
(6 semesters)		47
Certificate$13.0K–$17.8K About 1.3–1.7 years
(4–5 semesters)		23–32

Tuition estimates apply UT Tyler’s graduate tuition and mandatory fee schedule to a derived semester plan, plus the $30/credit nursing differential tuition and $25/credit online education fee.

UT Tyler admits FNP master’s students year-round, but its post-MSN certificate runs on two fixed deadlines. The MSN has no application deadline. Applicants need an admission decision two weeks before a session starts, and every FNP course appears on the school’s rotation in fall, spring, and summer. A nurse who decides in March does not have to wait for the next fall cohort.

That flexibility ends at the Texas border. UT Tyler requires APRN students to live in Texas and complete all clinical hours there. Applicants must also explain how they plan to secure preceptors, and each semester includes one or two in-person days on the Tyler campus.

Quick Facts

FeatureDetails
Program TypesMSN; Post-MSN Certificate
FormatMostly Online: online coursework plus 1–2 campus days per semester in Tyler
Clinical Hours750 direct patient care hours (both tracks, per catalog)
Clinical PlacementPreceptors near home; applicants describe their own preceptor plan
PopulationFamily/individual across the lifespan
Distinctive CourseworkStandalone Diagnostic Methods and Procedures; two FNP internships that may run concurrently
ConcentrationsNone offered
RN License RequirementsUnencumbered Texas or compact RN license
Admission TimingMSN: rolling, year-round. Certificate: June 15 (fall), November 1 (spring)
Enrollment RestrictionMust live in Texas and complete all clinical hours in Texas
TuitionAbout $540/credit resident, $1,046 non-resident (derived, fees included)
AccreditationCCNE (MSN and post-graduate APRN certificate)

Master of Science in Nursing, Family Nurse Practitioner

The estimated tuition for the MSN-Family Nurse Practitioner at UT Tyler is approximately $25,390 for Texas residents (47 credits at about $540/credit, derived) and $49,172 for non-residents. The program can generally be completed in about 2 years (6 semesters), a derived estimate at roughly 8 credits per term with summer enrollment.

MSN Curriculum

Structure. The 47 credits split into a 15-credit MSN core and a 32-credit FNP sequence. The core covers translational science, health policy, informatics, and organizational leadership. These core courses run in 7-week sessions, while the FNP courses run over full 15-week terms.

What stands out. Diagnostic Methods and Procedures is a separate 3-credit course rather than content folded into assessment. The three Primary Care courses carry 4 credits each. The two FNP Internships close the program and may be taken in the same term, which lets a full-time student finish clinical work in one concentrated semester. Two 1-credit courses bracket the specialty: The Advanced Practice Role at the start and Transitions to Practice at the end.

Scheduling. UT Tyler’s two-year course rotation lists every FNP course in every term, including summer. That is what makes year-round entry workable. Students set their own load, and the school estimates 20 weekly hours for part-time study and 40 for full-time.

  • NURS 5339 Diagnostic Methods and Procedures (3)
  • NURS 5453 FNP Primary Care I (4)
  • NURS 5454 FNP Primary Care II (4)
  • NURS 5455 FNP Primary Care III (4)
  • NURS 5347 FNP Internship I (3)
  • NURS 5349 FNP Internship II (3)
  • NURS 5111 The Advanced Practice Role (1)
  • NURS 5112 Transitions to Practice (1)
  • NURS 5324 Health Care Informatics (3)
  • NURS 5325 Organizational and Systems Leadership (3)

More curriculum details are available here.

You Should Know
  • The program page describes an 18-credit core and 29-credit specialization. The catalog lists a 15-credit core and 32-credit FNP sequence. Both total 47.
  • The program page says all but three courses have a clinical component. The catalog shows core courses carry practice hours with no direct patient care, and only five FNP courses carry the 750 direct care hours.
  • Primary Care I and II were renumbered (NURS 5351/5353 to NURS 5453/5454, now 4 credits). The school’s online program page still lists the older courses.
  • Only two course withdrawals and two course repeats are allowed. No grade below B counts toward the degree, and all coursework must be completed within six years.

MSN Clinical Requirements

  • Total: 750 direct patient care hours across NURS 5453, 5454, 5455, 5347, and 5349.
  • Per-course hour split: not published.
  • Average: 150 hours per clinical course, about 10 hours a week over a 15-week term (derived).
  • Placement: preceptors near the student’s home. The application asks for the applicant’s plan to secure preceptors.
  • Campus: one or two in-person days per semester on the Tyler campus.
  • Location: all clinical hours must be completed in Texas.
  • Compliance: criminal background check, urine drug screen, and BCLS CPR before clinical courses.

750 direct care hours is 50% above the 500-hour certification floor and above the 600 to 700 hours common in FNP programs. The load is manageable when clinical courses fall in separate terms. Taking both internships together roughly doubles that semester’s clinical time to about 20 hours a week (derived). The bigger practical issue is placement. UT Tyler describes no placement service, so nurses outside East Texas should line up preceptors before applying.

You Should Know
  • UT Tyler does not state whether the school helps find sites or preceptors when a student cannot.
  • The number of campus days depends on how many semesters you enroll. A 6-semester plan means 6 to 12 campus days in Tyler (derived).

MSN Admissions

Admission is rolling with multiple start dates, and applicants must be admitted two weeks before the session begins or their start moves to the next session.

  • BSN from a nationally accredited nursing program.
  • Minimum 3.0 GPA for the last 60 undergraduate credits.
  • Undergraduate statistics with a C or better.
  • Current unencumbered RN license in the state where clinicals occur (Texas, for FNP students).
  • One-page statement covering recent direct patient care experience with dates, work-life plan, leadership and volunteer examples, preceptor plan, and plan for self-paced advanced practice coursework.
  • CV or resume strongly encouraged.
  • No GRE listed.
  • Application fee: $50 domestic, $75 international (waived for UT Tyler alumni).
  • $200 nonrefundable seat deposit, applied to first-semester tuition.
  • Up to 9 transfer credits with a B or better.
  • Conditional and provisional admission are available.
You Should Know
  • The School of Nursing’s graduate page requires APRN students to reside in Texas and complete all clinical hours there. The university’s state authorization page lists online authorization in most states, but that list covers online courses generally, not FNP clinical placements.
  • An older UT Tyler nurse practitioner page required one year of full-time direct patient care experience within the past four years. The current program page lists no minimum, but the statement must document recent direct care experience. Confirm with admissions.

Post-MSN Family Nurse Practitioner Certificate

The estimated tuition for the Post-MSN Family Nurse Practitioner Certificate at UT Tyler is approximately $13,046 to $17,833 for Texas residents (23 to 32 credits at about $557 to $567/credit, derived) and $24,684 to $34,025 for non-residents.

The program can generally be completed in about 1.3 to 1.7 years (4 to 5 semesters), a derived estimate based on the FNP course sequence.

Certificate Curriculum

The certificate is the MSN’s 32-credit FNP sequence without the 15-credit MSN core. Nurses who completed Advanced Pathophysiology, Advanced Health Assessment, and Advanced Pharmacotherapeutics within the past three years can skip those 9 credits by passing a competency exam. That drops the certificate to 23 credits and removes a semester. The course list, clinical hours, and campus days match the MSN.

  • NURS 5350 Advanced Pathophysiology (3, waivable)
  • NURS 5352 Advanced Health Assessment for Nurse Practitioners (3, waivable)
  • NURS 5354 Advanced Pharmacotherapeutics (3, waivable)
  • NURS 5339 Diagnostic Methods and Procedures (3)
  • NURS 5453, 5454, 5455 FNP Primary Care I–III (4 each)
  • NURS 5347 and 5349 FNP Internship I and II (3 each)
  • NURS 5111 The Advanced Practice Role and NURS 5112 Transitions to Practice (1 each)

More curriculum details are available here.

You Should Know
  • UT Tyler publishes four different credit figures. The catalog says 20–29 credits in one line and 21–32 in the next. The certificate web page says 29. The catalog course list sums to 32, or 23 with the exam waiver.
  • The waiver requires passing an exam. Recent coursework alone does not qualify.

Certificate Clinical Requirements

  • Total: 750 direct patient care hours per the catalog. An older certificate marketing page states approximately 675.
  • Same five clinical courses, preceptor model, Texas-only clinical rule, and 1–2 campus days per semester as the MSN.

A nurse who already holds an MSN still completes the full 750-hour FNP clinical sequence. The catalog lists no credit for prior practicum hours. That volume is above typical FNP programs, which matters for a working nurse who may be completing a second specialty while employed.

You Should Know
  • The catalog’s 750-hour figure matches the current MSN sequence and governs. The 675-hour page is outdated and should not be used for planning.
  • Nurses already licensed as APRNs in another population focus should confirm Texas Board of Nursing requirements for adding FNP before enrolling.

Certificate Admissions

Unlike the MSN, the certificate has two fixed annual deadlines and no summer intake.

  • Master of Science in Nursing required (per catalog).
  • Deadlines: June 15 for fall, November 1 for spring. Late applications are processed as time permits.
  • RN license, GPA, statistics, statement, fee, and deposit requirements match the MSN.
You Should Know
  • UT Tyler’s nurse practitioner certificate admissions page lists a BSN rather than an MSN and refers to the Nursing Administration program in its provisional-admission and deadline text. These appear to be copy errors from a shared template. The catalog’s MSN requirement governs.

Tuition

UT Tyler does not publish a per-credit rate for the FNP programs. Derived from the university’s graduate fee schedule, a Texas resident pays about $540 per credit on a 6-semester MSN plan, and a non-resident pays about $1,046. Both figures include tuition, mandatory fees, differential tuition, and the online education fee.

The schedule combines per-credit charges with flat per-semester fees:

ComponentResidentNon-Resident
Statutory tuition$50/credit$478/credit
Designated tuition$313/credit$391/credit
Student services fee$14.22/credit ($150 max)$14.22/credit ($150 max)
Instructional support fee$22/credit$22/credit
Intercollegiate athletic fee$22/credit ($132–$330)$22/credit ($132–$330)
Nursing differential tuition$30/credit$30/credit
Online education fee$25/credit$25/credit
Flat fees (technology, union, medical, others)$501/semester$501/semester

Applying that schedule to derived semester plans gives these totals:

Track and PlanResidentNon-Resident
MSN, 47 credits, 6 semesters$25,390$49,172
MSN, 47 credits, 8 semesters part-time$26,410$50,192
Certificate, 32 credits, 5 semesters$17,833$34,025
Certificate, 23 credits (exam waiver), 4 semesters$13,046$24,684

Confirmed costs:

  • Graduate tuition and mandatory fees follow the published UT Tyler graduate tuition and fee schedule. The per-credit components above rebuild every row of that schedule exactly.
  • $30/credit differential tuition applies to School of Nursing graduate courses.
  • $501 in flat fees applies each semester with 12- to 15-week sessions.
  • $50 application fee ($75 international).
  • $200 seat deposit, credited to first-semester tuition.

Be aware that:

  • The $25/credit online education fee applies to online-coded courses. UT Tyler does not publish which FNP sections carry it. Removing it lowers the resident MSN estimate by $1,175.
  • Semester plans are derived. UT Tyler publishes no plan of study. Part-time study adds about $1,020 to the resident MSN because flat fees repeat each semester.
  • UT Tyler’s online nursing site lists an MSN total of $25,720 in-state. It does not show how that figure was built.
  • UT System requires health insurance each term a student takes a clinical course. Charges stay on the bill until a waiver for outside coverage is approved. The premium is not stated.
  • A one-time $225 New Student Programs Fee may apply.
  • Because students must live in Texas, the non-resident rate mainly affects nurses who have not yet met Texas residency rules for tuition.
  • Travel to Tyler for campus days is not included.
  • Tuition and fees can change through Texas Legislature or UT System Board of Regents action.

For a Texas resident, a realistic MSN budget is about $25,000 to $26,500 before insurance and travel. The main cost lever is pace, not rate. Enrolling in more semesters adds flat fees, so a steady full-time load saves roughly $1,000 over a part-time plan. Certificate students who pass the pathophysiology, assessment, and pharmacology competency exam save about $4,800 and a semester.

Why Choose This FNP Program?

Best suited for Texas nurses who want to start an FNP master’s in the next available term, keep total cost near $25,000, and can arrange their own preceptors.

Start when you are ready. Fixed-intake programs make a nurse wait for the next cycle. UT Tyler’s MSN accepts applications year-round and schedules every FNP course in fall, spring, and summer. A nurse can begin after a job change, a move, or a family event without waiting months. The 7-week core sessions also let students finish the non-clinical courses quickly or spread them out.

High clinical volume at public-school cost. 750 direct patient care hours puts graduates above the typical 600 to 700 range. A resident pays about $25,400 for the MSN, derived from the fee schedule. The trade-off is placement: UT Tyler expects students to plan for preceptors, and it describes no backup when a site falls through.

How it compares with other Texas options. Texas Woman’s University assigns clinical sites and preceptors and enrolls online FNP students outside Texas. UT Tyler does neither. TCU admits BSN-DNP students in fall or spring. UT Tyler’s MSN admits in any term. Choose UT Tyler if entry timing and cost matter more than placement support. Choose a program with assigned preceptors if you lack clinical contacts in your area.

Accreditation

The master’s degree program in nursing and the post-graduate APRN certificate program at UT Tyler are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). This covers both FNP tracks. CCNE also accredits the school’s baccalaureate and Doctor of Nursing Practice programs.

The University of Texas at Tyler is institutionally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). Institutional accreditation supports federal financial aid eligibility and credit transfer.

Graduates of both tracks are eligible to sit for the national FNP certification exam (AANP or ANCC).

Compare More Family NP Programs