University of West Florida FNP Programs

School of Nursing • Pensacola, FL • Online • $500/credit

The University of West Florida offers an MSN Family Nurse Practitioner Track.

Program Tracks Overview

ProgramEst. TuitionEst. DurationCredit Hours
MSN$22.5K (flat)27–30 mos (FT)45

UWF’s defining advantage is price without residency strings: a flat $500/credit — $22,500 total — for every student regardless of state, on a fully online program with no campus visits. Out-of-state nurses pay the same as Floridians, which undercuts the in-state rates at USF and UCF that only Florida residents can access. The trade-off is rigidity: full-time enrollment is mandatory, with no part-time option.

Quick Facts

FeatureDetails
Program TypesMSN — Family Nurse Practitioner (BSN entry)
FormatOnline — no campus visits; practicums completed locally
Clinical Hours780 direct patient care hours across four practicums
Clinical PlacementNot clearly stated; a Clinical Placement Coordinator advises on state rules
PopulationPrimary care across the lifespan, outpatient rural and urban settings
Enrollment PaceFull-time only (6+ credits/semester); no part-time option
State RestrictionsClinicals not permitted in California, Louisiana, or New York
RN License RequirementsCurrent unencumbered U.S. RN license
Start TermsTwo intakes per year: Summer and Fall
Tuition$500/credit flat, all states; $22,500 total; up to 9 transfer credits
AccreditationCCNE (nursing); SACSCOC (institutional)

MSN — Family Nurse Practitioner

The estimated tuition for the Earl and Nancy Hutto MSN Family Nurse Practitioner at the University of West Florida is approximately $22,500 (45 credits at $500/credit). The program can generally be completed in about 27–30 months of full-time study, spanning up to six semesters depending on transfer credits.

MSN Curriculum

The 45 credits split into three blocks, taken full-time in a set sequence with courses running in 8- and 16-week formats. The structure is conventional; what stands out is the clinical back half — the FNP specialization is 24 credits, more than half the degree, built as four seminar-plus-practicum pairs that progress from initial assessment skills to independent management of patients across the lifespan. Up to 9 transfer credits can shorten the didactic front end.

MSN Direct Care Core (9 credits)

  • NGR 6002 — Advanced Health Assessment
  • NGR 6140 — Advanced Pathophysiology
  • NGR 6172 — Advanced Pharmacology

MSN Common Core (12 credits)

  • NGR 6111 — Foundations of Nursing Science
  • NGR 6803 — Integration of Evidence in Advanced Nursing Practice
  • NGR 6893 — Health Systems Leadership and Policy Strategies
  • NGR 6638 — Population Health Promotion and Management

FNP Specialization (24 credits)

  • NGR 6201/6201L — Family Nurse Practitioner I Seminar and Practicum
  • NGR 6301/6301L — Family Nurse Practitioner II Seminar and Practicum
  • NGR 6202/6202L — Family Nurse Practitioner III Seminar and Practicum
  • NGR 6835L — Family Nurse Practitioner IV Practicum

More curriculum details are available here.

MSN Clinical Requirements

  • 780 direct patient care hours, completed through four sequential practicum courses (FNP I–IV)
  • Settings: rural and urban outpatient primary care, covering children, adults, women, and families
  • Per-course hour breakdown: not clearly stated
  • Placement model: not clearly stated; a Clinical Placement Coordinator handles state-regulation questions, but students should confirm whether UWF arranges sites and preceptors or expects students to find them
  • Clinicals cannot be performed in California, Louisiana, or New York; students in other states must verify their board of nursing permits UWF practicums

780 hours is high for an MSN. The certification floor is 500 hours and most FNP programs land between 600 and 700, so UWF graduates enter practice with roughly 15–30% more supervised patient contact than typical — the most of any Florida MSN we’ve profiled (USF requires 750). The cost of that depth is time: expect heavier clinical loads in the final semesters, which is harder to balance against full-time RN work. Before enrolling, pin down the placement question — who secures your preceptors is the single biggest workload variable in any FNP program.

MSN Admissions

Admission is competitive and selective — meeting minimums does not guarantee a seat — and there are only two intakes per year, so a missed deadline means waiting months, not weeks.

  • BSN from an ACEN, CCNE, or NLNAC-accredited program
  • 3.0 GPA overall or in the last 60 hours of BSN coursework
  • Undergraduate statistics course with a grade of C or better
  • Current unencumbered U.S. RN license
  • CV covering work history, education, community service, certifications, and memberships
  • 150–200 word career goals statement (four prompted questions)
  • $30 application fee; official transcripts from all institutions
  • Applicants ineligible to re-register at their last institution for academic or disciplinary reasons are not admitted
  • Annual cycle: Summer starts (application deadline around March 1) and Fall starts (around June 1); confirm current dates with UWF
  • Post-admission: physical exam, immunizations, Level 2 background check, drug screen, VECHS fingerprinting, BLS certification, liability and health insurance

Tuition

UWF charges a flat $500 per credit hour for the online MSN-FNP — the same rate for Florida residents, out-of-state students, and international students. At 45 credits, total tuition is approximately $22,500. Students who transfer in the maximum 9 credits pay about $18,000 (36 credits × $500).

  • This is a self-supporting, market-rate program: there is no out-of-state markup and no waiver paperwork to file. Standard UWF graduate rates ($384.60 in-state / $1,044.24 non-resident) do not apply.
  • Fees are charged per semester, but amounts are not itemized on the program page — ask an enrollment advisor for the per-semester fee schedule before budgeting.
  • $30 application fee; tuition and fees are subject to change.
  • Yellow Ribbon participant since 2011; eligible veterans may attend tuition-free with military benefits.

The practical read: Florida residents pay slightly more per credit here than at USF ($431) or UCF ($370), but for the roughly 49 states of nurses who aren’t Florida residents, $22,500 makes UWF one of the cheapest public-university FNP degrees available anywhere — USF’s out-of-state MSN runs over $55,000. Official tuition details are available here.

Why Choose This FNP Program?

This program fits nurses who can go all-in for two and a half years and want the strongest cost-to-clinical-hours ratio in Florida.

The value case is straightforward: $22,500 buys a CCNE-accredited public-university MSN with 780 clinical hours — more supervised practice than USF, UCF, or Florida Southern require — and a documented 93% three-year average pass rate on the AANP certification exam. Graduates are eligible for either national exam (AANP FNP-C or ANCC FNP-BC). Because pricing is residency-blind and coursework is fully online with no campus travel, the program’s reach extends far beyond the Panhandle: an out-of-state nurse gets Florida public-university pricing without moving or filing waiver paperwork each semester.

The constraints are real. Full-time enrollment (6+ credits every semester) is mandatory — nurses who need to drop to one course during a hard stretch have no part-time fallback, and the 780-hour clinical load compounds that pressure in the final year. Residents of California, Louisiana, and New York are excluded outright from clinicals. And unlike USF and UCF, which coordinate placements, UWF’s program page doesn’t state who secures preceptors — get that answer in writing before you commit. If you need part-time pacing or guaranteed placement, USF’s coordinated hybrid model is the safer Florida pick; if you want the lowest total cost and can sustain full-time momentum, UWF wins on the math.

Accreditation

The master’s degree program in nursing at the University of West Florida is accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). The university is institutionally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), and UWF Online is approved under NC-SARA, which standardizes interstate distance education. UWF states that graduates are eligible for national FNP certification through either the American Association of Nurse Practitioners (AANP) or the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC) — dual eligibility, so you can choose the FNP-C or FNP-BC credential.

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