University of Saint Francis FNP Programs

Graduate Nursing Division • Fort Wayne, IN • Online • $682/credit

The University of Saint Francis offers 2 Family Nurse Practitioner Tracks:

  • MSN
  • Post-Graduate Certificate

Program Tracks Overview

ProgramEst. TuitionEst. DurationCredit Hours
MSN$31.4K1.5–2 years (6 semesters)46
Certificate$20.9K1.5–2 years (4 semesters)25

Tuition estimates use Saint Francis’s flat $5,226 graduate nursing semester rate multiplied by the number of semesters in each program.

780 clinical hours sit inside a 46-credit, fully online MSN, and Saint Francis lets students arrange those hours at their own worksite. That volume is above the 600 to 700 hours common among FNP programs, with no campus travel and a published flat price of $31,356.

The post-graduate certificate does not share that format. It requires Fort Wayne intensives twice each semester, and Saint Francis publishes no certificate tuition, clinical hour total, or current course list.

Quick Facts

FeatureDetails
Program TypesMSN (BSN entry); Post-Graduate Certificate (MSN holders)
FormatMSN: Online. Certificate: Mostly Online (two Fort Wayne intensives per semester)
Clinical HoursMSN: 780. Certificate: not clearly stated
Clinical PlacementCan be arranged at your worksite or close to home
PopulationFamily/across the lifespan, with dedicated gerontology and palliative care clinical
Distinctive CourseworkAdvanced Gerontology and Palliative Care (3 didactic + 3 clinical credits)
RN License RequirementsCurrent RN license
Tuition$5,226 per semester, flat; MSN total $31,356 (published)
Admission InterviewRequired personal interview, plus essay and three references
Start TermsMSN: fall and spring. Certificate: spring sequence
AccreditationCCNE (graduate and post-graduate APRN certificate programs)

Master of Science in Nursing, Family Nurse Practitioner

The estimated tuition for the Master of Science in Nursing (FNP) at the University of Saint Francis is approximately $31,356 (46 credits at a derived $681.65/credit, billed as six flat semesters of $5,226). The program can generally be completed in about 1.5 to 2 years (6 semesters), studying through fall, spring, and summer.

MSN Curriculum

The MSN is compact: 9 credits of professional core and 37 credits of FNP concentration, with no separate research, informatics, or leadership block. Each population course pairs a didactic course with its own clinical course, so classroom content and clinical work run in the same term.

Weighting toward older adults. Adult and gerontology care account for 6 of the 9 population clinical credits. A full didactic-plus-clinical pair in Advanced Gerontology and Palliative Care is unusual for an FNP curriculum and suits nurses headed for practices with older patient panels. Pediatrics (2 clinical credits) and women’s health (1) carry lighter clinical weight.

Capstone. The program closes with a 6-credit synthesis course, the largest single course in the plan.

  • NURG 502 Professional Communication (3)
  • NURG 509 Evidence-Based Nursing Practice (3)
  • NURG 640 Frameworks for Examining Nursing Practice (3)
  • NURG 630, 632, 635 Advanced Pharmacology, Pathophysiology, Health Assessment (3 each) and NURG 637 Health Assessment Clinical (1)
  • NURG 670/672 Introductory Care of Adults (3) and Primary Care of Adults Clinical (3)
  • NURG 720/721 Advanced Gerontology and Palliative Care (3) and Clinical (3)
  • NURG 755/756 Primary Care of Children (3) and Clinical (2)
  • NURG 775/776 Primary Care of Women (3) and Clinical (1)
  • NURG 595 Advanced Nursing Inquiry, Practice and Synthesis (6)

More curriculum details are available here.

You Should Know
  • The 2027 catalog labels the 46 credits as 34 major/core and 12 general education. The course list itself sums to 9 core plus 37 concentration credits. The total matches; the split does not.
  • Progression requires at least 80% in formative courses and a “Pass” in all summative courses.

MSN Clinical Requirements

  • 780 clinical hours (catalog program description)
  • Clinical courses: NURG 637 (1 credit), 672 (3), 721 (3), 756 (2), 776 (1), with NURG 595 (6) as the closing synthesis course
  • Clinical sites can be arranged at the student’s worksite or close to home
  • No campus visits listed
  • All required clinical hours must be completed to graduate

780 hours is above the 600 to 700 hours common among FNP programs and well past the 500-hour certification floor. Spread across four or five clinical semesters, that is roughly 10 to 12 hours a week over a 16-week term. Worksite clinicals can make that load easier to schedule for a nurse already employed in a clinic or health system.

You Should Know
  • Saint Francis does not publish per-course clinical hours. The 780 total does not divide evenly across the clinical credits at any standard hours-per-credit ratio, so the term-by-term split cannot be confirmed.
  • “Can be arranged at your worksite” describes eligibility, not a placement service. Saint Francis does not say whether it finds preceptors for students or how sites are approved.
  • Saint Francis participates in NC-SARA but notes its programs may not be approved in every state. No state-by-state nurse practitioner licensure list was found on its site; confirm your state before applying.

MSN Admissions

Admission includes a required personal interview, which adds a step most online FNP programs skip.

  • BSN from an accredited institution
  • Current RN license
  • Undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher
  • Resume or CV with names and contact information for three references
  • Two-page essay on motivation and professional goals
  • Personal admission interview
  • Official transcripts sent to admis@sf.edu
  • Fall and spring starts
  • Up to 15 graduate transfer credits (restrictions apply)
You Should Know
  • RN experience and a statistics course within the past five years are “highly recommended” rather than required.
  • Saint Francis’s Doctor of Nursing Practice FNP track is in teach-out with no new admissions. BSN-prepared nurses are directed to this MSN instead.

Post-Graduate Certificate, Family Nurse Practitioner

The estimated tuition for the Post-Graduate Certificate: FNP at the University of Saint Francis is approximately $20,904 (25 credits at a derived $836.16/credit), assuming the flat $5,226 semester rate applies. The program can generally be completed in about 1.5 to 2 years (4 semesters), running spring, summer, fall, and spring.

Certificate Curriculum

The certificate requires 25 credits over a fixed four-semester sequence that starts in spring. Saint Francis does not list the certificate’s courses on its program page. The “Curriculum Overview” link points to an older catalog year that could not be retrieved, and no certificate record was found in the current catalog.

You Should Know
  • Without a course list, applicants cannot tell which MSN courses the certificate repeats or whether prior advanced pathophysiology, pharmacology, or assessment coursework is credited.
  • The spring-only sequence means one entry point per year.

Certificate Clinical Requirements

  • Clinical hours: not clearly stated
  • Two in-person intensives per semester in Fort Wayne, eight across the program (derived)
  • Intensives include lectures, group work, simulation, and patient visits
  • Remaining coursework is online, with both synchronous and asynchronous components

Eight trips to Fort Wayne are manageable for nurses in northeast Indiana and a real cost for anyone farther away. Because the clinical hour total is unpublished, applicants cannot yet compare the certificate’s clinical volume against the MSN’s 780 hours or the 500-hour certification floor.

You Should Know
  • The certificate page’s intensive language matches the wording on the discontinued DNP page. The MSN is now described as 100% online, so confirm the current intensive schedule with admissions.
  • Certificate graduates seeking a second APRN population focus should check with their state board, which may set its own clinical-hour rules.

Certificate Admissions

Saint Francis publishes no certificate-specific admission criteria beyond an MSN-level degree.

  • Master’s degree in nursing
  • Current RN license
  • General graduate admission standards apply
You Should Know
  • The graduate nursing admission criteria (GPA, essay, references, interview) are published for the MSN. Whether all of them apply to certificate applicants is not clearly stated.

Tuition

The MSN costs a derived $681.65 per credit. Saint Francis bills graduate nursing at a flat $5,226 per semester, so the per-credit figure is the published $31,356 total divided by 46 credits. The graduate tuition page holds that semester rate unchanged for 2026-27 and 2027-28.

Item (2026-27)MSN (6 semesters)Certificate (4 semesters)
Tuition at $5,226/semester$31,356 (published)$20,904 (derived)
Semester fee ($190, 6-8 hours) and summer session fee ($110)$980$680
Technology fee ($35/credit part-time or $375/semester full-time)$1,610–$2,250$875–$1,500
Estimated total$33,946–$34,586$22,459–$23,084
  • MSN tuition: $5,226 per semester, $31,356 total (published)
  • Tuition rate unchanged from 2026-27 to 2027-28
  • Semester and summer session fees apply to all graduate students
  • Technology fee applies at either the full-time or part-time rate

Be aware that:

  • The $5,226 rate does not state that fees are included. The physician assistant rate on the same page explicitly includes semester and technology fees; the MSN rate does not.
  • A $260 per-semester Clinical Health Sciences Technology Fee appears in the program fee table. If it applies to nursing, it adds $1,560 to the MSN and $1,040 to the certificate.
  • Certificate tuition is not published. The $20,904 figure assumes the MSN semester rate applies. Under flat billing, the certificate works out to $836 per credit, about $155 more per credit than the MSN.
  • Fee estimates assume the 6-8 hour semester fee tier. A term at 9 or more credits moves to the $235 tier.
  • Fees rise slightly in 2027-28 (technology fee to $385 full-time or $40 per credit; semester fee to $195).
  • A $35 Professional Nursing Fee is listed without stated frequency.

Realistic all-in MSN cost lands between about $34,000 and $36,100 depending on technology fee status and whether the clinical health sciences fee applies. The flat semester rate rewards steady full progression: a student who extends past six semesters keeps paying $5,226 per term regardless of credit load.

Why Choose This FNP Program?

Best suited for working Indiana-area nurses who want high clinical volume they can complete at their own job, a fixed price known in advance, and no trips to campus.

Clinical depth without travel. The MSN carries 780 clinical hours, above the common 600 to 700 range, and lets students use their worksite as a clinical site. For a nurse in a primary care or health system setting, that combination reduces both the preceptor search and the commute.

Predictable cost. Saint Francis publishes a single flat semester rate and a program total, and holds the rate through 2027-28. Fees add roughly 8 to 15 percent, and the flat rate means a slower pace costs more, not less.

Workload reality. Six semesters with summers included leaves no breaks, and 780 hours averages 10 to 12 clinical hours a week during clinical terms. That is feasible alongside full-time work only with a stable schedule and an employer willing to host or flex. Certificate applicants face a harder call: eight Fort Wayne intensives and no published clinical hours, tuition, or course list.

Accreditation

The graduate nursing programs and post-graduate APRN certificate programs at the University of Saint Francis are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). That scope covers both the MSN and the FNP certificate.

CCNE granted initial accreditation in 2019, reviewed the programs in 2024, and lists the next review for 2034.

The university is institutionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Institutional accreditation supports federal financial aid eligibility and credit transfer, and it is the baseline employers and other universities check.

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

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