Mercy University FNP Programs

School of Nursing • Dobbs Ferry, NY • Campus • $1,184/credit

Mercy University offers a MS Family Nurse Practitioner Track.

Program Tracks Overview

ProgramEst. TuitionEst. DurationCredit Hours
MS$56.4K2.5–3 years (8 semesters)42

Tuition estimate uses Mercy’s 2026–27 FNP rate of $1,184 per credit plus the $600 FNP program fee and $233 part-time registration fee for each of 8 terms.

Mercy’s FNP is built for Westchester and Hudson Valley nurses who want to keep working full time. The program is part-time by design, capped at six credits a semester, and runs year-round on the Dobbs Ferry campus with one course pair per term.

The trade-off is flexibility of format and entry. Every course tied to clinical placement must be taken in person, there is no separate post-master’s FNP certificate, and a nurse who already holds an MSN re-enters the same 42-credit degree with at most 12 credits transferred.

Quick Facts

FeatureDetails
Program TypesMS (Family Nurse Practitioner)
FormatCampus; some non-clinical courses may be taken online
EnrollmentPart-time only, up to 6 credits per semester, including summers
Clinical Hours690 (three 230-hour practicum semesters)
Clinical PlacementPartner sites in Westchester, Rockland, NYC, and Long Island; placement responsibility not clearly stated
PopulationFamily/individual across the lifespan
Distinctive CourseworkSeparate Pharmacology II course on primary care treatment guidelines; comprehensive exam gates the degree
Start TermsSpring (January) and fall (September)
RN License RequirementsCurrent, unencumbered New York State RN license
International ApplicantsStudents requiring F-1 visas are not eligible
Tuition$1,184/credit; about $56.4K with program and registration fees (derived)
AccreditationCCNE (master’s program); Middle States (institution)

Master of Science, Family Nurse Practitioner

The estimated tuition for the Family Nurse Practitioner M.S. at Mercy University is approximately $49,728 (42 credits at $1,184/credit), or about $56,392 with mandatory fees. The program can generally be completed in about 2.5 to 3 years of continuous part-time study, including two summers.

MS Curriculum

Structure. Mercy’s catalog splits the degree into a 12-credit core (health policy, biostatistics and epidemiology, research, and a research project) and a specialization block built around the advanced sciences and a three-course primary care sequence. The published spring-start sequence map places exactly two courses in each fall and spring term and one or two in each summer, which keeps the load at three to six credits throughout.

Sequencing. The order is strict. Advanced Pharmacology comes first, followed by a second pharmacology course focused on primary care treatment guidelines, then Advanced Health Assessment, Introduction to Primary Care, and finally Primary Care I, II, and III, each paired with its own clinical course. Because each primary care course is a prerequisite for the next, a failed or dropped course pushes graduation back rather than being made up in parallel.

Progression standards. Every course requires a B- or better, graduation requires a 3.0 GPA, and students must pass a comprehensive exam inside the final course, Primary Care III, before the degree is conferred. A grade of F in any course can trigger dismissal.

  • NURS 749 Advanced Pharmacology (3 credits)
  • NURS 752 Advanced Pharmacology II: Treatment Guidelines for Primary Care (2 credits)
  • NURS 748 Advanced Pathophysiology (3 credits)
  • NURS 750 Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning (4 credits)
  • NURS 774 Introduction to Primary Care (2 credits)
  • NURS 775, 776, 777 Primary Care I, II, III (4 credits each)
  • NURS 775S, 776S, 777S Primary Care Clinical Practicum I, II, III (2 credits each)
  • NURS 783 Leadership and Role Development for the Nurse Practitioner (1 credit)
  • NURS 503 Health Policy, NURS 504 Biostatistics and Epidemiology, NURS 515 Research (3 credits each)

More curriculum details are available here.

You Should Know
  • The catalog’s course list adds up to 45 credits, not the 42 it states. It includes NURS 601 Research Project I (3 credits), which does not appear in the 2026–27 sequence map. The map itself totals 42. Confirm with the program whether NURS 601 is required.
  • The catalog’s 30-credit specialization subtotal does not match its own course list, which sums to 33 specialization credits.
  • The sequence map lists a Year 3 summer “Clinical Continuation” with credits to be determined. It is not clear who takes it or whether it is billed.
  • The program page describes three steps before practice (degree, national certification exam, NP license) but does not publish pass rates.

MS Clinical Requirements

  • Total: 690 hours (230 precepted hours per semester × 3 semesters)
  • Clinical courses: NURS 775S, 776S, and 777S, each 2 credits, which works out to 115 hours per credit
  • Timing: fall of Year 2 through fall of Year 3 in the spring-start map
  • Eligibility: good academic standing, a 3.0 overall GPA, and completed prerequisites
  • Planning: students must contact the practicum advisor at least one semester before starting
  • Clearances (submitted in one email to the Nursing Clinical Coordinator): malpractice insurance covering the full practicum, current BCLS, RN license verification for the state where the practicum occurs, background check and drug screen, titers for MMR, varicella, and hepatitis B and C, and a current flu vaccine
  • Agency extras may include mask fit testing, Tdap, pneumonia vaccine or declination, color vision screening, a TB test within six months, and HIPAA and compliance training
  • Partner region: Westchester, Rockland, New York City, and Long Island

At 690 hours, Mercy sits inside the 600 to 700 hour range common among FNP programs and well above the 500-hour certification floor. The load is concentrated: 230 hours across a standard 15-week semester is roughly 15 hours a week of clinical time on top of a 4-credit primary care course. For a nurse working full-time hospital shifts, those three semesters are the part of the program that needs a schedule conversation with an employer.

You Should Know
  • Mercy does not say whether the school places students, helps them find preceptors, or expects them to arrange their own. The program page cites clinical partnerships, but the catalog only describes an approval and clearance process.
  • Background checks, drug screens, titers, and malpractice insurance are paid by the student.
  • Rules on telehealth hours are not clearly stated.

MS Admissions

Admission requires a New York RN license, and the program takes both BSN and MSN holders into the same degree, with separate transfer limits for each.

  • BSN or MS in nursing from an accredited college or university
  • GPA of 3.0 or higher
  • Current, unencumbered New York State RN license
  • Official transcripts from all colleges attended; international credits evaluated by a NACES member
  • Professional résumé or CV
  • 500-word personal statement on the FNP role, social determinants of health, and your goals (word count at the top)
  • One professional or academic reference
  • No GRE or MAT
  • Priority deadlines: June 1 for fall and November 1 for spring
  • Transfer credit: up to 6 credits for BSN holders and up to 12 for MSN holders or internationally trained physicians with a BSN; grade of B or better required
You Should Know
  • The transfer recency rule conflicts. The program page accepts courses taken within ten years, with older courses at the director’s discretion. The catalog says within the last five years.
  • Students who need an F-1 visa are not eligible.
  • There is no FNP post-master’s certificate. An NP certified in another specialty would complete the MS with up to 12 transferred credits, about 30 credits at Mercy.
  • Students dismissed for academic reasons can reapply after one semester. Readmission requires an interview, a meeting with the director, and an essay, and carries a year of probation.

Tuition

Mercy charges $1,184 per credit for FNP students who entered in fall 2025 or later (2026–27 published rate). Students who entered before fall 2025 pay $1,120 per credit. On top of tuition, graduate students pay a per-term registration fee and the FNP program fee.

ComponentCalculationAmount
Tuition42 credits × $1,184$49,728
FNP program fee8 terms × $600$4,800
Registration fee (under 12 credits)8 terms × $233$1,864
Estimated total (derived)$56,392

Confirmed costs from the Mercy tuition and fees page:

  • FNP tuition: $1,184 per credit (entering fall 2025 or after)
  • Graduate Nursing, Family Nurse Practitioner program fee: $600 per term
  • Graduate registration fee: $233 per term under 12 credits ($465 at 12 or more)
  • Graduate application fee: $40

Be aware that:

  • The fee total assumes both fees apply in all 8 enrolled terms, including the two summers. Mercy does not say whether graduate program fees are charged in summer. Without summer fees, the total drops by $1,666 to about $54.7K.
  • If NURS 601 is required (see Curriculum), tuition rises by $3,552 to $53,280, or about $59.9K with fees.
  • The Year 3 summer clinical continuation has no published credit value and is not included.
  • Rates rose year over year. The FNP rate went from $1,144 to $1,184 (3.5%) and the program fee from $550 to $600 (9%). Because Mercy bills by entry cohort as well as by year, later terms will likely cost more than this estimate.
  • Clinical clearances (background check, drug screen, titers, malpractice insurance) are extra and paid by the student.
  • The program’s aid FAQ points only to National Health Service Corps loan repayment for underserved practice. No FNP-specific scholarship is published.

Fees add about 12 percent to the tuition figure, which brings the effective cost to roughly $1,343 per credit. Because the program is part-time only, students pay the per-term fees across eight terms rather than five or six, so the stretched timeline itself carries a cost.

Why Choose This FNP Program?

Best suited for New York RNs in Westchester, Rockland, or the Bronx who want an in-person FNP they can finish without leaving their job, and who value a predictable price over speed.

Cost against the part-time timeline. At about $56.4K all-in, Mercy’s tuition math is simple: one per-credit rate, two fees, eight terms. The rate is lower than Mercy’s own psychiatric NP rate ($1,362) on the same fee schedule, and the part-time cap means no semester costs more than about $7,900 including fees. The catch is that per-term fees accumulate over a longer program, and the rate has been rising around 3 to 4 percent a year.

Structure over flexibility. The two-course-per-term map and the chained primary care sequence make the workload predictable. They also mean there is no way to accelerate, and a single setback in the primary care sequence can cost a semester or more. Nurses who want to finish in under two years, or who need fully online coursework, should look at other formats.

Who should think twice. Nurses outside the New York metro area are effectively excluded by the in-person design and New York RN requirement. MSN-prepared NPs looking for a short certificate will find the 30-credit re-entry path heavier than a gap-analysis certificate. Anyone who needs a guaranteed placement should ask the program directly, since Mercy does not publish its placement model.

Accreditation

The master’s degree program in nursing at Mercy University, which includes the FNP MS, is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). CCNE accreditation is the standard that certification boards and employers look for in an NP program.

The master’s program is also registered with the New York State Education Department under the Board of Regents, which matters for New York NP certification after graduation. Mercy’s School of Nursing was named a 2025 National League for Nursing Center of Excellence.

At the institutional level, Mercy University is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, which reaffirmed its accreditation in 2024. Institutional accreditation is what makes the program eligible for federal financial aid.

Graduates are eligible to sit for the national FNP certification exam (AANP or ANCC). The program page lists AANP and ANCC as accreditors, but both are certification boards, not program accreditors.

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