Saint Joseph’s College of Maine offers 2 Family Nurse Practitioner Tracks:
- MSN
- Post-Graduate Certificate
Program Tracks Overview
| Program | Est. Tuition | Est. Duration | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSN | $35.8K | 2.25 years (7 semesters) | 48 |
| Certificate | $22.4K | About 1.7 years (5 semesters) | 30 |
Tuition estimates use Saint Joseph’s 2026-2027 published Graduate Nursing rate of $746 per credit.
Saint Joseph’s College of Maine runs a national online FNP from a Maine campus. Coursework is online, the only required trip is one on-campus skills session, and clinicals can be completed in 37 approved states. Students find their own preceptors, and at least 300 of the 600 clinical hours must be with a nurse practitioner.
The trade-off is placement work and geography. Saint Joseph’s reviews and approves sites but does not arrange them, and FNP clinicals are not approved in 13 states plus Washington, D.C., including New York. Four $773 clinical fees also sit outside the per-credit rate.
Quick Facts
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Program Types | MSN (48 credits); Post-Graduate Certificate (30 credits) |
| Format | Mostly Online: online coursework plus one mandatory on-campus skills session in Standish |
| Clinical Hours | 600 across four practicum courses; skills session counts as 24 clinical hours |
| Clinical Placement | Student-sourced preceptors; college reviews and approves each site and preceptor |
| Preceptor Rule | At least 300 hours with an NP preceptor; remaining hours may be with physicians |
| Distinctive Coursework | Standalone women’s health and pediatric theory-and-practice courses |
| Enrollment Restrictions | FNP clinicals approved in 37 states; not AL, AZ, DE, DC, ID, KS, LA, MN, MS, MT, NV, NY, ND, WV |
| RN License Requirements | Active, unrestricted, unencumbered U.S. RN license; one year of RN experience (MSN) |
| Tuition | $746/credit, all states; $773 NP clinical fee per selected course |
| Accreditation | CCNE (MSN and post-graduate APRN certificate); NECHE institutional |
MSN, Family/Individual Across the Lifespan Nurse Practitioner
The estimated tuition for the MSN at Saint Joseph’s College of Maine is approximately $35,808 (48 credits at $746/credit). The program can generally be completed in about 2 years and 3 months full time (7 semesters, derived), or 3.5 to 4 years part time.
The official program is the Master of Science in Nursing, Family/Individual Across the Lifespan Nurse Practitioner track.
MSN Curriculum
Core before specialty. All MSN students complete a 24-credit core before any FNP course. Five of those courses are leadership and systems content (informatics, research, policy, organizational leadership, population health), shared with the administration and education tracks. The other three are advanced pharmacology, pathophysiology, and health assessment.
Population-split FNP sequence. The 21-credit FNP block pairs theory with practice by population. Young and middle-aged adults and older adults each get a separate theory course and practicum. Women’s health and pediatrics each get a single combined theory-and-practice course. A 3-credit capstone closes the degree.
The structure matters for planning. Practicum courses must be taken in sequence, so a student who cannot secure a preceptor for one population cannot skip ahead to the next. The leadership-heavy core also means the MSN carries 18 credits beyond the FNP certificate, which is the cost of earning the master’s credential itself.
- NU 601 Advanced Health Assessment
- NU 607 Advanced Pharmacology
- NU 608 Advanced Pathophysiology
- NP 600 The Advanced Practice Nurse as Provider
- NP 612 Family Theory: Young and Middle Age Adult / NP 613 Primary Care Practicum
- NP 618 Women’s Health Theory and Practice
- NP 619 Pediatric Theory and Practicum
- NP 620 Family Theory: Older Adult / NP 621 Primary Care Practicum
- NP 801 Capstone
More curriculum details are available here.
You Should Know
- A grade of 83 (B) is required in every graduate nursing course.
- Failing a nursing course twice, or failing a second nursing course, results in dismissal from the major.
- Students have a maximum of five years to finish.
MSN Clinical Requirements
- Total: 600 hours (200 + 100 + 100 + 200)
- NP 613: 200 hours with young and middle-aged adults
- NP 618: 100 hours of women’s health, including obstetrics
- NP 619: 100 hours of pediatrics
- NP 621: 200 hours with older adults, or 100 older-adult hours plus 100 specialty hours
- Campus skills session: mandatory during the FNP courses; counts as 24 hours of clinical time
- Preceptor mix: at least 300 hours with an NP preceptor; the rest may be with physicians
- Placement: students identify sites and preceptors; Saint Joseph’s reviews each one and does not approve all submissions
- Faculty oversight: three-way calls with student and preceptor at the start, midterm, and end of each practicum; hours and case logs tracked in Typhon
Six hundred hours sits at the low end of the 600 to 700 range common among FNP programs, and 100 hours above the 500-hour certification floor. If a 200-hour practicum runs over a 16-week term, it works out to about 12.5 hours per week; over 8 weeks, about 25. The placement model is support, not placement. Expect to recruit your own preceptors, and plan your NP hours early, since the college itself advises using physicians for women’s health and pediatrics, where NP preceptors are harder to find.
You Should Know
- FNP clinicals are approved only in 37 states. They are not approved in Alabama, Arizona, Delaware, Washington, D.C., Idaho, Kansas, Louisiana, Minnesota, Mississippi, Montana, Nevada, New York, North Dakota, or West Virginia.
- Whether the 24-hour skills session counts inside the 600 hours or adds to them is not clearly stated.
- Practicum course length (8 or 16 weeks) is not clearly stated, so the weekly load above is derived.
- In-person faculty site visits are not mentioned; oversight is described as calls and Typhon review.
- Telehealth clinical policy is not clearly stated.
MSN Admissions
Admission requires one year of RN experience and an undergraduate statistics course with a B or better. There is no GRE and no application fee.
- BSN from an accredited institution
- Active, unrestricted, unencumbered U.S. RN license
- One year of RN experience
- Cumulative GPA of 3.0
- Undergraduate statistics with a B or better (conditional admission possible while completing it)
- Resume or CV and a career statement on the NP role
- Three references: a peer, a supervisor, and prior faculty
- All official transcripts; TOEFL if needed
- Starts in fall, spring, and summer
You Should Know
- Applicants with past license sanctions must have been restriction-free for the two years before applying.
Post-Graduate Family Nurse Practitioner Certificate
The estimated tuition for the certificate at Saint Joseph’s College of Maine is approximately $22,380 (30 credits at $746/credit). The program can generally be completed in about 1.7 years (5 semesters) at two courses per term, a derived figure since Saint Joseph’s does not publish a certificate timeline.
The official program is the Family Nurse Practitioner Post-Graduate APRN Certificate.
Certificate Curriculum
The certificate is the MSN minus the five leadership core courses and the capstone. It keeps advanced pharmacology, pathophysiology, and health assessment, plus the full seven-course FNP block. That makes it 18 credits ($13,428) shorter than the MSN while preparing students for the same national FNP certification exam.
- NU 601, NU 607, NU 608 (the three advanced foundations)
- NP 600 The Advanced Practice Nurse as Provider
- NP 612 / NP 613 Young and Middle Age Adult theory and practicum
- NP 618 Women’s Health Theory and Practice
- NP 619 Pediatric Theory and Practicum
- NP 620 / NP 621 Older Adult theory and practicum
More curriculum details are available here.
You Should Know
- The catalog does not describe a gap analysis that waives the foundations for current NPs. Certified NPs should ask whether NU 601, NU 607, and NU 608 can be credited.
Certificate Clinical Requirements
- Total: minimum of 600 supervised hours, completed in the student’s own geographic area
- Sequence: the same four practicum courses as the MSN (NP 613, 618, 619, 621)
- Campus skills session: required of NP-track students; counts as 24 clinical hours
- Placement and preceptor rules: same as the MSN
Certificate students get the full FNP clinical sequence, not a reduced one. That is the right design for nurses with no prior NP role, though it gives already-certified NPs no clinical shortcut.
Certificate Admissions
Admission is described as competitive and requires a 3.5 GPA in the MSN, higher than the MSN’s 3.0 bar.
- BSN and MSN from accredited institutions
- Cumulative MSN GPA of 3.5
- Active, unrestricted, unencumbered U.S. RN license
- Any existing NP license or national certification must also be unrestricted
- Three references, career statement, resume or CV, all transcripts
You Should Know
- Admission includes a review of whether the applicant’s MSN meets all requirements. If courses are missing, students are notified but are not required to take them within or before the certificate.
- State boards set their own rules for adding a second APRN population focus. Nurses certified in another specialty should confirm with their board.
- The same 37-state clinical approval list applies.
Tuition
Saint Joseph’s College of Maine charges $746 per credit for graduate nursing in 2026-2027, the same rate for every state. Clinical fees and a per-semester online fee are billed separately.
| Item | MSN | Certificate |
|---|---|---|
| Tuition ($746 × credits) | $35,808 (48) | $22,380 (30) |
| NP clinical fee ($773 × 4 practicum courses, derived) | $3,092 | $3,092 |
| Online fee ($124/semester at 6+ credits, derived term count) | $868 (7) | $620 (5) |
| Graduation fee | $75 | Not clearly stated |
| Estimated all-in total (derived) | $39,843 | $26,092 |
Confirmed costs:
- Graduate nursing tuition: $746 per credit, effective July 1, 2026
- NP clinical fee: $773 per course, charged on selected courses
- Online fee: $124 per semester at 6 or more credits; $62 at 0 to 5 credits
- Graduation fee: $75
- Application fee: $0
Be aware that:
- The school does not list which courses carry the $773 clinical fee. The estimate assumes the four FNP practicum courses.
- The MSN page’s published total of $28,686 to $33,792 predates the current rate. It matches older rates of $683 and $704 per credit and understates the current 48-credit FNP tuition by $2,016.
- Part-time students pay the lower $62 online fee per semester but over more semesters.
- A HRSA Advanced Nursing Education Workforce scholarship was offered to FNP students for tuition, clinical expenses, and some living costs, aimed at rural and underserved care. Its last published deadline was June 1, 2025; current availability is not clearly stated.
- Military, alumni, and employer partnership rates exist but are not published.
The fees add roughly 11 to 17 percent to tuition. That puts the MSN at about $830 per credit all in and the certificate at about $870, since the clinical fees are the same for both and are spread over fewer certificate credits. See the Saint Joseph’s online tuition and fees page.
Why Choose This FNP Program?
Saint Joseph’s fits nurses outside Maine who want an online FNP with one campus trip, a single residency-blind rate, and the freedom to build their clinical plan around preceptors they already know.
Working nurses with their own clinical network. The model rewards nurses who can line up an NP preceptor for the adult practicum and physician preceptors for women’s health and pediatrics. Flexible fall, spring, and summer starts and a part-time option of 3.5 to 4 years suit nurses keeping full-time jobs.
MSN or certificate by credential, not by clinicals. Both tracks run the same 600-hour sequence. Choose the MSN if you need the master’s degree; choose the certificate if you already hold an MSN, since it skips 18 credits of leadership core and capstone.
Honest drawbacks. Placement is your job, and the sequence will not let you skip ahead if one population’s preceptor falls through. Hours sit at the low end of the common range. Residents of 13 states, D.C., and New York cannot do FNP clinicals at home. Budget for about $4,000 in fees beyond tuition.
Accreditation
The master’s degree program in nursing and the post-graduate APRN certificate program at Saint Joseph’s College of Maine are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). That covers both FNP tracks.
Saint Joseph’s is institutionally accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education (NECHE), which accredits most colleges in New England and supports federal financial aid eligibility and credit recognition.
In November 2024, NECHE issued the college a Notation, its finding that the college was in danger of not meeting the Institutional Resources standard, tied to enrollment and finances. NECHE accepted the college’s focused evaluation in March 2026 and its interim report in September 2026, and the college remains an accredited member.
Graduates of either track are eligible to sit for the national FNP certification exam (AANP or ANCC).
More FNP Programs in Maine
- Beal University - Bangor
- Husson University - Bangor
- University of Maine - Orono
- University of Southern Maine - Portland