Kennesaw State University offers an MSN Family Nurse Practitioner Track.
Program Tracks Overview
| Program | Est. Tuition | Est. Duration | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSN | ~$16.4K in-state | 5 sems FT / 8 sems PT | 44 |
Kennesaw State’s defining advantage is public-school pricing paired with speed: roughly $16,400 all-in for Georgia residents and a five-semester full-time finish that KSU markets as one of the shortest FNP paths in the state. It backs that up with 840 practicum hours — well above what most FNP programs require — delivered through a hybrid schedule of no more than one campus weekend per month.
Quick Facts
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Program Types | MSN (Family Nurse Practitioner) |
| Format | Hybrid; courses 100% online or max one campus weekend/month in Kennesaw |
| Clinical Hours | 840 practicum hours (per KSU plans of study) |
| Clinical Placement | Established preceptor site network across north Georgia |
| Population | Primary care across the lifespan |
| Distinctive Coursework | Three-course Evidence-Based Practice sequence; Clinical Management of Key Populations |
| Concentrations | None |
| RN License Requirements | Unencumbered Georgia RN license required |
| RN Experience | 1 year full-time direct patient care within last 5 years |
| Start Term | Fall only (single annual cohort) |
| Tuition | $306/credit in-state; $1,175/credit out-of-state; $594/semester fees |
| Accreditation | CCNE |
MSN – Family Nurse Practitioner
The estimated tuition for the MSN Family Nurse Practitioner at Kennesaw State University is approximately $16,434 for Georgia residents (44 credits at $306/credit, plus $594 per semester in mandatory fees over five semesters).
The program can generally be completed in about two years — five semesters full time or eight semesters part time.
KSU’s graduate catalog description says the program “is completed in four semesters,” but the program pages, plans of study, and marketing materials all state five semesters full time. Plan around five.
MSN Curriculum
The 44 credits split into three blocks: a 17-credit core, a 10-credit family clinical management sequence, and a 17-credit practicum residency. That residency block is the structural story here — nearly 40% of the degree is supervised clinical practice, which is why KSU’s practicum hour total runs so far above typical FNP programs. Instead of a thesis or single capstone, research training runs through a three-course Evidence-Based Practice sequence spread across the program, a design that keeps scholarly work tied to ongoing clinical coursework rather than isolated at the end.
Core Courses (17 credits) — the advanced practice foundation plus the EBP sequence:
- NURS 7715: Professional Advanced Role Development and Health Care Issues
- NURS 7735: Advanced Health Assessment, Health Maintenance and Health Promotion
- NURS 7755: Pharmacology for Advanced Practice Nursing
- NURS 7765: Advanced Physiology and Pathophysiology
- NURS 7776–7779: Theory and Research plus Evidence-Based Practice I–III
Family Curriculum (10 credits) — population-specific clinical management:
- NURS 7800: Clinical Management of Selected Common Health Conditions in Adults
- NURS 7805: Clinical Management of Selected Common Health Conditions in Children
- NURS 7830: Clinical Management of Reproductive Health
- NURS 7835: Clinical Management of Key Populations
Residency (17 credits) — NURS 7850–7853: Primary Care Practicum I–IV, the four-course clinical sequence carrying the 840 practicum hours.
More curriculum details are available here.
MSN Clinical Requirements
- 840 total practicum hours, confirmed on KSU’s full-time and part-time plans of study (not listed on the main program page)
- Hours are distributed across the four Primary Care Practicum courses (17 residency credits); the final residency courses carry the heaviest loads (e.g., 180 hours in Primary Care Residency III)
- KSU maintains established relationships with a broad network of preceptor practicum sites in north Georgia
- On-campus labs are part of the hybrid weekend schedule
- Georgia RN licensure is required, so expect clinicals to be completed in Georgia
At 840 hours, KSU sits far above the 500-hour certification floor and comfortably above the 600–700 hours common among FNP programs — it also exceeds the totals published by Georgia rivals like Georgia Southwestern (780) and South University (750). The trade-off is time: those hours are compressed into a five-semester full-time schedule, so expect clinical days on top of coursework from early in the program. The established north Georgia site network reduces, but does not eliminate, the preceptor-hunting burden — KSU does not advertise a placement guarantee.
MSN Admissions
Admissions run on a single fall cohort with an experience gate and a prerequisite course requirement — three things that catch applicants off guard more often than the GPA line.
- BSN from a nationally accredited program with a minimum 3.0 GPA
- Minimum one year of full-time RN experience with direct patient care, within the last five years, documented on a resume
- Current unencumbered Georgia RN license
- Completed undergraduate research course
- Statement of personal program goals and two professional letters of reference
- $60 application fee; no GRE required
- Fall entry only; the annual cycle runs a December 15 priority deadline and May 1 regular deadline, with later applicants considered only if cohort space remains
- Up to 9 semester hours (15 quarter hours) of graduate transfer credit, no more than five years old, at the program director’s discretion
- Non-degree students may not enroll in FNP courses
Tuition
Kennesaw State charges $306 per credit for in-state graduate tuition and $1,175 per credit for out-of-state students, plus a flat $594 in mandatory student fees each semester. At 44 credits, that works out to about $13,464 in in-state tuition and roughly $16,434 all-in for a five-semester full-time plan ($13,464 + $2,970 in fees). Out-of-state students would pay about $51,700 in tuition, or roughly $54,670 with fees — though the Georgia RN license requirement makes out-of-state enrollment largely theoretical.
- The $594/semester fee bundle (athletic, technology, health, parking, recreation, and other fees) is flat regardless of credit load — part-time students pay it for eight semesters instead of five, adding about $1,782 to the total
- Rates shown are the published Fall 2026–Summer 2027 schedule; expect modest annual adjustments over a multi-year program
- Clinical, lab, or course fees beyond the mandatory bundle are not itemized in the source material
The practical takeaway: for a Georgia resident, the true all-in cost lands in the mid-teens — a fraction of what private FNP programs in the state charge — and the fastest way to keep it there is finishing in five semesters, since every extra semester adds $594 in fees whether or not you take a full load.
Official tuition and fee schedules are here.
Why Choose This FNP Program?
This program fits Georgia-licensed RNs who want the strongest cost-to-clinical-training ratio in the state and can commit to a structured, cohort-based schedule.
The value case is unusually clean. At roughly $16,400 all-in, KSU costs less than half of what South University’s Savannah-based MSN runs (~$40,900), and it pairs that price with more clinical training, not less — 840 practicum hours against South University’s 750 and the 600–700 typical elsewhere. Add the five-semester full-time timeline and KSU is simultaneously one of the cheapest, fastest, and most clinically intensive FNP options in Georgia. Small cohort classes taught by doctoral faculty and a 45-year pipeline into Georgia’s major healthcare employers round out the case.
The trade-offs are structural rather than hidden. Admission requires a Georgia RN license, a 3.0 nursing GPA, a completed undergraduate research course, and at least one year of recent direct-care experience — a higher bar than South University’s 2.5 GPA, no-experience-required entry, which remains the more accessible door for nurses with weaker transcripts. The single fall start means a missed May deadline costs a full year. And while many courses run fully online, this is not a distance program: plan for up to one weekend a month on the Kennesaw campus and clinicals through the north Georgia site network. Nurses outside metro Atlanta’s orbit, or those needing rolling starts and zero campus travel, should look elsewhere; for everyone else in the region, KSU is the cost benchmark the rest of the state’s programs have to beat.
Accreditation
The baccalaureate and master’s degree programs in nursing at Kennesaw State University are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). The program prepares graduates to sit for national FNP certification; KSU does not specify AANP (FNP-C) versus ANCC (FNP-BC), though graduates of CCNE-accredited FNP programs can generally sit for either exam.
Compare More Family NP Programs in Georgia
- Augusta University - Augusta
- Georgia College & State University - Milledgeville
- Georgia Southern University - UPDATE
- Georgia State University - Atlanta
- Georgia Southwestern State University - Americus
- Mercer University - Macon
- University of North Georgia - Dahlonega