Lincoln Memorial University FNP Programs

Caylor School of Nursing • Harrogate, TN • Campus or Mostly Online • $785/credit

Lincoln Memorial University offers 2 Family Nurse Practitioner Tracks:

  • MSN
  • Second MSN via Gap Analysis (for nurses who already hold an MSN)

Program Tracks Overview

ProgramEst. TuitionEst. DurationCredit Hours
MSN$33,75517 mos (full-time)43
Second MSNVariesVariesVaries

LMU’s defining advantage is a real choice of site. The same 43-credit, 750-hour MSN runs seated at Harrogate, seated at Cedar Bluff in Knoxville, or online — though the online format still requires on-site intensives during the first semester. One caveat worth knowing up front: LMU’s nursing programs are accredited by ACEN rather than CCNE, which is the less common of the two for graduate nurse practitioner education.

Quick Facts

FeatureDetails
Program TypesMSN FNP concentration; second MSN by gap analysis for current MSN holders
FormatCampus at Harrogate and Cedar Bluff; online format requires first-semester on-site intensives
Clinical HoursMinimum 750 hours, same requirement in every format
Clinical PlacementFaculty-assisted; most placements fall within commuting distance of your attending site
PopulationIndividuals and families across the life span
Distinctive CourseworkEssential Procedures for the FNP; Directed Scholarly Inquiry; population-paired practica
Start TermsHarrogate: fall. Cedar Bluff: spring. Online: fall.
Exit RequirementsComprehensive exam in the final semester plus a directed scholarly project
RN License RequirementsUnencumbered Tennessee RN license required for enrollment
Transfer CreditMaximum of 6 credit hours, about 14% of the degree
Tuition$785 per credit hour, 2026–2027 graduate nursing rate
AccreditationACEN (nursing); SACSCOC (institutional)

MSN – Family Nurse Practitioner Concentration

The estimated tuition for the MSN, Family Nurse Practitioner concentration at Lincoln Memorial University is approximately $33,755 (43 credits at $785 per credit). The program can generally be completed in about 17 months of full-time study across four sequential semesters, including a summer term.

MSN FNP Sites and Formats

This is one curriculum delivered three ways. The credits, the clinical hours, the comprehensive exam, and the scholarly project do not change between them. What changes is where you sit and when you can start.

  • Harrogate (main campus): traditional seated format. Fall admission only.
  • Cedar Bluff, Knoxville: traditional seated format. Spring admission only. LMU schedules most programs at this location on evenings or weekends.
  • Online: fall admission only. Students are required to attend on-site intensives during the first semester.

The start-date structure has more practical weight than it looks. If you want a January start, Cedar Bluff is the only door, and it is seated. If you want the online format, fall is the only entry point, so missing the June 15 priority deadline can push you a full year. The online track is best understood as mostly online rather than fully online: the first-semester intensives are finite and countable, but they are not optional, and LMU does not publish how many days they run or where they are held.

You Should Know
  • The on-site intensive requirement for online students appears in LMU’s graduate catalog but not on the program’s main marketing page. Confirm the number of days, dates, and location in writing before enrolling.
  • LMU’s clinical placement language refers to your “attending site.” For online students, which site that is — and therefore where your placements are expected to fall — is not clearly stated.

MSN FNP Curriculum

The 43-credit curriculum is unusual in how it organizes clinical learning. Rather than running a generic Primary Care I / II / III sequence, LMU builds the specialty year around four population courses, each paired with its own matching practicum taken in the same term. You study pediatrics and do your pediatric hours concurrently, then repeat that pattern for women’s health and for older adults.

Foundation Courses (13 credits). The first semester is the standard advanced practice core taken alone: pathophysiology, health assessment, and pharmacology, with no clinical hours attached. Theoretical Foundations and Research Methods follows in semester two and feeds directly into the scholarly project requirement at the end.

Population Sequence with Paired Practica (18 credits). Four didactic courses, four practica. Young and Middle Adults is the largest block at 4 didactic credits plus a 3-credit practicum, reflecting the volume of adult primary care an FNP sees. Pediatrics, Women’s Health, and Older Adults are lighter, each carrying 1–2 practicum credits.

Distinctive Coursework (12 credits). Two items stand out. Essential Procedures for the Family Nurse Practitioner is a dedicated 2-credit skills course, which is not universal in FNP curricula — many programs fold procedural training into assessment or leave it to the clinical site. And the two-part Internship sequence carries clinical hours of its own on top of the population practica, functioning as a cumulative capstone rather than another rotation.

  • NURS 510 Advanced Physiology and Pathophysiology (3)
  • NURS 520 Advanced Health Assessment (3)
  • NURS 530 Advanced Pharmacology and Therapeutics (3)
  • NURS 561 / 561A Young and Middle Adults and Practicum (4 + 3)
  • NURS 562 / 562A Pediatrics and Practicum (2 + 1)
  • NURS 564 / 564A Women’s Health and Practicum (2 + 1)
  • NURS 563 / 563A Lifespan of Older Adults and Practicum (2 + 2)
  • NURS 568 Essential Procedures for the Family Nurse Practitioner (2)
  • NURS 566 / 567 Family Nurse Practitioner Internship I and II (1 + 2)
  • NURS 590 Directed Scholarly Inquiry (3)

More curriculum details are available here.

You Should Know
  • The sample course sequence in LMU’s graduate catalog omits NURS-564A (Women’s Health Practicum) from its third-semester block and lists that block’s subtotal as 14 credits when the courses shown add to 12. The catalog’s full 18-course requirement list and the Caylor School of Nursing curriculum page both total 43 credits correctly, so treat the sample sequence table as a display error rather than a different requirement.
  • NURS 510 appears as “Advanced Physiology and Pathophysiology” on the nursing site and as “Advanced Pathophysiology” in the catalog. Same 3-credit course.
  • Part-time study is offered on a space-available basis only, and LMU states that a change between full-time and part-time status requires the concentration director’s approval and a redrawn progression plan. LMU’s published part-time sample runs seven semesters.

MSN FNP Clinical Requirements

  • Minimum of 750 clinical hours, required in the seated and online formats alike.
  • Ten credit hours of practicum and internship coursework: NURS 561A (3), 562A (1), 564A (1), 563A (2), 566 (1), and 567 (2).
  • Derived: 750 hours across 10 practicum credits works out to 75 clinical hours per practicum credit. LMU states clinical courses use a “1:5 credit hour to clinical hour ratio,” which reconciles with the 750 total only when read as five hours per week over a standard 15-week term.
  • Derived semester load (full-time plan): no clinical hours in semester one, roughly 225 in semester two, roughly 225 in semester three, and roughly 300 in semester four — about 20 clinical hours per week in the final term.
  • Placement model: most placements are within commuting distance of your attending site. If you live farther away and can help faculty identify a willing and capable preceptor in your home community, a local placement may be possible.
  • Settings include private practices, community health centers, and public health centers.
  • Faculty work directly with clinical preceptors during the placement.
  • A comprehensive exam and a directed scholarly project are both required before graduation.

At 750 hours, LMU sits 250 hours above the 500-hour national certification floor and above the 600–700 range common among FNP programs. What makes that figure demanding here is not the total but the compression: those hours land inside a 17-month full-time sequence, with the heaviest term running roughly 20 clinical hours per week alongside coursework. Nurses working full time should plan around that final semester specifically, not the program average.

The placement model is faculty-assisted rather than guaranteed. LMU commits to working with preceptors once one is identified, and its default assumption is that you will be placed near your campus. If you live outside that radius, the language shifts — you help faculty find the preceptor. That is a meaningful difference from a guaranteed-placement program, and it is the single most important thing to pin down before you accept a seat, particularly in the online format.

You Should Know
  • LMU describes the requirement as a “minimum of 750” hours on the nursing site and as a flat “750 clinical hours” in the catalog. Ask whether individual sites or specialties can push the actual total higher.
  • The stated 1:5 ratio does not work as a literal credit-to-hour multiplier, which would yield only 50 hours. The 75-hours-per-credit figure above is derived from LMU’s own 750-hour total and its 10 practicum credits.
  • Whether NURS 568 (Essential Procedures) contributes lab or clinical hours toward the 750 is not clearly stated. If it does, the per-credit ratio would be roughly 62.5 hours instead of 75.
  • LMU does not publish a preceptor-sourcing deadline, a placement guarantee, or a policy for what happens if no preceptor is found in your area.

MSN FNP Admissions

Two admissions details matter more than the rest: LMU requires an unencumbered Tennessee RN license for enrollment, which is a real gate for out-of-state applicants including online students, and each site has its own single entry term.

  • Graduation from an accredited baccalaureate nursing program.
  • Cumulative GPA of 3.0 (“B”) or better.
  • Basic understanding of statistics and basic computer skills.
  • Three professional recommendations. At least two must come from nursing professionals holding an MSN or higher; one may come from a related healthcare field.
  • A typed letter to the admissions committee covering professional goals, career plans, and why you chose this concentration. APA format is not required.
  • Unencumbered Tennessee RN license. Clinical practicum may also require licensure in neighboring states.
  • Official transcripts from every college or university attended.
  • GRE is not required.
  • Rolling admission, with priority deadlines of October 15 for spring entry and June 15 for fall entry.

After admission, LMU requires a medical profile with immunization records, a negative chain-of-custody urine drug screen, a criminal background check, a student essential function form, and proof of health insurance maintained for the duration of enrollment. The catalog specifies that the drug screen, background check, and medical profile must be completed no more than 60 days before enrollment.

Conditional acceptance before BSN conferral and RN licensure is available to exceptional applicants, but LMU is firm about the deadline: an official transcript showing the conferred BSN must arrive on or before the first day of class, and a student without RN licensure by the published withdrawal date will be administratively withdrawn.

You Should Know
  • LMU’s program page lists the GRE as “not required, but recommended” while the graduate catalog states plainly that it is not required. The catalog is the governing document, but if you are a borderline applicant, a score may still help.
  • The program page requires a Tennessee RN license specifically; the catalog says only “an unencumbered license to practice as a registered nurse.” If you hold a multistate compact license or an out-of-state license, get written confirmation before applying, especially for the online format.
  • LMU does not publish a list of states in which it can enroll online students, cohort sizes, or an interview requirement.
  • Applicants dismissed from another MSN program for academic, clinical, or behavioral reasons are not eligible. Applicants who withdrew in good standing need a letter from that program’s director confirming it.

Second MSN via Gap Analysis

Lincoln Memorial University does not offer a post-master’s FNP certificate. Nurses who already hold an MSN are instead routed through a gap analysis and, on completion, receive a second MSN degree rather than a certificate.

Tuition and duration are not published for this pathway because the credit requirement is individualized. The concentration director, working with the Assistant Dean of Graduate Programs, reviews your transcript and determines which courses carry over. At the $785 per-credit rate, a student who received the maximum published transfer credit of six hours would face roughly $29,045 for the remaining 37 credits — but that is an illustration of the arithmetic, not a quoted price.

The structure has a real advantage that LMU does not advertise. Certificate programs at LMU are listed as ineligible for financial aid; a degree program is not. Routing MSN holders into a second master’s instead of a certificate preserves access to federal aid, which for many applicants is worth more than the shorter credential a certificate would represent.

You Should Know
  • LMU caps transfer credit at six hours toward degree requirements, but describes the gap analysis as a separate individualized review with no stated cap. Whether the six-credit ceiling binds the gap-analysis pathway is not clearly stated — and it is the difference between a short bridge and most of a second degree.
  • No credit total, cost, duration, start term, or clinical hour figure is published for this pathway. The 750-hour requirement is stated for the MSN concentration generally; whether prior clinical hours reduce it is not addressed.

Tuition

Lincoln Memorial University charges $785 per credit hour for the MSN in Nursing (FNP/PMH) at the 2026–2027 rate. At 43 credits, total estimated tuition for the MSN FNP concentration is approximately $33,755 (43 × $785). This figure is an estimate and covers tuition only.

  • Tuition: $785 per credit hour.
  • Program fees: $1,422, as published in LMU’s cost of attendance against a 24-credit-hour year.
  • Health insurance: LMU requires proof of coverage throughout enrollment and lists $4,068 in its cost of attendance, waivable with proof of comparable coverage and an approved waiver.
  • Estimated all-in tuition and fees: approximately $35,200 to $36,300.

Be aware that:

  • LMU publishes program fees only as an annual figure tied to 24 credit hours. A 43-credit program spans more than one such year, so program fee exposure across the degree runs from $1,422 (a single billed year) to roughly $2,548 (the annual figure pro-rated across 43 credits). LMU does not publish a per-credit or per-semester program fee, which is why the all-in figure above is a range rather than a number.
  • The $18,840 tuition line in LMU’s cost of attendance reflects 24 credit hours at $785, not the cost of the FNP degree. Do not read it as an annual program price.
  • The cost of attendance also bundles indirect, non-billable items — food, housing, transportation, personal expenses, loan fees. Those are budgeting estimates, not charges from LMU.
  • LMU states that all costs are subject to change without notice, and the 43 credits here span multiple academic years. Build in a rate increase.
  • Travel and lodging for the online format’s first-semester on-site intensives are not published and are not included above.
  • Books, course materials, and supplies are estimated at $1,800 per year in LMU’s cost of attendance and are excluded from the tuition and fee figures above.

The practical takeaway: budget around $36,000 in tuition and fees, then add travel if you enroll online. For a private university, that is a moderate number for a master’s degree, and the short 17-month full-time sequence limits how many years a rate increase can compound against you.

Current rates are published on LMU’s Graduate and Professional tuition and fees page.

Why Choose This FNP Program?

Best suited for nurses who hold a Tennessee RN license, want a clinically heavy master’s finished in under a year and a half, and can pick a site and start term and stick to it.

Clinical volume without doctoral length. LMU asks for 750 clinical hours in a 43-credit master’s degree. That hour count is what many programs deliver at the DNP level over three years, and LMU compresses it into 17 months. If your goal is to enter practice with a deep clinical log rather than a longer credential, the ratio here works in your favor. The population-paired practicum design reinforces it: your pediatric hours run while you are studying pediatrics, not months later.

A genuine choice of format, with a calendar cost. Few FNP programs let you pick between two seated campuses and an online section of the same degree. The Cedar Bluff site in Knoxville schedules on evenings and weekends, which makes the seated option realistic for nurses still working shifts. But each door opens once a year, and only one of them opens in January. The online format is the flexible choice on paper, yet it carries a fall-only start and mandatory first-semester intensives, so it is not the zero-travel option that “online” usually implies.

The trade-offs are real and worth weighing. Three things should give you pause. First, the intensity is front-loaded into a fixed sequence — part-time study exists but only on a space-available basis, so you cannot count on downshifting if the pace proves too much. Second, clinical placement is faculty-assisted rather than guaranteed, and the burden shifts toward you the farther you live from your site. Third, LMU’s nursing programs are ACEN-accredited rather than CCNE-accredited; both are federally recognized, but CCNE is the more common credential in graduate NP education, and some employers and DNP programs name it specifically. None of these is disqualifying. Together they describe a program that rewards a nurse with local roots, a stable schedule, and a clear preceptor lead — and that will be harder on a nurse who has none of those.

Accreditation

Lincoln Memorial University is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) to award associate, baccalaureate, master’s, educational specialist, and doctorate degrees. Verified from LMU’s institutional accreditation page.

The nursing programs — ASN, BSN, MSN, and DNP — are accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN) at the Harrogate, Cedar Bluff, LMU Tower, and Corbin campuses. The most recent decision from the ACEN Board of Commissioners for these programs is continuing accreditation, which is the standard favorable outcome for an established program.

ACEN is recognized as a national nursing accreditor by both the Council on Higher Education Accreditation and the U.S. Department of Education. It is a legitimate accreditor in every regulatory sense. It is simply less common than CCNE at the graduate nurse practitioner level, where CCNE holds the larger share. Practically, this rarely blocks certification or licensure, but it occasionally surfaces when an employer or a DNP program writes CCNE into its requirements by name. If you have a specific doctoral program or employer in mind, confirm they accept ACEN before you enroll.

The MSN degree programs are also approved by the Tennessee Board of Nursing. LMU’s Cedar Bluff location is not separately accredited by SACSCOC; like LMU’s other off-campus sites, it is approved as an accredited off-campus site of the Harrogate main campus. Your degree is the same regardless of which site you attend.

LMU states that the FNP and FPMHNP concentrations are designed to meet the advanced practice education standards of the National Organization of Nurse Practitioner Faculties (NONPF). NONPF sets curricular competencies; it is not an accrediting body, so this is a curriculum-design claim rather than an accreditation one.

On certification, LMU states that completing the FNP concentration provides eligibility for the FNP certification examinations offered by either the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) or the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners (AANP). Dual eligibility is the norm for FNP graduates, and LMU confirms it here.

LMU publishes its own outcome data for the concentration: first-time certification pass rates of 96% for 2024, 100% for 2023, and 88% for 2022; employment rates of 100% for 2023 and 95% for 2022; and completion rates of 81% for 2023 and 88% for 2022.

You Should Know
  • LMU’s Florida campus in Tampa holds ACEN accreditation for its ASN and BSN programs only. The MSN is not offered there, so a Florida-based online FNP student would be enrolled through the Tennessee program. Confirm state authorization for your own state before applying.
  • The 2024 employment and completion figures were still listed as pending as of LMU’s March 2025 revision. Ask for updated numbers.
  • Completion rate is measured over seven semesters from the first nursing course for full-time students, or 1.5 times the program length for part-time students. The 81% figure for 2023 means roughly one in five students did not finish in that window — a useful reality check against the 17-month headline.

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