University of Nevada, Las Vegas offers 2 Family Nurse Practitioner Tracks:
- MSN
- BSN-DNP
Program Tracks Overview
| Program | Est. Tuition | Est. Duration | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSN | $31.9K / $49.2K-$77.9K | 1.3-2.3 years (4-7 semesters) | 41 |
| BSN-DNP | $52.9K / $81.5K-$129.1K | 3 years (8 semesters) | 68 |
Tuition estimates use UNLV’s 2026-27 graduate registration fee plus the $335 nursing differential and per-credit distance education, technology, and student services fees (in-state / out-of-state).
Seven trips to Las Vegas, each tied to a skills check, an OSCE, or the final presentation. UNLV’s MSN coursework is online, but every semester ends with an in-person competency gate, and the School guarantees Las Vegas-area clinical placements for students who hold a Nevada RN license.
Out-of-state access is narrow. Only nurses in Alaska, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Utah can train at home, and they must find their own approved preceptors. A student who cannot secure one is expected to get a Nevada license and relocate to Las Vegas.
Quick Facts
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Program Types | MSN, BSN-DNP |
| Format | Mostly Online: online coursework with mandatory per-semester campus sessions (7 for the MSN) |
| Clinical Hours | 750+ (MSN) and 500+ (BSN-DNP), per catalog licensure disclosures |
| Clinical Placement | Guaranteed within 75 miles of Las Vegas for Nevada RN holders; self-sourced in 5 approved states |
| Population | Family/individual across the lifespan |
| Distinctive Coursework | Per-semester OSCE pass-offs; telehealth hours count toward clinical time |
| RN License Requirements | Unencumbered U.S. RN license, Nevada-eligible; RN license in the state where clinicals occur |
| Tuition | $777.45/credit in-state (derived, fee-inclusive); out-of-state adds $421.75/credit or $10,094.50/semester |
| Accreditation | CCNE (MSN and DNP) |
| Experience Gate | 1 full year of RN clinical experience before starting the MSN |
| Start Term | MSN admits fall only, by competitive selection with interview |
Master of Science in Nursing, Family Nurse Practitioner
The estimated tuition for the MSN at University of Nevada, Las Vegas is approximately $31,875 (41 credits at $777.45/credit). The program can generally be completed in about 1.3 to 2.3 years (4 to 7 semesters), full-time or part-time.
Official program: Master of Science in Nursing: Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP) Track.
MSN Curriculum
A leaner 41-credit plan. The current catalog cuts the MSN to 41 credits: a 9-credit core, 30 credits of FNP and APRN coursework, and a 2-credit clinical synthesis. Earlier versions ran 46 credits and split clinical content by population (adult and women’s health, children and OB, geriatric and chronic illness). The new plan replaces those with a three-course Family Nurse Practitioner I-III sequence.
Skills checked in person. Health assessment, each FNP clinical course, and the synthesis course all end with an on-campus skills or OSCE pass-off. Students cannot move through the clinical sequence on online coursework alone.
- NURS 703 Advanced Health Assessment
- NURS 704 Advanced Pathophysiology and Genetics I
- NURS 730 Advanced Pharmacology and Genetics II
- NURS 701 Diagnostic Reasoning and Clinical Decision Making for the APRN
- NUR 651 Informatics and Population Health
- NUR 706 Roles, Leadership, and Policy for the APRN
- NUR 720, 721, 722 Family Nurse Practitioner I, II, III
- NUR 723 Family Nurse Practitioner Clinical Synthesis (2)
More curriculum details are available here.
You Should Know
- The catalog lists only subtotals (9, 30, and 2 credits), not credits per course.
- The program page names campus visits by older course numbers (NURS 740R, 750R, 760R, 761) that no longer appear in the 41-credit catalog plan. Ask which current courses carry each visit.
- UNLV’s MSN compliance page still states 46 credits, the prior version’s total.
MSN Clinical Requirements
- Clinical hours: the catalog’s Nevada licensure disclosure says the MSN satisfies a 750+ direct patient care hour requirement; per-course hours are not published
- Placement guaranteed in the greater Las Vegas metro area for students with a valid Nevada RN license
- Out-of-state clinicals allowed only in Alaska, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Utah, with an RN license in that state
- Out-of-state and outside-Las Vegas preceptors and sites must be approved by UNLV; no placement help is guaranteed
- Fallback: a student without an approved home preceptor must obtain a Nevada RN license and relocate; UNLV then assigns a site up to 75 miles from campus, inside Nevada
- 7 mandatory campus visits: orientation, NURS 703 skills lab and pass-off, an interprofessional education workshop, and OSCE pass-offs ending with the culminating presentation
- Telehealth hours count as clinical time; simulation hours do not
At 750 or more hours, the MSN sits above the 500-hour certification floor and the 600-700 hour range common among FNP programs. The placement promise works best for Las Vegas nurses, who get an assigned preceptor without a search. For a nurse in one of the five approved states, the real risk is the fallback: an unsuccessful preceptor search means moving to Nevada mid-program. UNR also places students in Nevada, but UNLV is the Nevada option that names specific out-of-state homes for clinicals.
You Should Know
- Published hour totals have changed with each curriculum version: 720 hours in an older course description sheet, 675 in the prior handbook, and 750+ in the current catalog disclosure. Confirm the current per-course breakdown.
- Seven visits across a 4-semester full-time plan means more than one trip in some terms. UNLV does not publish dates.
MSN Admissions
The MSN admits once a year in fall by competitive selection, requires a year of RN experience, and includes an individual interview.
- BSN (or nursing degree plus baccalaureate) from regionally and nationally accredited programs
- Cumulative GPA of 3.0, or 3.0 in the last two years of undergraduate or prelicensure coursework
- Current, unencumbered U.S. RN license and eligibility to practice as an RN in Nevada
- Minimum of one full year of clinical RN experience before starting
- Three professional recommendations, a dated resume, and a goal statement of about 300 words
- Individual interview
- $500 non-refundable seat deposit, credited toward tuition
- Up to 3 credits (NURS 730) may be taken as a non-degree student; transfer credit capped at 6
You Should Know
- The catalog’s FNP licensure disclaimer says UNLV “has not made a determination” for any state other than Nevada and will refund the application fee for non-Nevada residents. That conflicts with the program page’s five-state clinical list. UNLV’s online licensure portal shows generic MSN rulings (for example, “Meets” for Utah and Montana, “Does Not Meet” for California) without naming the FNP track. Get a written determination for your state before applying.
BSN to DNP, Family Nurse Practitioner
The estimated tuition for the BSN-DNP at University of Nevada, Las Vegas is approximately $52,867 (68 credits at $777.45/credit). The program can generally be completed in about 3 years (8 semesters) full-time, including summers.
Official program: Doctor of Nursing Practice, Post-Bachelor’s Family Nurse Practitioner.
BSN-DNP Curriculum
Same FNP spine, doctoral wrapper. The DNP uses the MSN’s FNP core: NURS 701, 703, 704, 730 and NUR 720-722. It drops the MSN’s evidence, informatics, roles, and synthesis courses and adds 11 doctoral courses plus a 9-credit DNP project over three terms. Net, it is 27 credits more than the MSN, about $21,000 at the resident rate.
- NURS 729R Translational Evidence for Healthcare Systems
- NURS 734 Health Systems Science and Quality Improvement
- NURS 758 Advanced Statistics and Methods for the DNP
- NURS 708 Analysis and Economics of Healthcare Systems and Delivery
- NURS 716 Population Health: Analysis and Evaluation
- NURS 726 Healthcare Issues and the Law
- NUR 720, 721, 722 Family Nurse Practitioner I, II, III
- NURS 788 DNP Project (9 credits over 3 terms)
More curriculum details are available here.
You Should Know
- The only published full-time plan of study uses older course numbers (NURS 740R, 750R, 760R, 765 residency). It still totals 68 credits over 8 semesters, which supports the duration above.
- The current catalog lists no NURS 765 residency for the BSN-DNP FNP track.
BSN-DNP Clinical Requirements
- Catalog licensure disclosure: Nevada requires 500+ direct patient care hours, and the DNP FNP subplan is CCNE-accredited to meet that standard
- Older plan of study: 540 FNP clinical hours plus 45 simulation hours, a 180-hour residency, and 360 project hours (1,125 total listed)
- Placement: the program pages publish the MSN’s Las Vegas guarantee and five-state rule; DNP-specific placement policy is not clearly stated
- Mandatory in-person clinical experiences and in-person course sessions; number of visits not clearly stated
The DNP runs the same three FNP clinical courses as the MSN, so it should not add FNP patient-care training. The extra hours sit in the DNP project. Nurses who only need certification get the same FNP spine from the MSN for about 27 fewer credits.
You Should Know
- The DNP disclosure cites 500+ hours while the MSN disclosure cites 750+ for what is now the same FNP course sequence. Ask UNLV which figure applies to current DNP students.
- The DNP disclaimer says the program “may not be authorized” outside Nevada, softer than the MSN’s “not authorized.”
BSN-DNP Admissions
The BSN-DNP requires one or two faculty interviews and an RN license in your state of residence; an RN experience minimum is not stated.
- BSN with a 3.0 GPA from an accredited nursing program
- Unrestricted, unencumbered RN license in the state of residence
- Career goals statement, 500 words maximum, including possible DNP project ideas
- Three recommendations, at least one from a current or former supervisor
- CV or detailed resume
- $500 non-refundable seat deposit, credited toward tuition
You Should Know
- The BSN-DNP intake term and application deadline are not clearly stated in the source material.
Tuition
UNLV’s derived cost per credit for online graduate nursing courses in fall and spring 2026-27 is $777.45 for Nevada residents. That includes the $335 nursing differential. Non-residents pay the same stack plus either $421.75 per credit (1-6 credits) or a flat $10,094.50 per semester (7 or more credits).
| Per-Credit Component (2026-27) | Amount |
|---|---|
| Graduate registration fee | $383.25 |
| School of Nursing differential (500-700 level) | $335.00 |
| Distance education course fee | $34.00 |
| Technology/iNtegrate fee | $18.00 |
| Graduate student services fee | $7.00 |
| Newspaper fee | $0.20 |
| Resident total per credit | $777.45 |
| Track | Credits | Resident | Non-Resident (part-time) | Non-Resident (9 credits/term) |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| MSN | 41 | $31,875 | $49,167 | $77,862 |
| BSN-DNP | 68 | $52,867 | $81,546 | $129,136 |
All totals are derived (credits × per-credit stack). UNLV does not publish program totals. Rates come from UNLV’s Cashiering tuition and fees page and the School of Nursing’s tuition page. The registration fee and per-semester fees reconcile with UNLV’s published 2026-27 graduate estimate of $4,148 for a 9-credit semester.
- Registration fee: $383.25 per graduate credit
- Nursing differential: $335 per credit on 500-700 level nursing courses
- Distance education fee: $34 per credit on online courses
- Per-semester fees: about $471.50 (health, counseling, student life, GPSA, career development, recycling, study abroad)
- One-time fees: $120 new graduate student fee; $500 seat deposit, credited to tuition
Be aware that:
- Non-resident cost depends on load. At 6 credits or fewer, the surcharge is $421.75 per credit. At 7 or more, it jumps to a flat $10,094.50 per semester, about $1,122 per credit at a 9-credit load.
- Summer rates differ: summer 2026 used a $394.25 registration fee and only a $100 per-credit non-resident charge. Summer terms in either plan will change the totals above.
- Graduate students taking 9 or more credits are charged mandatory health insurance, estimated at $4,350 for 2026-27. Waiver rules for fully online students are not stated.
- Whether fully online students pay the full set of per-semester campus fees is not clearly stated.
- Seven MSN campus trips, and travel or relocation for clinicals, are not included.
- Third-party listings quote $383.25 per credit, which is the registration fee alone and omits the $335 differential.
- UNLV’s predictable pricing schedule raises 2027-28 graduate costs by about 7%, so multi-year totals will run higher.
The $383.25 headline rate covers about half the real per-credit cost. At $777.45 all-in, a resident MSN runs about $32,000, plus roughly $1,900-$3,300 in semester fees. Out-of-state students in the five approved states can keep costs near $49,000 by staying at 6 credits or fewer per term, which a part-time plan allows.
Why Choose This FNP Program?
The right fit depends on where you hold your RN license.
Las Vegas-area nurses. This group gets the full value: an assigned preceptor within 75 miles, campus visits a short drive away, and the resident rate. A nurse with a year of experience who wants structured skills checks every term will find more in-person accountability here than in a fully online program.
Nurses in the five approved states. Alaska, Montana, North Carolina, Oklahoma, and Utah residents can do clinicals at home, but they find their own preceptors and fly in for seven campus sessions. The part-time non-resident rate keeps tuition manageable. The catalog’s licensure disclaimer, however, says UNLV has not authorized the FNP for any state but Nevada, so written confirmation is essential.
The honest drawbacks. Everyone else is effectively excluded. The curriculum was recently rebuilt to 41 credits, and UNLV’s pages still mix old and new course numbers, credit totals, and clinical hours. The BSN-DNP adds 27 credits and about $21,000 for the same FNP courses.
Accreditation
The Master of Science in Nursing and the Doctor of Nursing Practice at UNLV are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). Both FNP tracks fall within that scope.
The master’s program was first accredited in 2008 and most recently in October 2023, with accreditation running through June 30, 2034. The catalog confirms CCNE accreditation for the DNP’s post-bachelor’s FNP subplan.
UNLV is institutionally accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). Institutional accreditation supports federal financial aid eligibility and credit recognition at other universities.
Graduates are eligible to sit for the national FNP certification exam (AANP or ANCC). UNLV’s most recent published first-time pass rates cover 2017-2019, ranging from 92.86% to 100%.
Compare More Family NP Programs
- Roseman University of Health Sciences - Henderson
- Touro University Nevada - Henderson
- University of Nevada, Reno - Reno