Union University FNP Programs

College of Nursing and Health Sciences • Jackson, TN • Mostly Online • $761/credit

Union University offers three Family Nurse Practitioner tracks:

  • MSN
  • BSN to DNP
  • Post-Graduate Certificate

Program Tracks Overview

ProgramEst. TuitionEst. DurationCredit Hours
MSN$39,34716 months49
BSN-DNP$62,96436 months76 (74 also listed)
Certificate$23,287Not clearly stated29 (27 also listed)

Union’s defining feature is a 560-hour clinical minimum, which sits 60 hours above the 500-hour national certification floor and below the 600 to 700 hours most FNP programs require. In exchange, the 49-credit MSN runs on a compressed 16-month cohort calendar with a single fall start.

Quick Facts

FeatureDetails
Program TypesMSN, BSN-to-DNP, Post-Graduate Certificate
FormatMostly Online. Catalog lists NP tracks as online, synchronous, and asynchronous. School labels conflict.
Clinical Hours560 minimum, published for the certificate only. MSN and DNP totals not stated.
Clinical PlacementNot clearly stated. A $100 clinical tracking system fee indicates hours are logged electronically.
PopulationFamilies and individuals across the lifespan, primary care focus
Distinctive CourseworkPrimary Care Provider Procedures lab, a required graduate elective, and Faith and Science at the DNP level
ConcentrationsNone. FNP is a fixed track with one elective slot in the MSN.
RN License RequirementsUnencumbered Tennessee or compact-state RN license at the application deadline
Start TermsFall only. All graduate nursing tracks run as cohorts beginning in fall.
Enrollment RestrictionInternational applicants must hold a permanent residence visa to be admitted to NP tracks.
Tuition$761/credit for MSN and certificate. BSN-DNP is block-billed at $6,671 per term.
AccreditationCCNE for nursing programs. SACSCOC institutionally. Tennessee Board of Nursing approved.

MSN Nurse Practitioner Track with Family Specialty

The estimated tuition for the MSN Family Nurse Practitioner track at Union University is approximately $39,347 (49 credits at $761/credit plus the $42/credit general student fee). The program can generally be completed in about 16 months of full-time cohort study, beginning each fall.

Union publishes the full course plan for the MSN Nurse Practitioner Track with Family Specialty in its 2026-27 graduate catalogue.

MSN Curriculum

At 49 credits, this is a heavier master’s than most FNP programs, which typically land in the low-to-mid 40s. The extra weight sits in the MSN core rather than in clinical coursework, and understanding that distinction matters when you compare Union to a leaner competitor.

MSN Core (17 credits). Seven courses covering statistics, informatics, population health, theory and ethics, research, health systems leadership, and role development. Several of these run in accelerated 7-to-8-week blocks inside a standard semester, which is how Union compresses 49 credits into 16 months.

The Elective (3 credits). Union requires FNP students to choose one graduate elective from three options: Curriculum Design, Introduction to Administrative Nursing Practice, or Healthcare and Missions. Most FNP curricula have no elective at all. This one lets you angle the degree toward teaching, management, or global health work without adding a second credential, and it is the only genuinely customizable slot in the program.

FNP Specialty Sequence (12 credits). Three 4-credit courses that split primary care by population and acuity rather than by body system: health promotion first, then pediatrics and women’s health, then acute and chronic management. This sequencing front-loads wellness and prevention before diagnostic complexity, which is a defensible design for nurses coming from acute-care backgrounds who need to recalibrate to ambulatory practice.

Advanced Practitioner Core (17 credits). The three Ps plus assessment clinical, a transitions course, and a dedicated procedures course.

  • NUR 515 Advanced Statistics for the Health Sciences (3)
  • NUR 526 Theory and Ethics for Advanced Nursing Practice (2)
  • NUR 547 Primary Care of the Family: Health Promotion (4)
  • NUR 617 Primary Care of Family: Pediatric and Women’s Health (4)
  • NUR 639 Primary Care of Family: Acute and Chronic Management (4)
  • NUR 600 Primary Care Provider Procedures (2)
  • NUR 550 Advanced Health Assessment Clinical (2)
  • NUR 650 Specialty Focus Practicum (2)
  • NUR 558 Transitions to Advanced Practice Nursing (2)
  • NUR 529 Healthcare and Missions (3, elective option)

NUR 600 deserves particular attention. A standalone 2-credit procedures course carrying its own $150 lab fee signals hands-on skills training in suturing, injections, biopsies, and similar office procedures. Many FNP programs fold procedures into a broader specialty course or skip them entirely, leaving graduates to learn them on the job. A dedicated course with a lab fee is a meaningful curricular advantage for anyone heading into rural or independent practice where you will not have a physician down the hall.

More curriculum details are available here.

You Should Know
  • The lab fee attached to NUR 600 suggests an in-person skills component, but Union does not state where or how often that lab meets. Ask before assuming the program requires no travel.
  • Union’s own materials describe the MSN both as “Blended” with campuses in Jackson and online, and as available on the Jackson, Hendersonville, and Memphis campuses. The catalog degree list separately marks all NP tracks as online with synchronous and asynchronous components. These three descriptions have not been reconciled.
  • A faculty page references simulation labs in Jackson, Germantown, and Hendersonville, while the MSN catalog page names Jackson, Hendersonville, and Memphis. Confirm which site would serve you.
  • The 16-month duration comes from Union’s program marketing page, not the catalog. The catalog states only that each cohort receives its own calendar.

MSN Clinical Requirements

  • Total clinical hours: not published for the MSN track.
  • Union publishes 560 minimum clinical hours for its post-graduate FNP certificate, which contains an identical clinical course set.
  • Clinical-bearing coursework across all three tracks: NUR 550 (2), NUR 547 (4), NUR 617 (4), NUR 639 (4), NUR 600 (2), NUR 650 (2), totaling 18 credits.
  • Derived figure: 560 hours across the 16 specialty and practicum credits works out to exactly 35 hours per credit, a clean ratio suggesting the 560 total is calculated from that block.
  • Placement model, preceptor sourcing rules, and faculty site visits: not clearly stated.
  • A $100 one-time clinical tracking system fee is billed with NUR 550.

If 560 hours is in fact the MSN requirement, Union sits at the low end of the FNP range. National certification requires a 500-hour minimum, and most FNP programs build in 600 to 700 or more to give students margin above that floor and broader exposure across populations. At 560, the margin is 60 hours. That is not disqualifying, and graduates are certification-eligible, but it does shift more of the burden onto you to seek varied sites and to be deliberate about pediatric and women’s health exposure, since those populations are the ones most often shortchanged when total hours are tight.

The absence of a stated placement model compounds this. If Union does not source your preceptors, a low hour requirement is easier to satisfy but harder to satisfy well.

You Should Know
  • The 560-hour figure is published only for the certificate. Applying it to the MSN is a reasonable inference from the identical course set, but Union has not confirmed it. Request the MSN clinical hour total in writing.
  • Union does not state whether it assigns clinical placements, requires students to secure their own preceptors, or shares the work. This is the single most consequential unanswered question on this page.
  • No minimum hour distribution across pediatrics, women’s health, and adult or geriatric care is published.

MSN Admissions

Two features set Union’s process apart: a licensure gate that excludes nurses in non-compact states unless they obtain Tennessee licensure, and an expedited route that lets strong BSN graduates enter the MSN with no post-licensure work experience at all.

  • Unencumbered Tennessee or compact-state RN license at the time of the application deadline
  • BSN from an ACEN or CCNE accredited, state approved program
  • Minimum 3.0 GPA over the last 60 credit hours, calculated under a published formula
  • Science GPA of 3.0, defined as Anatomy and Physiology I and II; statistics preferred
  • Undergraduate statistics course completed
  • Three references: one professional colleague, one professor, one supervisor
  • Personal statement of up to two pages, plus a curriculum vitae
  • Application through NursingCAS with a $50 fee; interviews at the NP chair’s discretion
  • Cleared criminal background check and negative drug screen ($161 through Verified Credentials)
  • $150 non-refundable acceptance deposit
  • Expedited pathway: BSN or accelerated BSN students with a 3.5 GPA over the last 60 hours may apply early, with NCLEX passage and RN licensure required by July 1 of the cohort year

No RN work experience requirement appears anywhere in Union’s published criteria, and the expedited pathway makes that explicit by admitting students who have not yet sat for the NCLEX. That is a real opening for new graduates who want to move directly into advanced practice, and it is uncommon enough to be worth weighing.

It also cuts the other way. Cohorts that admit inexperienced nurses put more pressure on you to arrive with clinical judgment already developed, and employers in some markets still screen FNP applicants for bedside years. Union gives preference to its own graduates and to applicants with shadowing experience, which suggests the expedited route functions mainly as an internal pipeline rather than an open door.

You Should Know
  • The general MSN requirements ask for licensure in your state of residence plus eligibility for Tennessee licensure, while the NP-specific criteria require a Tennessee or compact-state license outright. The NP-specific rule is the stricter one and appears to govern.
  • Nurses licensed in non-compact states, including California, New York, and Oregon, would need Tennessee licensure before the application deadline.
  • International applicants must hold a permanent residence visa. Student visa holders are not eligible for the MSN-NP track.
  • No application deadline date is published for the MSN. Only the DNP lists one.
  • Conditional admission is available at the committee’s discretion but the qualifying conditions are not published.

BSN to DNP Family Nurse Practitioner Track

The estimated tuition for the BSN to DNP Family Nurse Practitioner track at Union University is approximately $62,964 ($6,671 per term across three terms per year, for three years, plus $325 per term in general student fees). The program can generally be completed in about 36 months of full-time study on a fall-start cohort calendar.

Union publishes the full course plan for the DNP Family Nurse Practitioner Track in its 2026-27 graduate catalogue.

DNP Curriculum

The track totals 76 credits by course arithmetic.

Union’s catalog also lists this same track as 74 hours on the Doctor of Nursing Practice landing page, a two-credit discrepancy that appears on every one of Union’s nurse practitioner programs but on none of its other DNP tracks. The itemized course lists support 76.

Advanced Practice Core (11 credits). Pathophysiology, pharmacology, advanced health assessment, and the assessment clinical. Notably, this block omits NUR 558 Transitions to Advanced Practice Nursing, which the MSN includes.

FNP Specialty Courses (16 credits). The identical five-course specialty spine used in the MSN and the certificate: health promotion, pediatrics and women’s health, acute and chronic management, procedures, and the specialty practicum. Union builds all three FNP credentials from one clinical core, which means the FNP preparation itself does not deepen at the doctoral level. What you gain from the DNP is everything wrapped around it.

Required DNP Core (49 credits). This is where the doctorate lives, and it is substantial. Organizational leadership, epidemiology, health policy and economics, technological transformation, three sequential fellowship courses, and a four-course DNP project sequence spanning development, implementation, and completion.

Faith integration. NUR 720 Faith and Science is a required 3-credit course in the DNP core. Union is explicit that its programs are built on a Christian worldview, and at the doctoral level that commitment carries academic credit rather than sitting only in a mission statement. Whether that is an asset or a mismatch depends entirely on you, but it should not be a surprise after enrollment.

  • NUR 705 Organizational Leadership and Management (3)
  • NUR 710 Methods for Evidence-Based Practice (3)
  • NUR 715 Technological Transformations of Health Care (3)
  • NUR 720 Faith and Science (3)
  • NUR 725 Health Care Policy and Economics (3)
  • NUR 730 Epidemiology (3)
  • NUR 735 / 738 / 739 Fellowship I, II, and III (2, 3, 3)
  • NUR 793 / 791 / 794 DNP Project Development, Implementation, and Completion (3, 3, 3)
  • NUR 745 Leadership and Teaching Practice Strategies (3)

Union also runs a separate Post-Master’s DNP at 38 credits and $1,143 per credit, roughly $45,030 with fees. That route is built for nurses who already hold NP certification and want the doctorate, not for MSN-prepared nurses in other specialties seeking FNP eligibility. If you hold an MSN in another specialty and want to become an FNP, the post-graduate certificate below is your path, not this one.

More curriculum details are available here.

You Should Know
  • The 74 versus 76 credit conflict is worth roughly $1,600 in tuition-equivalent value and appears on Union’s own catalog page in two places simultaneously. Plan on 76 and confirm with the program chair.
  • The catalog describes the FNP DNP entry as a “36-month BSN to DNP option” without publishing a term-by-term plan of study, so the distribution of 76 credits across nine terms is not verifiable.
  • Union’s degree listing attaches “scheduled on-campus intensives” to the Executive Leadership and Post-graduate DNP tracks, but not to the BSN-DNP nurse practitioner tracks. Whether NP students attend intensives is not stated.
  • A $50 sitting fee is listed for NUR 691, a course that does not appear in the FNP DNP course list. It may not apply to this track.
  • Applicants with a previously earned MSN may receive transfer credit beyond the standard nine-hour cap for six named courses, which would reduce both credits and cost. The size of that reduction is determined case by case.

DNP Clinical Requirements

  • Total clinical hours: not published for the DNP FNP track.
  • The FNP specialty and assessment clinical courses are identical to those in the MSN and certificate, where 560 hours is the published certificate minimum.
  • Three fellowship courses (NUR 735, 738, 739) totaling 8 credits sit in the DNP core and would ordinarily carry additional practice hours.
  • Post-Master’s DNP applicants who are licensed CRNAs must document 1,000 post-BSN clinical hours. No parallel figure is stated for FNP applicants.
  • Placement model, preceptor sourcing, and faculty oversight: not clearly stated.

DNP programs generally target 1,000 total post-baccalaureate practice hours, and the fellowship sequence is the most likely vehicle for closing the gap between the FNP specialty hours and that benchmark. Union does not confirm this, which leaves a doctoral applicant unable to verify a headline number that accreditors and employers both care about. If you are choosing between Union’s MSN and its DNP, the practical question is not clinical volume, since the FNP course spine is identical in both. It is whether the 49-credit doctoral core and the project sequence are worth roughly $23,600 and twenty additional months.

You Should Know
  • No total clinical or practice hour figure is published for the DNP FNP track anywhere in Union’s catalog. Request it in writing before applying.
  • Whether the fellowship courses count toward FNP clinical hours, DNP practice hours, or both is not stated.

DNP Admissions

The DNP is the only Union FNP track with a published application deadline, and it carries a formal committee interview rather than the discretionary interview used for the MSN.

  • March 1 priority application deadline for the fall cohort, applied annually
  • Unencumbered Tennessee or compact-state RN license at the application deadline
  • BSN from an ACEN or CCNE accredited, state approved program
  • Minimum 3.0 GPA over the last 60 hours for BSN entry, or a 3.0 cumulative graduate GPA for post-master’s entry
  • Interview with the Nursing Graduate Admissions Selection Committee
  • Three references including one from a current supervisor
  • Two-page statement of professional goals and a curriculum vitae
  • NursingCAS application with a $50 to $100 fee
  • $150 acceptance deposit, non-refundable
  • Maximum nine transfer credits, with additional credit possible for MSN holders

Progression rules are stricter than the admissions bar suggests, and they apply to all Union graduate nursing tracks. Any grade below a C in any course triggers dismissal without probation, as does a third C in non-track courses. Track-specific and 700-level courses require a B or higher to progress at all. For a three-year doctoral commitment, that means a single difficult semester in a specialty course can end the program rather than delay it. Ask what remediation, if any, exists before you accept a seat.

You Should Know
  • The March 1 deadline is described as a priority date for fall entry. Whether applications are accepted afterward is not stated.
  • Union’s combination degree options, including the DNP/MBA, are available to Executive Leadership and Nurse Anesthesia students but not to nurse practitioner tracks.
  • Applicants may take up to two DNP core courses before cohort enrollment, but doing so does not guarantee admission.

Post-Graduate Certificate in Family Nurse Practitioner

The estimated tuition for the Post-Graduate Certificate in Family Nurse Practitioner at Union University is approximately $23,287 (29 credits at $761/credit plus the $42/credit general student fee). Union does not publish a completion timeline for this certificate, though its published cost-of-attendance model spreads 18 credits across a first fall, spring, and summer, leaving 11 credits beyond that.

Union publishes the full course plan for the Post Graduate Certificate in Family Nurse Practitioner in its 2026-27 graduate catalogue.

Certificate Curriculum

The certificate is not an abbreviated version of the MSN. It is the MSN with the academic core removed, and that distinction is verifiable: the certificate’s ten courses are exactly the MSN’s specialty sequence plus its advanced practitioner core, and 49 minus the 17-credit MSN core minus the 3-credit elective equals 29. Every clinical course, every one of the three Ps, and the procedures lab carry over unchanged.

Union lists this certificate as both 29 hours and 27 hours on the same catalog page. The itemized course list sums to 29. The 27-hour figure is consistent with the published waiver of NUR 558 Transitions to Advanced Practice Nursing, a 2-credit course Union permits students to skip if they already hold another nurse practitioner certification. That reconciliation is inferred, not confirmed by Union.

  • BIO 500 Advanced Pathophysiology (3)
  • NUR 544 Advanced Health Assessment (3)
  • NUR 550 Advanced Health Assessment Clinical (2)
  • NUR 622 Advanced Pharmacology (3)
  • NUR 547 Primary Care of the Family: Health Promotion (4)
  • NUR 617 Primary Care of Family: Pediatric and Women’s Health (4)
  • NUR 639 Primary Care of Family: Acute and Chronic Management (4)
  • NUR 600 Primary Care Provider Procedures (2)
  • NUR 650 Specialty Focus Practicum (2)
  • NUR 558 Transitions to Advanced Practice Nursing (2, waivable)

A minimum residency of 14 hours applies, meaning roughly half the certificate must be completed at Union rather than transferred in. Note that “residency” here refers to academic credits earned at Union, not to time spent on campus.

More curriculum details are available here.

You Should Know
  • The two-credit swing between the 29 and 27-hour figures is worth about $1,606 in tuition and fees. Confirm which applies to you before budgeting.
  • The NUR 558 waiver requires that you already hold another NP certification. A nurse holding a non-NP MSN in education or administration would likely take the full 29 credits.
  • Union’s certificate program page labels this track “Online” while the catalog degree list marks all NP certificate tracks as online with synchronous components, and the identical procedures course carries a lab fee. The three descriptions conflict.
  • Students holding a master’s degree in a field other than nursing may be assigned additional coursework after transcript review, which is not priced.

Certificate Clinical Requirements

  • Minimum 560 clinical hours, published directly by Union for this certificate
  • Minimum academic residency of 14 of the 29 credits completed at Union
  • Clinical-bearing courses: NUR 550 (2), NUR 547 (4), NUR 617 (4), NUR 639 (4), NUR 600 (2), NUR 650 (2)
  • Derived: 560 hours across the 16 specialty and practicum credits equals exactly 35 hours per credit
  • $100 one-time clinical tracking system fee billed with NUR 550
  • Placement model and preceptor sourcing: not clearly stated

This is the only FNP clinical hour total Union publishes anywhere, and it is the figure a prospective student should anchor to. At 560 hours the certificate clears the 500-hour national certification floor with 60 hours to spare, which is enough to sit for the AANP or ANCC exam but thinner than the 600 to 700 hours common across FNP programs. For an experienced APRN adding a second population focus, that leaner requirement is arguably appropriate, since you already bring advanced assessment and prescribing habits to the work. For someone whose prior master’s was in nursing education or administration, with no advanced clinical practice behind it, 560 hours is a modest runway into a wholly new scope of practice.

You Should Know
  • 560 is described as a minimum, not a fixed total. Whether individual students accrue more is not addressed.
  • Union does not publish how the 560 hours are distributed across pediatric, women’s health, and adult or geriatric populations, which certification bodies and state boards may ask about.
  • Certificate students should verify federal financial aid eligibility separately, as stand-alone graduate certificates are not always aid-eligible.

Certificate Admissions

This certificate admits on a completed graduate nursing degree, and unlike the MSN track it requires a committee interview rather than a discretionary one.

  • Master’s degree in nursing from a CCNE or ACEN accredited, state approved program
  • Unencumbered Tennessee or compact-state RN license at the application deadline
  • Current unencumbered APRN licensure in your state of residence, if applicable
  • Eligibility for RN and APRN licensure in Tennessee
  • Minimum 3.0 GPA over the last 60 credit hours
  • Science GPA of 3.0 in Anatomy and Physiology I and II
  • Interview with the Nursing Graduate Admissions Selection Committee
  • Three references, one from a supervisor; two-page goals statement
  • NursingCAS application with $50 fee, background check, and drug screen
  • No pass/fail coursework accepted from prior institutions; pass/fail-graded prior degrees reviewed individually

The pass/fail restriction is unusually firm and deserves attention, because a number of respected nursing programs grade clinical courses pass/fail as a matter of policy. Union states that prior degrees from institutions using pass/fail grading are reviewed case by case by the program chair, which converts what looks like a hard bar into a discretionary one. If your transcript carries pass/fail marks, raise it with the chair before you pay the application fee rather than after.

You Should Know
  • The certificate admissions criteria require a master’s degree in nursing in one place and a BSN from an accredited program in another. Both likely apply, but Union does not say so explicitly.
  • No application deadline date is published for the certificate.
  • The certificate is described as fitting nurses who hold a graduate degree in another nursing specialty, but Union does not state whether non-NP master’s holders face additional bridge coursework beyond the transcript review clause.

Tuition

Union charges $761 per credit hour for the MSN and for all post-graduate certificate tracks, plus a $42 per credit general student fee, for a blended rate of $803 per credit. The BSN to DNP FNP track does not use a per-credit rate at all. It is block-billed at $6,671 per term across three terms per year, which works out to an effective $790 per credit at 76 credits, plus $325 per term in fees. The separate Post-Master’s DNP bills at $1,143 per credit.

  • MSN FNP: 49 credits. $37,289 tuition plus $2,058 in general student fees, totaling approximately $39,347.
  • Post-Graduate Certificate: 29 credits. $22,069 tuition plus $1,218 in fees, totaling approximately $23,287. At a 27-credit basis, approximately $21,681.
  • BSN to DNP FNP: $20,013 per year in tuition plus $975 per year in fees, or approximately $62,964 across the 36-month option.
  • Post-Master’s DNP: 38 credits at $1,143, approximately $45,030 with fees.
  • Application fee: $50 for MSN and certificate, $50 to $100 for DNP.
  • Acceptance deposit: $150, non-refundable, for all tracks except nurse anesthesia.
  • NUR 600 lab fee: $150. Clinical tracking system: $100 once. Background check and drug screen: $161. Cap and gown: approximately $150.
  • Liability insurance: $25 per year for MSN and certificate students.

Union’s published cost-of-attendance figures confirm these rates but are easy to misread. The $28,105 listed for MSN FNP students covers 35 credits across one fall, spring, and summer, not the full 49-credit program. The $14,454 listed for certificate students covers 18 credits, not 29. Both are one-year figures.

Be aware that:

  • Books run approximately $150 per course. That is roughly $2,700 across the MSN’s 18 courses, $1,500 across the certificate’s 10, and $3,900 across the DNP’s 26. These are not billed by the university and sit outside the totals above.
  • Liability insurance for DNP students is listed as a range of $25 up to $275 per year without stating what determines the amount. Across three years that is a spread of up to $750.
  • Union states that all financial information is subject to change without notice, and the DNP block rate is quoted per year. A three-year DNP estimate assumes the current rate holds, which historically it does not.
  • Because the DNP is block-billed per term rather than per credit, taking a lighter term does not reduce cost. Pacing flexibility carries no financial benefit on that track.
  • The certificate’s 29-versus-27 credit conflict creates a $1,606 swing that Union has not resolved.
  • Paying by credit card adds a 2.5% convenience fee, which on a single $13,000 MSN term is roughly $325.
  • Additional unspecified clinical and program fees are referenced for certificate students without amounts.

The practical takeaway is that Union’s MSN is priced in the middle of the private-university range and its all-in cost is close to its sticker cost, since the fee structure is simple and transparent. The DNP is where the arithmetic turns: you are paying roughly $23,600 more than the MSN for a doctoral credential built on the same FNP clinical spine. Current rates are published on Union’s tuition page.

Why Choose This FNP Program?

Best suited for nurses who want a fast, structured cohort experience at a Christian university, who can secure their own clinical sites, and who hold a Tennessee or compact-state license.

Speed is the clearest advantage. Forty-nine credits in sixteen months is aggressive pacing, made possible by accelerated 7-to-8-week course blocks inside standard semesters and by a cohort model that eliminates scheduling decisions entirely. You will not be assembling your own plan of study or negotiating course availability. That structure suits nurses who want the credential quickly and who function well when the calendar is handed to them. It suits shift workers and parents considerably less, because a compressed calendar removes the ability to lighten a term when life intervenes.

One clinical spine, three entry points. Union builds every FNP credential from the same five specialty courses and the same assessment and procedures sequence. A BSN nurse, an MSN-prepared educator, and a doctoral applicant all complete identical FNP preparation. The practical upshot is that your choice among the three tracks is a question about the credential you want and the money you will spend, not about the quality of clinical training you will receive. The 29-credit certificate delivers the same FNP coursework as the 49-credit MSN for roughly $16,000 less, if you already hold a nursing master’s.

The procedures course is a genuine differentiator. A dedicated 2-credit Primary Care Provider Procedures course with its own lab fee is not standard. Most FNP programs distribute procedural skills across specialty coursework or leave them to the first year of practice. If you are heading toward rural, community health, or independent practice, arriving with structured procedures training is worth real money in your first job.

The honest trade-offs are clinical volume and unanswered logistics. A 560-hour minimum clears certification but sits below what most FNP programs require, and Union publishes no placement model, no preceptor sourcing policy, and no faculty site visit schedule. Those two facts interact badly: fewer required hours plus no stated placement support means the burden of building a strong, varied clinical experience falls squarely on you. Add the systematic two-credit discrepancy across all four of Union’s NP programs and the three-way conflict in how the school describes its own delivery format, and the picture is of a program whose published materials have not kept pace with itself.

What to do before you commit. Get three things in writing from the NP chair: the exact clinical hour total for your track, the placement model including whether Union assists in securing preceptors, and confirmation of your credit total against the tuition you will be billed. If placement turns out to be self-sourced, begin building relationships with potential preceptor sites now rather than after matriculation, and plan to seek hours beyond the 560 minimum in pediatrics and women’s health specifically, since those are the populations a lean requirement tends to underserve. Union’s structure is sound and its price is defensible. The gaps are in documentation, and documentation gaps are the kind you can close with a phone call before you deposit $150.

Accreditation

The baccalaureate, master’s, Doctor of Nursing Practice, and post-graduate APRN certificate programs at Union University are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education. All three FNP tracks fall within that scope, so MSN, DNP, and certificate students are covered.

Union University is institutionally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges to award associate, baccalaureate, master’s, educational specialist, and doctoral degrees, along with certificates and diplomas at approved degree levels.

The College of Nursing is fully approved by the Tennessee Board of Nursing. Union describes this approval as running until it is notified of the next onsite visit, which is a standing status rather than a fixed expiration date.

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