Ursuline College FNP Programs

Breen School of Nursing and Health Professions • Pepper Pike, OH • Mostly Online • $974–$1,351/credit

Ursuline College offers 3 Family Nurse Practitioner Tracks:

  • MSN
  • MSN with Bridge to DNP
  • Post-Graduate Certificate

Program Tracks Overview

ProgramEst. TuitionEst. DurationCredit Hours
MSN$58.1K8 sem43
BSN-DNP$76.9K–$92.4K3 yrs79
Certificate~$19.5K est.Not stated~20 est.

Ursuline’s defining feature is curricular: the FNP track is built directly on the college’s adult-gerontology nurse practitioner coursework, with pediatrics arriving as one 4-credit course carrying 150 clinical hours in the final term. Two caveats belong here as well. Ursuline publishes no total clinical-hour figure for any FNP pathway, and the college is mid-merger into Gannon University, a change that will move its institutional accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission to Middle States.

Quick Facts

FeatureDetails
Program TypesMSN, MSN with Bridge to DNP (BSN entry), Post-Graduate Certificate
FormatMostly Online. Format varies by semester and is not clearly stated for the FNP sequence.
Clinical HoursNot clearly stated. Only published figure is 150 pediatric hours in NR 638.
Clinical PlacementNot clearly stated. No published placement or preceptor-sourcing policy.
PopulationIndividuals and families across the life cycle
Distinctive CourseworkNR 638 Advanced Pediatrics with Pediatric Practicum; NR 650A–D policy, finance, ethics, and role sequence
RN License RequirementsCurrent, unencumbered Ohio RN license required for MSN and certificate applicants
Experience GateOne year minimum RN experience, and it must fall within the past two years
Enrollment RestrictionsNot offered to students in California, Idaho, Louisiana, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, or Washington
Start TermsGraduate nursing courses begin fall and spring only. Post-master’s courses vary.
Tuition$1,351/credit (MSN); $974/credit (DNP and MSN certificate programs), 2026–27 rates
AccreditationCCNE (master’s and post-graduate APRN certificate). Institutional accreditor changing during Gannon merger.

MSN Track: Family Nurse Practitioner

The estimated tuition for the MSN Family Nurse Practitioner track at Ursuline College is approximately $58,093 (43 credits at $1,351 per credit, derived). The program can generally be completed in about eight semesters of year-round full-time study, or eleven semesters part-time, based on the layout of the published curriculum guide.

Full details are on the MSN Track: Family Nurse Practitioner page.

MSN Curriculum

Adult-gerontology first, pediatrics last. Ursuline states plainly that the FNP track builds in the content from its Adult-Gerontology Nurse Practitioner coursework. That is not marketing language. The specialty sequence runs through NR 636 Adult Gerontology Health Disease Management and NR 620 Health Promotion, Maintenance and Restoration before pediatrics appears at all, and the registrar’s own course titles carry the shared designation: NR 616 is listed as the Advanced Diagnostics AGNP/FNP Practicum and NR 619 as the Focused Population AGNP/FNP Practicum. Pediatric content is concentrated in one course, NR 638, taken in the final term.

Locked progression. Ursuline gates the sequence hard. Level 1 must be finished before Level 2, and Level 2 before Level 3. NR 540 Advanced Physiology/Pathology is a prerequisite to both NR 541 Advanced Health Assessment and NR 542 Advanced Pharmacology, and NR 615 Advanced Diagnostics gates the advanced practice courses. The practical effect is that a failed or deferred course in Level 1 does not cost you a course, it costs you a level, and the guide offers no alternate route around it.

Practicum pairing. Each specialty didactic course carries a matched 1-credit clinical course taken in the same term: NR 615 with NR 616, NR 636 with NR 617, NR 620 with NR 618, and NR 635 with NR 619. This is a tighter didactic-to-clinical coupling than programs that stack a large practicum block at the end, and it means clinical placement has to be in place across four consecutive terms rather than one.

A four-part professional-role thread. NR 650A through 650D split policy, health care organizations and finance, ethical and legal responsibilities, and advanced practice roles into four separate 1-to-2-credit courses spread across Levels 2 and 3, ending in a culminating project. Most FNP programs fold this material into one or two larger courses.

  • NR 532 Introduction to Evidence-Based Practice (3) and NR 533 Application of Evidence-Based Practice (3)
  • NR 540 Advanced Physiology/Pathology (3), NR 541 Advanced Health Assessment (3), NR 542 Advanced Pharmacology (4)
  • NR 535 Health Care Informatics (2)
  • NR 615 Advanced Diagnostics (3) with NR 616 Clinical Management Practicum (1)
  • NR 636 Adult Gerontology Health Disease Management (3) with NR 617 Clinical Management Practicum (1)
  • NR 620 Health Promotion, Maintenance and Restoration (3) with NR 618 Clinical Management Practicum (1)
  • NR 635 Focused Populations (3) with NR 619 Clinical Management Practicum (1)
  • NR 638 Advanced Pediatrics with Pediatric Practicum, 150 clinical hours (4)
  • NR 650A Health Care Policy (1), NR 650B Health Care Organizations and Finance (1), NR 650C Advanced Practice Ethical and Legal Responsibilities (1), NR 650D Advanced Practice Roles and Responsibilities with culminating project (2)

More curriculum details are available in the FNP Curriculum Guide linked from the program page.

MSN Clinical Requirements

  • Total program clinical hours: not clearly stated
  • NR 638 Advanced Pediatrics with Pediatric Practicum: 150 clinical hours (the only published hour figure)
  • NR 616, NR 617, NR 618, and NR 619: 1 credit each, hours not published
  • Total practicum-bearing credits: 8 (four 1-credit clinical courses plus the 4-credit NR 638)
  • Clinical placement model, preceptor sourcing, and faculty site visits: not clearly stated

This is the single largest information gap on Ursuline’s FNP pages, and it matters more than any other unknown here. National FNP certification requires a minimum of 500 supervised direct patient care hours, and most FNP programs land in the 600 to 700 range. Ursuline publishes 150. That figure is almost certainly the pediatric portion rather than the program total, since the four paired practicum courses plainly carry hours of their own, but the college does not say what they are. You cannot reconstruct the total from anything Ursuline publishes, which means you cannot verify the program clears the certification floor without asking. A CCNE-accredited FNP program would not be accredited if it fell short, so the likely answer is reassuring. The point is that a prospective student should not have to infer it.

You Should Know
  • Ask the Breen School directly for the total supervised clinical hours and the per-course breakdown for NR 616 through NR 619 before applying. Get it in writing.
  • Ask who finds your preceptor. Ursuline publishes no placement guarantee, no placement assistance description, and no statement about whether students are responsible for sourcing their own sites. Silence usually means the student is responsible, but confirm it.
  • Clinical courses run in four consecutive terms in Levels 2 and 3, so a placement gap in any one of them stalls the whole sequence rather than one course.
  • Pediatric hours sit entirely in the final term. If NR 638 placement falls through, it falls through at the end of a multi-year program.

MSN Admissions

Two requirements here are stricter than they first appear: the RN license must be an Ohio license specifically, and the required year of nursing experience must be recent rather than merely somewhere in your history.

  • Application for Graduate Studies including a 500 to 1,000 word essay
  • Non-refundable $25 application fee
  • Official transcripts for the baccalaureate degree and all additional undergraduate or graduate coursework, sent directly by the issuing institution
  • Accredited BSN required
  • Recommended 3.0 GPA
  • Three recommendations on the required form, preferably one instructor, one advanced practice nurse, and one work supervisor
  • Current, unencumbered Ohio Registered Nurse license
  • Resume showing at least one year of RN experience, with that experience falling within the past two years
  • Graduate nursing courses begin in fall and spring semesters only
  • Applicants are encouraged to apply by July 1 for fall entry and December 1 for spring entry, on an annual cycle
  • Decisions are issued within two weeks of application
You Should Know
  • Ursuline does not offer the MSN program to students in California, Idaho, Louisiana, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, or Washington. The college attributes this to APRN distance education requirements and notes the list can change.
  • The Ohio RN license requirement is a real barrier for out-of-state applicants. An Illinois or Kentucky nurse would need to obtain Ohio licensure before enrolling, which is straightforward under the Nurse Licensure Compact and less so outside it.
  • The two-year recency window on nursing experience excludes nurses returning after an extended break, including parental leave or a stretch in a non-clinical role. This is a harder gate than a simple one-year experience requirement.
  • The transcript requirement covers all coursework whether or not credit was earned or the program completed, which is broader than most graduate nursing applications.
  • Fall and spring entry only means a missed cycle costs roughly six months, not a full year.

MSN with Bridge to DNP: Family Nurse Practitioner

The estimated tuition for the BSN to DNP Family Nurse Practitioner pathway at Ursuline College ranges from approximately $76,946 to $92,403 (79 credits, derived, with the range reflecting an unresolved question about which per-credit rate applies). The program can generally be completed in about three years of full-time study, with part-time timelines depending on course load.

Full details are on the MSN with Bridge to DNP page.

BSN-DNP Curriculum

The MSN inside the doctorate. The 79-credit plan is the 43-credit MSN FNP curriculum with 38 doctoral credits woven through it rather than stacked after it. Seventeen courses worth 41 credits appear identically in both plans. The only MSN courses dropped are NR 650A Health Care Policy and NR 650B Health Care Organizations and Finance, both absorbed into the doctoral NR 706 Advanced Healthcare Management and Policy. The MSN is conferred on completion of NR 638 in Level 3, with the remaining doctoral work following.

Doctoral content starts in term one. NR 701 Biostatistics for Outcomes Management and Evaluation appears in the very first fall alongside the MSN core, and NR 703 Epidemiology and NR 707 Interdisciplinary Organizational Leadership follow in Level 1. This is a genuine integration rather than a sequential bridge, and it means the doctoral workload is present from day one rather than arriving after the master’s is finished.

Scientific writing as a scaffolded thread. NR 700A, 700B, and 700C run one credit each across three consecutive terms, feeding the four-part capstone sequence NR 800 through NR 803, which covers project identification, proposal, implementation, and dissemination with DNP residency attached at each stage. Splitting the capstone into four graded checkpoints gives more structure than a single project course, and it also means four separate opportunities for the timeline to slip.

  • All 17 shared MSN FNP courses, including the full NR 615 through NR 638 specialty sequence
  • NR 701 Biostatistics for Outcomes Management and Evaluation (3)
  • NR 702 Scientific and Theoretical Foundations (3), NR 703 Epidemiology for Population Health (3), NR 704 Analysis of Evidence (3), NR 705 Methods for Conducting Evidence-Based Projects (3)
  • NR 706 Advanced Healthcare Management and Policy (3), NR 707 Interdisciplinary Organizational Leadership (3), NR 708 Advanced Healthcare Informatics (3)
  • NR 709 Evaluation Strategies for Quality Improvement (3)
  • NR 700A, NR 700B, NR 700C Scientific Writing for Professional Nurses (1 each)
  • NR 800, NR 801, NR 802, NR 803 Capstone Project and DNP Residency (2 each)

BSN-DNP Clinical Requirements

  • Total program clinical hours: not clearly stated
  • FNP practicum courses are identical to the MSN track: NR 616, 617, 618, 619, and NR 638
  • NR 638 carries the same 150 pediatric clinical hours
  • DNP residency hours are attached to NR 800 through NR 803 but are not quantified
  • Placement model and preceptor policy: not clearly stated

The doctoral pathway compounds the MSN track’s hour problem rather than solving it. DNP programs are generally expected to reach 1,000 total post-baccalaureate practice hours, and the four capstone residency courses are where the additional hours would come from. Ursuline attaches residency to each of them without stating a figure for any. A doctoral applicant therefore cannot confirm either the FNP certification hours or the doctoral practice hours from published materials.

You Should Know
  • Ask for both numbers separately: supervised FNP clinical hours for certification eligibility, and total DNP practice hours. They are counted differently and a single combined figure will not answer the question.
  • The DNP residency hours sit inside NR 800 through NR 803, which are also the capstone project courses. Confirm how much of that time is direct practice versus project work.

BSN-DNP Admissions

  • BSN from an accredited nursing program required
  • Applicants must satisfy the requirements for both the MSN and the DNP programs
  • All MSN requirements above apply, including the Ohio RN license and the two-year experience recency window
  • The DNP is structured as a year-round program running fall, spring, and summer
  • Two subspecialties are available in palliative care and nursing education
  • Students pursuing the nursing education subspecialty may qualify for the Nurse Faculty Loan Program

Post-Graduate Certificate: Family Nurse Practitioner

Ursuline does not publish a credit total or a tuition figure for the FNP post-graduate certificate. Using the FNP specialty block as it appears in the MSN plan, the derived estimate is approximately $19,480 (20 credits at the published $974 per-credit rate for MSN certificate programs). The duration is not clearly stated, because credit requirements are set individually through a transcript review.

Full details are on the Post-Graduate Certificate: Family Nurse Practitioner page.

Certificate Curriculum

A gap analysis sets the plan. Ursuline reviews every post-MSN applicant’s transcript and clinical logs to determine what carries over and what must be repeated. Students must document prior completion of advanced physiology, advanced health assessment, and advanced pharmacology, then take the FNP specialty courses. Nothing about the resulting credit count is published in advance.

Built for the adult-gerontology NP. The certificate page states that applicants must demonstrate coursework completion as an Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner or Family Nurse Practitioner. Read alongside Ursuline’s curricular design, where the FNP track is the AGNP sequence plus pediatrics, this describes a short and coherent path for an AGPCNP-prepared nurse adding family scope. It is a considerably less obvious fit for an NP from a different population focus, such as psychiatric mental health or acute care, where more of the specialty sequence would need to be completed.

  • NR 615 Advanced Diagnostics (3) with NR 616 Clinical Management Practicum (1)
  • NR 636 Adult Gerontology Health Disease Management (3) with NR 617 Clinical Management Practicum (1)
  • NR 620 Health Promotion, Maintenance and Restoration (3) with NR 618 Clinical Management Practicum (1)
  • NR 635 Focused Populations (3) with NR 619 Clinical Management Practicum (1)
  • NR 638 Advanced Pediatrics with Pediatric Practicum, 150 clinical hours (4)

The course list above is the FNP specialty block drawn from the MSN curriculum guide and is presented as the likely core of the certificate. Ursuline does not publish a certificate course list, and the gap analysis may add or remove courses.

Certificate Clinical Requirements

  • Total clinical hours: not clearly stated, and individually determined through the gap analysis
  • The gap analysis explicitly reviews prior clinical logs, so previously completed hours may count toward the requirement
  • NR 638 carries 150 pediatric clinical hours

Certificate clinical hours behave differently from the MSN. Because Ursuline audits your existing clinical logs, an AGPCNP-prepared applicant with substantial documented adult hours may need materially fewer new hours than a nurse entering from another population focus. That flexibility is genuinely useful, and it is also why no published figure exists. The cost and timeline of this credential are unknowable until the gap analysis is complete, which makes it difficult to compare against certificates elsewhere that publish fixed credit counts.

Certificate Admissions

  • Application for Graduate Studies including a 500 to 1,000 word essay
  • Non-refundable $25 application fee
  • Official MSN transcripts sent directly by the issuing institution
  • Recommended 3.0 GPA
  • Two recommendations on the required form, one fewer than the MSN requires
  • Current, unencumbered Ohio Registered Nurse license
  • Resume showing at least one year of RN experience within the past two years
  • Gap analysis of MSN transcript and clinical logs, required for all post-MSN applicants
  • Post-graduate course start terms vary rather than following the fall and spring pattern
You Should Know
  • The same eight-state exclusion applies to post-graduate certificates: California, Idaho, Louisiana, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, Texas, and Washington. Ursuline points applicants to the NCSBN website for changes.
  • Request the gap analysis before you commit to anything. It determines your credit count, your cost, and your timeline, and none of the three is published.
  • Additional detail on the gap analysis process sits in the MSN Handbook rather than on the certificate page, so ask for that document specifically.
  • An Ohio RN license is required for the certificate as well as the MSN, which is unusual for a post-graduate credential aimed at already-practicing nurse practitioners.

Tuition

Ursuline publishes graduate tuition as a per-credit rate that varies by program. For 2026–27, the Master of Science in Nursing rate is $1,351 per credit, and the rate for Doctor of Nursing Practice and MSN Certificate programs is $974 per credit. The certificate and doctoral rate is 72% of the MSN rate, a difference of $377 per credit, which is an unusual inversion. At most schools the post-master’s certificate is billed at the same rate as the degree it draws its courses from.

Ursuline publishes no program totals, so every figure below is derived by multiplying the published per-credit rate by the credit count in the published curriculum guide, then adding the published mandatory fee stack.

PathwayCreditsRateTuition (Derived)Fees (Derived)All-In (Derived)
MSN, full-time43$1,351$58,093$2,300$60,393
MSN, part-time43$1,351$58,093$3,125$61,218
BSN-DNP, single rate79$974$76,946$2,575$79,521
BSN-DNP, split rate ⚠41 + 38$1,351 / $974$92,403$2,575$94,978
Certificate, estimated~20$974$19,480Not calculableNot calculable

Confirmed costs, published directly by Ursuline:

  • MSN: $1,351 per credit hour, 2026–27
  • Doctor of Nursing Practice and MSN Certificate programs: $974 per credit hour, 2026–27
  • Technology fee: $225 per semester
  • Facilities fee: $50 per semester
  • Matriculation fee: $100, one time, new students only
  • Application fee: $25, non-refundable
  • Books, equipment, and supplies: $300 to $1,200 per year depending on credit load

Be aware that:

  • The BSN-DNP rate is genuinely ambiguous. Ursuline’s rate table lists “Master of Science in Nursing (MSN)” at $1,351 and “Doctor of Nursing Practice and MSN Certificate programs” at $974, but the MSN with Bridge to DNP is both. If the 41 MSN-level credits bill at the MSN rate and the 38 doctoral credits at the doctoral rate, the total is $92,403. If the whole plan bills at $974, it is $76,946. That is a $15,457 swing and the college does not resolve it. Ask the Student Service Center at 440-646-8309 before applying.
  • Course fees are charged on top of tuition and are not in the fee list above. Ursuline’s tuition page states course fees vary and directs students to the Registrar’s class schedules. Historically these have landed on the FNP clinical and specialty courses specifically, so budget for them and request current figures for NR 615 through NR 638.
  • Fee totals above are derived from the semester count in the curriculum guide, not published by Ursuline. Eight semesters for the MSN full-time plan, eleven part-time, and nine for a three-year doctoral schedule. A different pace changes the fee total, though not the tuition.
  • The certificate all-in cost cannot be calculated. Credits are set by gap analysis, and no duration is published, so the semester count that drives the fee stack is unknown.
  • Rates shown are 2026–27. Ursuline publishes annually and does not state a cohort rate lock, so a multi-year program should be budgeted with increases assumed.
  • Living expenses, transportation, and personal costs appear on Ursuline’s cost page but are financial aid measures rather than billed charges. They are excluded here.

The practical takeaway is that Ursuline is expensive for the master’s and comparatively reasonable for the certificate. A 43-credit MSN at $1,351 per credit is priced like a private school because it is one, and the roughly $60,000 all-in figure should be weighed against Ohio’s public options. The certificate is where the rate structure works in the student’s favor: $974 per credit on a small course block is a modest total by any standard, assuming the gap analysis comes back short. The doctoral pathway is the one to price carefully, because the unresolved rate question is worth more than $15,000.

Current figures are on Ursuline’s Graduate Tuition and Costs page.

Why Choose This FNP Program?

Best suited for nurses who already hold an Ohio RN license, want a small private Catholic program with a tightly sequenced curriculum, and are willing to ask for the numbers Ursuline does not publish.

The adult-gerontology foundation is a real curricular position, not a marketing line. Ursuline says openly that its FNP track builds in AGNP content, and the course catalog backs it up with practicum courses formally titled for both population foci. For a nurse heading into adult primary care, internal medicine, geriatrics, or a mixed adult panel with occasional pediatric visits, this sequencing is an advantage. You spend four terms on adult and gerontology management before pediatrics appears, which produces depth in the population most FNPs actually see. The trade-off is the mirror image. Pediatric preparation is one 4-credit course and 150 hours at the very end of the program. If you intend to practice in a pediatric-heavy setting, a school-based health center, or a family practice with a large well-child volume, that concentration is thin compared with programs that thread pediatric content across multiple terms.

The credential ladder is unusually well integrated, and the certificate is the standout. All three pathways share the same specialty spine, and the doctoral plan weaves 38 doctoral credits into the MSN rather than bolting them on afterward, so nothing is repeated. For an adult-gerontology primary care NP who wants family scope, the certificate is the most compelling thing Ursuline offers: a small course block, a gap analysis that credits your existing clinical logs, a $974 per-credit rate below the MSN rate, and a curriculum already designed around exactly your starting point. That is a narrow audience, but for that audience it is a strong fit.

Two institutional realities deserve weight. Ursuline publishes no total clinical-hour figure, no placement policy, and no preceptor-sourcing statement for any FNP pathway. Most peer programs publish all three. Separately, the college is mid-merger into Gannon University, with the Higher Learning Commission having approved the change of control and institutional accreditation set to move to Middle States. Ursuline states that academic programs, tuition, and scholarship policies remain unchanged in the near term, and the Breen School’s CCNE accreditation is separate from the institutional accreditor. A nurse enrolling now in a multi-year program should still expect to graduate from an institution whose name, accreditor, or both have changed.

Choose Ursuline by curriculum fit. If your intended practice is adult-weighted and you want a program that sequences it that way, and if you can get satisfactory answers on clinical hours and placement, the design here works in your favor. If you are an AGPCNP adding family scope, the certificate is the clearest reason on this page to pick up the phone. If pediatric depth is central to the job you want, or if you need published clinical-hour and placement commitments before you commit tuition, the sequencing that makes Ursuline distinctive is the same thing that argues for looking elsewhere in Ohio.

Accreditation

Ursuline states that “the master’s degree program in nursing and post-graduate APRN certificate program at Ursuline College are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education.” CCNE is one of the two national nursing accreditors and is the standard credential graduate employers and certification boards look for. Note that this scope statement names the master’s and the post-graduate APRN certificate, and does not name the DNP.

The DNP is separately accredited. Ursuline has announced a CCNE accreditation visit on September 16 through 18, 2026, for the purpose of seeking continuing accreditation of the doctor of nursing practice degree program. The word continuing indicates the DNP holds accreditation now. Third-party comments to CCNE were accepted until August 26, 2026.

Institutionally, Ursuline College is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, which is what makes federal financial aid and credit transfer work. This is changing. HLC approved the change of control in the Gannon University merger on June 30, 2025, and Ursuline states it will maintain its current accreditation through the merger process before coming under Gannon’s Middle States accreditation. Institutional accreditation is not expected to lapse at any point, but the accreditor on your diploma may differ from the one in effect when you enroll.

Graduates of a CCNE-accredited FNP program are eligible to sit for the national FNP certification exam through either AANP or ANCC, subject to meeting each board’s own clinical-hour and coursework requirements.

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