Mercer University FNP Programs

Georgia Baptist College of Nursing • Macon, GA • Hybrid • $1,159/credit

Mercer University offers 3 Family Nurse Practitioner Tracks:

  • MSN
  • BSN to DNP
  • Post-Graduate Certificate

Program Tracks Overview

ProgramEst. TuitionEst. DurationCredit Hours
MSN$40.6K FT 17–28 mo48
BSN-DNP$97.7K8 sem (~2.7 yrs)76
Post-Grad CertNot statedNot statedNot stated

Mercer’s defining advantage is clinical volume with built-in placement support: a minimum of 780 practicum hours — well above the 600–700 hours most FNP programs require — with faculty overseeing and helping secure every placement. The trade-off is geography: coursework is live-online with in-person labs in Atlanta, and every track requires an unencumbered Georgia RN license.

Quick Facts

FeatureDetails
Program TypesMSN, BSN-DNP, Post-Graduate Certificate
FormatHybrid: synchronous online classes + in-person labs and clinicals (MSN)
Clinical Hours780 (MSN); 780 practicum + 240 immersion = 1,020 (DNP)
Clinical PlacementFaculty oversee all placements and assist in securing them
PopulationPrimary care across the lifespan
Distinctive CourseworkDedicated Women’s Health course; DNP adds economics, epidemiology, informatics
RN License RequirementsUnencumbered Georgia RN license (all tracks)
RN ExperienceMSN: 1 year required. BSN-DNP: none required
Admissions InterviewRequired for every track
TuitionMSN $1,159/cr (flat $10,430/sem at 9+ cr); DNP $1,285.50/cr
AccreditationCCNE (BSN, MSN, DNP); Georgia Board of Nursing approved

MSN — Family Nurse Practitioner

The estimated tuition for the MSN Family Nurse Practitioner track at Mercer University is approximately $55,632 (48 credits at $1,159/credit) on a per-credit basis, or roughly $40,600 for full-time students billed at the flat semester rate — see the Tuition section for why the difference is so large.

The program can generally be completed in about 17–28 months, with full-time (4 semesters) and part-time (7 semesters) plans.

MSN Curriculum

The 48-credit curriculum is a lockstep sequence, not a pick-your-pace catalog. Full-time students enter in fall and take all three Ps plus their first adult primary care course in semester one — a heavy 14-credit start that front-loads the hardest science. Clinical courses then run three consecutive semesters, so once practicums begin there is no clinical-free break. Two features stand out: women’s health gets its own dedicated course rather than being folded into adult care, and the program includes a standalone statistics course — more research grounding than many MSN tracks require.

  • NUR 602 Advanced Health Assessment (3 cr)
  • NUR 603 Advanced Physiology/Pathophysiology (3 cr)
  • NUR 607 Advanced Pharmacology (3 cr)
  • NUR 631/634 Care of Adults in the Primary Care Setting I & II (7 cr)
  • NUR 641 Care of Children/Adolescents in the Primary Care Setting (3 cr)
  • NUR 653 Women’s Health (2 cr)
  • NUR 622/629/636 Primary Care Practicums I–III (13 cr / 780 clinical hrs)
  • NUR 675 Statistics for the Behavioral and Clinical Sciences (3 cr)
  • NUR 650 Interprofessional Leadership & Practice Excellence (2 cr)

More curriculum details are available here.

MSN Clinical Requirements

  • Minimum 780 clinical practice hours: Practicum I (240) + Practicum II (240) + Practicum III (300)
  • Credit-to-clinical ratio of 1:4 for practicum courses
  • Faculty oversee all placements and assist in securing sites aligned with student goals
  • Students are encouraged to identify potential preceptors through their own professional networks; all preceptors must meet program qualifications shared in advance
  • In-person labs and clinical experiences accompany the online synchronous coursework

At 780 hours, Mercer sits well above the 500-hour certification floor and above the 600–700 hours typical of FNP programs — roughly one to two extra months of full-time clinical work, which strengthens hands-on preparation but demands more schedule flexibility. The placement model is a genuine middle ground: faculty own the final placement, but students who bring preceptor leads from their own networks will move faster than those who wait.

MSN Admissions

Two gates are easy to miss: a mandatory admissions interview and a one-year RN work experience minimum — and your RN license must be in Georgia.

  • BSN from an ACEN, NLNAC, CNEA, or CCNE accredited program
  • Undergraduate GPA 3.0; conditional admission possible at 2.75–2.99 (upper-division nursing courses)
  • Unencumbered Georgia RN license
  • Minimum one year of professional RN work experience
  • Three professional references; at least one from a master’s-prepared (or higher) nurse; recent BSN grads (within 5 years) need a faculty reference
  • Cover letter (≤1,000 words), résumé, official transcripts, $50 fee
  • Interview with the graduate programs coordinator/dean after application
  • Start terms listed as January, May, and August; the published full-time sequence assumes a fall entry, so non-fall starts may follow an adjusted plan

BSN to DNP — Family Nurse Practitioner

The estimated tuition for the BSN to DNP Family Nurse Practitioner track at Mercer University is approximately $97,698 (76 credits at $1,285.50/credit). The program can generally be completed in about eight consecutive semesters (roughly 2.7 years) on the published full-time plan.

BSN-DNP Curriculum

Sequencing. The design is doctoral-first: year one is almost entirely DNP core (epidemiology, population health, economics, policy, informatics) before any FNP specialty coursework begins in semester four. Students who want to see patients early will find that frustrating; students who want the systems-leadership foundation before clinical training will find it logical.

FNP specialty phase. Semesters four through seven mirror the MSN clinical sequence — the same adult, pediatric, and women’s health courses — layered with DNP project work.

Immersion and project. The final year adds 240 immersion hours (organizational leadership plus two DNP Immersion courses) alongside the DNP scholarly project, pushing total post-baccalaureate practice hours to 1,020.

  • NUR 731 Clinical Epidemiology (3 cr)
  • NUR 734 Health Care Economics and Finance (3 cr)
  • NUR 735 Informatics and Patient Care Technology (3 cr)
  • NUR 602/603/607 Advanced Assessment, Patho, Pharm (9 cr)
  • NUR 631/634/641/653 Adult, Pediatric, and Women’s Health courses (12 cr)
  • NUR 771–777 Primary Care Practicums I–IV (13 cr / 780 practicum hrs)
  • NUR 738 Organizational and Systems Leadership (60 immersion hrs)
  • NUR 740A/B DNP Immersion (180 immersion hrs)
  • NUR 729/741 DNP Project Development / Advancing Nursing Practice (3 cr)

More curriculum details are available here.

BSN-DNP Clinical Requirements

  • 780 FNP practicum hours across four courses: 180 + 180 + 180 + 240
  • 240 additional DNP immersion hours (60 + 60 + 120)
  • Total post-baccalaureate practice hours: 1,020
  • Credit-to-clinical ratio of 1:4 for practicum courses

The 1,020 combined hours put this track near the top of clinical volume for BSN-entry DNP programs; the FNP practicum component alone (780) matches the MSN exactly, so doctoral students give up nothing in direct patient-care preparation. Note that the DNP page does not restate the placement-support language from the MSN page — confirm with admissions that faculty-arranged placement applies to DNP practicums as well.

BSN-DNP Admissions

Unlike the MSN, this track requires no RN work experience — a direct path for new BSN graduates — but the admissions process is more selective: a higher GPA bar, an interview, and a scholarly writing sample.

  • BSN from an ACEN, NLNAC, CNEA, or CCNE accredited program
  • Undergraduate GPA 3.2; conditional admission possible at 3.0–3.19 (upper-division nursing courses)
  • Unencumbered Georgia RN license; no work experience minimum
  • Three professional references; recent BSN grads (within 5 years) need two faculty references
  • Cover letter (≤1,000 words), résumé, official transcripts, $50 fee
  • Committee review, then interview with the Associate Dean, DNP Coordinator, or designee
  • Scholarly writing sample required after the interview; decisions typically within three weeks

Post-Graduate Certificate — FNP

The estimated tuition for the Post-Graduate FNP Certificate at Mercer University is not clearly stated — no credit total or published certificate rate appears in the source material. The completion time is also not clearly stated; post-graduate certificates are typically individualized after a gap analysis of prior MSN coursework, so contact admissions for a plan of study before comparing costs.

Certificate Admissions

This certificate is aimed at practicing APRNs adding the FNP population focus — an APRN license, not just an RN license, is required.

  • MSN from an NLNAC, ACEN, CNEA, or CCNE accredited program
  • Unencumbered APRN license in Georgia
  • Three professional references addressing experience as an advanced practice nurse
  • Cover letter describing professional goals, résumé/CV, official transcripts, $50 fee
  • Interview with the Associate Dean for Graduate Programs or faculty designee

Tuition

Mercer’s 2025–2026 graduate nursing tuition is $1,159 per credit for the MSN and $1,285.50 per credit for the DNP. On a straight per-credit basis, the 48-credit MSN totals an estimated $55,632 and the 76-credit BSN-DNP totals an estimated $97,698.

The number that changes everything for MSN students is the flat semester rate: $10,430 covers any load of 9 or more credits. The full-time plan runs 14, 14, and 12 credits in its first three semesters — each billed flat instead of per-credit — with only the final 8-credit semester billed per-credit (about $9,272). That puts full-time MSN tuition near $40,600, roughly $15,000 less than the part-time path, whose semesters mostly fall below the 9-credit threshold.

  • Activity fee: $230/semester
  • Credentialing fee: $25/semester
  • Liability insurance fee: $25 (spring only)
  • Flat-rate applicability to the 12-credit summer semester is not explicitly stated — verify with the bursar
  • No flat semester rate is published for DNP-level enrollment; the DNP estimate uses the per-credit rate throughout
  • Certificate tuition: not clearly stated
  • Rates are labeled 2025–2026 estimates and may increase in later years

All-in, expect roughly $1,045 in mandatory fees over a four-semester MSN on top of tuition — modest by private-school standards — but the full-time vs. part-time billing gap means your enrollment pace, not the sticker rate, is the biggest cost decision you’ll make here.

Verify current figures on the official tuition page.

Why Choose This FNP Program?

Mercer fits nurses who would rather train harder than train remotely: Georgia-licensed RNs within reach of Atlanta who want maximum clinical preparation and faculty who take responsibility for placements.

The 780-hour clinical requirement is the core of the value. Most FNP graduates certify with 600–700 hours; Mercer students finish with more supervised patient-care time and faculty-overseen placements, with the option to accelerate site-finding through their own networks. The blended format — live online classes plus in-person labs — trades scheduling convenience for the hands-on skills work that fully asynchronous programs can’t replicate. For nurses choosing between degrees, the entry rules invert the usual logic: the MSN requires a year of RN experience while the BSN-DNP requires none, making the doctorate the more direct route for new graduates who are certain about advanced practice.

The honest trade-offs: this is not a program for out-of-state nurses (Georgia license required, in-person components in Atlanta), not for nurses who need fully asynchronous coursework, and the part-time MSN path costs about $15,000 more than full-time because it forfeits the flat semester rate. If you need 100% online with zero synchronous obligations, a program like South University’s online MSN is the closer fit; if you want the deepest clinical bench in a Georgia program, Mercer is hard to beat.

Accreditation

The baccalaureate, master’s, and Doctor of Nursing Practice programs at Mercer University are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), and Georgia Baptist College of Nursing holds full approval from the Georgia Board of Nursing (verified from the school’s accreditation page). Mercer University is institutionally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC). The school’s CCNE statement names the BSN, MSN, and DNP programs; the post-graduate certificate is not listed in that wording, so certificate applicants should confirm its accreditation status in writing. Graduates of the MSN and BSN-DNP FNP tracks are prepared to sit for the FNP certification exam offered by either ANCC (FNP-BC) or AANPCB (FNP-C) — dual eligibility the university states explicitly.

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