Franciscan Missionaries of Our Lady University (FranU) offers 3 Family Nurse Practitioner Tracks:
- MSN–FNP — Traditional Entry
- MSN–FNP — Expedited Entry
- Post-Master’s Certificate
Program Tracks Overview
| Program | Est. Tuition | Est. Duration | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSN (Traditional) | $38.9K–$41.8K | 2–3 yrs | 44 |
| MSN (Expedited) | ~$41.8K | 3 yrs | 44 |
| Certificate | $27.7K | 1–2 yrs | 19.5–30.5 |
FranU’s defining advantage is that rural and medically underserved practice is written into the program’s operating goals, not just its mission statement — the School of Nursing commits to coordinating practicum experiences in those settings. Its second draw is timing: the one-year RN experience requirement applies before practicum courses begin, not at admission, so nurses can enroll before they have met it.
Quick Facts
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Program Types | MSN–FNP (Traditional and Expedited Entry); Post-Master’s Certificate |
| Format | MSN: hybrid online and in-person. Certificate: primarily online with occasional in-person intensives or lectures. |
| Clinical Hours | 750 practicum hours, all tracks. MSN adds 45 laboratory hours. |
| Clinical Placement | Program goal: coordinated practicums in rural and medically underserved settings. Who sources sites is not stated. |
| Population | Primary care across the lifespan, with a rural and medically underserved emphasis |
| Distinctive Coursework | Bioethics, Independent Research, Scholarly Project, Senior Seminar, plus a service-learning graduation requirement |
| Concentrations | None offered |
| RN License Requirements | Unencumbered RN in any state at application; Louisiana licensure required before coursework begins |
| RN Experience Gate | One year full-time RN experience required before starting practicum courses, not at admission |
| Admissions Screen | Faculty interview by invitation, plus the EQ-i 2.0 emotional intelligence assessment |
| Application Cycle | MSN cycle opens March 1 with a mid-September deadline for spring entry. Certificate admits year-round. |
| Tuition | $27,712–$41,769 depending on track and curriculum plan (2026–2027 rates) |
| Accreditation | ACEN (MSN and Post-Master’s Certificate), Continuing Accreditation; SACSCOC institutional; LSBN approved |
MSN–FNP: Traditional Entry
The estimated tuition for the Master of Science in Nursing – Family Nurse Practitioner at FranU is approximately $38,925 on the two-year curriculum plan or $41,769 on the three-year plan (44 credits either way, at a derived blended rate of about $885 to $949 per credit including fees).
The program can generally be completed in two or three years, and the choice of plan is made up front because it determines the billing schedule.
Traditional Entry Curriculum
Foundation sequence. The first year is didactic and front-loads the science and scholarship courses before any patient contact. Two of the six foundation courses carry an IPGC prefix — interprofessional graduate core — meaning nursing students sit alongside students from FranU’s physician assistant, health administration, and allied health programs for evidence-informed practice and bioethics. This is the concrete expression of the “sharing resources and talent with other programs and health professionals” goal the School of Nursing publishes, and it is unusual: most FNP curricula keep every course inside the nursing department.
Research component. FranU includes both a 1.5-credit Independent Research course and a 3-credit Scholarly Project in a 44-credit master’s. That is roughly 4.5 credits — about 10 percent of the degree — spent on scholarly work rather than clinical content. Nurses who want the shortest path to the boards will find this a cost; those considering a later DNP will find the project experience transfers well conceptually.
Specialty sequence. The FNP specialty content is concentrated in three sequential practicum courses (Family Practice I, II, and III) totaling 16.5 credits, wrapped by a 3-credit Senior Seminar in the final semester. Advanced Health Assessment carries a separate 1-credit lab with 45 scheduled laboratory hours, which is the clearest evidence of a physical campus obligation in the MSN.
- NURS 5330 Physiology and Pathophysiology for Advanced Practice Nursing (3)
- NURS 6345 Professional Aspects of Advanced Practice Nursing (3)
- IPGC 6330 Essentials of Evidence-Informed Practice in Healthcare (3)
- NURS 5110 Independent Research in Advanced Practice Nursing (1.5)
- NURS 5235 Nursing Theory & Advanced Practice Nursing (2) and IPGC 6125 Bioethics (1)
- NURS 6340 Advanced Health Assessment and Health Promotion (3) with NURS 6340L Family Practice Lab (1)
- NURS 6420 Pharmacology for Advanced Practice Nursing (4)
- NURS 5345 Scholarly Project (3)
- NURS 5610 / 5615 / 5620 Advanced Practice Nursing: Family Practice I–III (6 / 4.5 / 6)
- NURS 5355 Senior Seminar (3)
Semester credits sum to 44 across both the two-year and three-year plans, matching the stated total. Graduation also requires at least one service-learning course, which is a real completion condition and not a suggestion.
More curriculum details are available here.
Traditional Entry Clinical Requirements
- 750 practicum hours, stated identically on the program page and in the academic catalog
- 45 laboratory hours, counted separately from the 750 and tied to the Advanced Health Assessment lab
- Hours are earned across three sequential practicum courses totaling 16.5 credits, which works out to roughly 45 clinical hours per practicum credit
- Per-course hour splits are not published, so the distribution across Family Practice I, II, and III cannot be verified ⚠️
- The School of Nursing lists coordinating practicum experiences in predominantly medically underserved and/or rural settings as a formal program goal
- Whether the program assigns sites and preceptors or students secure their own is not clearly stated
- One year of full-time RN experience must be complete before practicum courses begin
At 750 hours, FranU sits 250 above the 500-hour national certification floor and above the 600 to 700 hours common in FNP programs. That extra volume is time you are not being paid for, so it matters whether it is time well spent — and here the rural and underserved setting emphasis is the answer FranU offers. The gap worth closing before you commit is the placement mechanism: a stated goal of coordinating placements is meaningfully different from a guarantee, and the difference is roughly a semester of your own legwork. Ask the program directly, in writing, who is responsible for securing your sites.
Traditional Entry Admissions
Two features set this apart from a typical FNP application: every advancing applicant is interviewed by faculty, and every interviewee completes the EQ-i 2.0, a 133-item emotional intelligence assessment. Admission is competitive against a single annual cycle, so a missed deadline costs a full year.
- BSN from an ACEN-, CCNE-, or CNEA-accredited institution (the program page lists CCNE or ACEN only; the catalog adds CNEA)
- Unencumbered RN license in any state, with eligibility for Louisiana licensure at application; Louisiana licensure required before coursework starts
- Minimum 3.0 cumulative undergraduate GPA
- One year full-time RN experience before beginning practicum courses
- Three professional letters of recommendation, one from a current immediate supervisor
- One-page professional goal statement specific to the FNP role
- Current BLS certification and immunization records, official copies
- Compliance with the MSN–FNP Core Performance Standards
- Interview by invitation, followed by the EQ-i 2.0 assessment; no preparation is possible or expected
- Application cycle opens March 1; the published deadline for spring entry was September 16 (dated to the Spring 2026 cycle — confirm the current year’s date)
Applicants with a non-nursing bachelor’s are not eligible even if they hold an RN license; FranU requires a BSN or an equivalent such as the Clinical Nurse Leader degree. That closes off the bridge route some Louisiana programs keep open.
MSN–FNP: Expedited Entry
The estimated tuition for the Expedited Entry FNP pathway is approximately $41,769, matching the three-year curriculum plan (44 credits at a derived blended rate of about $949 per credit including fees).
The program describes coursework as covering three years; the published fee schedule is organized by two-year and three-year curriculum plan rather than by entry pathway, so the mapping of Expedited Entry to the three-year schedule is an inference, not a published statement.
Expedited Entry Curriculum
The name is misleading in a way worth understanding before you apply. Expedited Entry is not a shorter program — it is an earlier entrance. It is open to nurses currently enrolled in a BSN program or within one year of finishing one, and it leads to the same 44-credit MSN–FNP degree, spread across nine semesters instead of six.
What makes it work is the placement of the experience gate. FranU requires one year of full-time RN experience before practicum courses begin, not before admission. On the three-year plan, the practicum sequence does not start until the second half of the program, which gives a new graduate room to sit the NCLEX, start working, and accumulate that year while completing didactic coursework. In effect, the longer plan buys eligibility rather than costing time.
Course content is identical to the Traditional Entry sequence listed above. The differences are the semester load (roughly 1.5 to 6 credits per term instead of 4.5 to 9) and the total cost.
Expedited Entry Clinical Requirements
- 750 practicum hours, the same requirement as Traditional Entry
- 45 laboratory hours through the Advanced Health Assessment lab
- Practicum courses fall in semesters 6 through 9 of the nine-semester plan, based on the credit distribution in the published fee schedule ⚠️ (derived, not stated)
- The one-year RN experience requirement must be satisfied before those practicum courses begin
The practical consequence is that a nurse who graduates with a BSN in May and enrolls that fall would reach practicums with roughly the required experience in hand — but only if they are working as an RN throughout. If you plan to study without working, this pathway’s core advantage disappears and you will hit the same gate a Traditional Entry applicant faces.
Expedited Entry Admissions
Eligibility is the only substantive difference from Traditional Entry: you must be currently enrolled in a BSN program or have graduated from one within the past year. All other requirements — GPA, recommendations, goal statement, BLS, immunizations, interview, EQ-i 2.0 — apply identically. Note that RN licensure is still required, so this is an early-career pathway rather than a direct-entry one.
Post-Master’s Certificate — FNP
The estimated tuition for the Post-Master’s Certificate in Family Nurse Practitioner is approximately $27,712 as billed on the published five-semester schedule (30.5 credits at a derived blended rate of about $909 per credit including fees).
The certificate can generally be completed in one to two years, and course waivers can reduce it to as few as 19.5 credits, which would lower the cost below the published figure.
Certificate Curriculum
FranU publishes the certificate’s credit range and semester structure but not its course list. The catalog states 19.5 to 30.5 credits depending on waivers; the fee schedule bills a five-semester plan of 3, 8, 6, 4.5, and 9 credits.
Those blocks and their attached course fees line up exactly with the MSN’s pathophysiology, assessment-plus-pharmacology, and three-part practicum semesters, which strongly suggests the certificate shares the MSN’s clinical spine while dropping theory, research, and the scholarly project. Treat that as a reasonable reading of the fee schedule rather than a published curriculum.
The waiver range is the number to focus on. An 11-credit swing is roughly $10,000, and it is decided by transcript review of your existing master’s coursework. Nurses with recent, graduate-level advanced pathophysiology, pharmacology, and health assessment on their record stand to save the most; nurses whose MSN was in education, administration, or informatics should expect to sit closer to the full 30.5.
Certificate Clinical Requirements
- 750 practicum hours, identical to the MSN requirement and not reduced by course waivers
- Same rural and medically underserved practicum emphasis the MSN carries
- Practicum and seminar courses are described as immersing students in FNP-level work
- Per-course hour splits are not published
This is the certificate’s defining trade-off: waivers cut classroom credits but not clinical hours. An already-credentialed NP moving into family practice still owes the full 750 hours, so the time saved is smaller than the credit reduction suggests. Budget for the clinical load first and treat the didactic savings as secondary.
Certificate Admissions
The certificate is the only FranU FNP track without a fixed annual cycle — the catalog states admission may occur throughout the year on a case-by-case basis. That flexibility is a genuine advantage over the MSN’s single spring intake.
- Master’s degree in nursing required
- Case-by-case, year-round admission review
- Track-specific GPA, recommendation, and interview requirements are not separately published (the MSN criteria are the only published set)
Tuition
FranU does not publish a single per-credit rate for the FNP programs. The university states that tuition is charged by credit hour and that the rate is set by course type, then bundles tuition with per-semester fees into one figure per term. Working backward from the published 2026–2027 schedules gives a derived blended cost of roughly $885 per credit on the two-year MSN plan, $949 per credit on the three-year MSN plan, and $909 per credit on the certificate — all inclusive of fees. Every per-credit figure on this page is derived from published totals divided by credits, not a published rate.
Published program totals for 2026–2027:
| Plan | Credits | Published Total |
|---|---|---|
| MSN, 2-year plan | 44 | $38,925.40 |
| MSN, 3-year plan | 44 | $41,769.40 |
| Post-Master’s Certificate | 30.5 | $27,711.65 |
- The three-year plan costs about $2,844 more for the identical 44 credits. The extra charge is structural: three additional semesters means three additional rounds of per-semester fees.
- Course fees sit on top of the per-semester tuition and fee charge and total $1,499.20 across each plan ($369.60, $350.00, $129.60, and $650.00, attached to the lab, assessment, and practicum semesters). The same four charges appear in all three schedules.
- The bundled semester figure absorbs administrative, enrollment services, general, library, St. Francis, SGA, technology, testing, course materials, and simulation fees. FranU describes each fee but does not publish individual amounts, so the split between tuition and fees cannot be reconstructed.
- NOTE: Credit total conflict: the three-year plan’s schedule lists a program total of 53 credits, but its own semester column sums to 44, matching the catalog. The 53 appears to be an error in the fee table.
- NOTE: Certificate total conflict: the certificate’s semester rows sum to $28,415.75, while the published program total reads $27,711.65 — a $704.10 gap. Ask which figure the bursar will bill.
- Certificate cost can fall meaningfully below the published total if waivers reduce the load toward 19.5 credits; the fee schedule prices only the full 30.5-credit version.
- All rates are 2026–2027 and explicitly subject to change. A separate 2025–2026 schedule exists, so confirm which year governs your start term.
Realistically, plan on $39,000 to $42,000 in tuition and fees for the MSN and roughly $28,000 for the full-length certificate, before books, travel to Baton Rouge for labs and in-person sessions, licensure costs, and certification exam fees.
Official figures are published on the FranU tuition and costs page.
Why Choose This FNP Program?
This program fits nurses who want to practice in rural or medically underserved Louisiana, who can get to Baton Rouge for labs and in-person sessions, and who value close faculty contact enough to accept a private-university price and a competitive, interview-gated application.
The rural and underserved emphasis is the reason to choose FranU over a purely online alternative. It is not a tagline — it appears in the program mission, in the published program goals, and in the description of both the MSN and certificate practicum experiences. For a nurse who intends to build a career in a shortage area, training in those settings from the start is worth more than the same 750 hours accumulated in a suburban clinic. The interprofessional core courses reinforce this, putting FNP students in the same classroom as PA and health administration students, which is a fair rehearsal for the thin, mixed-discipline teams that staff small-town practice.
The honest trade-offs are cost, geography, and admissions friction. FranU is a private university with no in-state discount, so a Louisiana nurse comparing it against the state’s public options is paying a real premium. The hybrid format and the 45 scheduled lab hours mean this is not a program you can complete from another state, and the MSN’s single annual intake makes a missed September deadline a year-long delay. The EQ-i 2.0 assessment and mandatory faculty interview add steps most FNP applications do not have — defensible for a program that emphasizes small cohorts and a 14:1 student-to-faculty ratio, but a hurdle if you are applying widely.
The outcome figures FranU publishes are strong — 100 percent employment within 12 months, 100 percent completion within 1.5 times program length, and a 95 percent first-attempt licensure exam pass rate against a stated 74 percent national average.
No cohort year or cohort size is attached to any of these numbers, and the national comparison figure is unsourced, so ask the program which graduating class they describe before weighing them heavily.
Accreditation
The MSN–FNP program and the Post-Master’s Certificate at FranU are accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN), with the most recent Board of Commissioners decision recorded as Continuing Accreditation. The university’s own accreditation table lists a September 2020 review, an eight-year term, no sanctions or negative actions, and a 2028 reaccreditation year. Institutionally, FranU is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), and the program is fully approved by the Louisiana State Board of Nursing. Worth noting: most graduate FNP programs are accredited by CCNE rather than ACEN.
Both are recognized by the U.S. Department of Education and both satisfy national FNP certification eligibility (AANP or ANCC), but a small number of employers and scholarship programs write CCNE into their language by habit — if that applies to you, confirm ACEN is acceptable in writing. FranU does not name a specific certifying body on its program page, and out-of-state applicants should check the university’s state authorization page before enrolling, since online delivery is not authorized in every state.
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