YSU's Capstone Practicum: the last course in every MSN track

Q: Does the Capstone need an affiliation agreement or Exxat clearance?

YSU publishes nothing tying NURS 7005 to a clinical site, so no affiliation agreement is mentioned for it. Exxat still matters: YSU expects graduate nursing students to hold an active Exxat account for as long as they are enrolled, with compliance kept current across the program.

Updated September 26, 2026 · Reviewed by the YSU Preceptor placement team

NURS 7005 Capstone Practicum is the 3-credit course that closes each Youngstown State University MSN track: FNP, AGACNP and Nursing Education. YSU's FNP page describes it as 60 project clock hours, separate from the 150-hour precepted practicums, and says it may run with NURS 7065 or in the term after but must be the final course. Here is what YSU publishes about it, how to choose the timing, and what only your course faculty can tell you.

Get matched Chat now

Get your placement plan

Tell us your YSU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with preceptor and site options in your community that fit your YSU course.

3credits in NURS 7005 Capstone Practicum

60project clock hours, per YSU's online FNP page

What YSU publishes about the Capstone

YSU's public detail on the Capstone is brief and spread over two sources, the 2026-27 catalog and the online FNP program page. The table gathers all of it.

`NURS 7005` Capstone Practicum in YSU's public sources
Item	What YSU states	Where
Title	Capstone Practicum	2026-27 catalog
Credits	3 (the FNP page says it remains 3 credit hours)	Catalog; online FNP page
Hours	A total of 60 project clock hours	Online FNP page
Prerequisite or corequisite	`NURS 7051`, `NURS 7065`, `NURS 7042` or `NURS 7075`, or the pair `NURS 7022` and `NURS 7023`, with a B or better	Catalog course description
Timing	With `NURS 7065` or in the following term; it must be the final course	Online FNP page
Programs	MSN FNP, MSN AGACNP and MSN Nursing Education	Catalog program pages

NURS 7051 and NURS 7042 are the last practicums of YSU's retired FNP and AGACNP sequences, still listed for students on earlier catalog years. Under the 2026-27 catalog, the gate is NURS 7065, NURS 7075 or the two Nurse Educator practicums. YSU's public pages do not describe the project itself, its topic, format or deliverables, so ask your advisor or course faculty for those.

Where the Capstone sits in each track

In the NP tracks the Capstone follows three FNP or AGACNP didactic courses and five practicums; in Nursing Education it follows four education courses and two practicums. The post-master's certificate course lists in the catalog do not include NURS 7005, so certificate students finish with their last practicum.

The Capstone by YSU program (2026-27 catalog)
Program	Total credits	What comes right before the Capstone	Capstone
MSN FNP	46	`NURS 7065`	3 credits
MSN AGACNP	46	`NURS 7075`	3 credits
MSN Nursing Education	33	`NURS 7022` and `NURS 7023`	3 credits
Post-master's FNP or AGACNP certificate	37, or 19 with advanced placement (the AGACNP catalog text says 18)	The fifth practicum ends the certificate	Not in the course list
Post-master's Nursing Education certificate	15	The two Nurse Educator practicums end it	Not in the course list

Project hours, not clinical hours

YSU labels the Capstone's 60 hours as project clock hours, a different kind of hour from practicum time. The 750-hour NP figure on YSU's program pages comes from the five practicums, and none of YSU's published preceptor rules, settings grids or course-by-course hour lists mention NURS 7005. The two-month preceptor deadline is written for clinical rotations. The clinical hours guide shows how the Capstone fits beside every program's practicum hours.

So nothing public asks you to find a preceptor for the Capstone. If the course calls for a site contact or a project mentor, your course faculty will say so. Spread across seven weeks, 60 hours comes to roughly 8.5 a week (our arithmetic).

With the last practicum or after it

YSU's FNP page allows both. The handbook, meanwhile, allows one specialty course per term in the specialty phase and forbids combining a practicum with a didactic course in the same term. The Capstone is titled a practicum and is shared by all three MSN tracks rather than tied to one specialty, so the two statements may not clash at all, but they read differently. Confirm your plan with your advisor before registering.

For AGACNP students, the catalog's prerequisite-or-corequisite wording covers NURS 7075 in the same way, and for Nursing Education it covers the pair NURS 7022 and NURS 7023. The seven-week term guide explains how the practicums before it chain together.

How the choice looks (our view, not YSU's)

Together with the last practicum: one term shorter, but that term holds 150 practicum hours plus 60 project hours, 210 in seven weeks by our count, and YSU's FAQ expects roughly 20 weekly study hours per online course.
In the following term: a lighter final practicum term and a Capstone term with no preceptor to schedule, at the cost of seven more weeks before you finish.
Either way: a late preceptor for the final practicum delays the Capstone too, because the catalog ties the Capstone to that practicum.

The Capstone term and graduation

Graduation comes at the end of fall (December), spring (May) and summer (August), and you apply to graduate in the Penguin Portal. The 2026-27 deadlines are Oct 2, 2026 for fall, Feb 12, 2027 for spring and June 18, 2027 for summer. Each one falls before that semester's second 7-week term begins, so a student whose Capstone runs in a second term applies before the course has started (our reading of the calendar). The handbook makes meeting the deadline your responsibility; the academic calendar page lists every date.

Two final-term details are easy to miss. Equipment borrowed from your last clinical site must be returned on your final practicum day, or YSU places a graduation hold. And the handbook is clear that an MSN alone does not grant APRN licensure; Ohio's APRN license follows national certification, as the certification exams guide explains.

Your last terms, planned

The Capstone needs no preceptor search; the practicum in front of it does. A late preceptor for NURS 7065 or NURS 7075 pushes back the last practicum, the Capstone and the graduation term together. We confirm your final practicum preceptor early, well inside YSU's two-month window, so the last term runs the way you planned it and the Capstone has the room it needs.

Course detail for the final practicums is on the FNP Practicum 5 guide and the AGACNP practicums guide. To start, send your track and expected final term through the form below.

Questions YSU students ask

Can I take NURS 7005 before my last practicum?

Not under YSU's published rules. The catalog lists the final practicum, or the pair of Nurse Educator practicums, as a prerequisite or corequisite completed with a B or better, and the FNP page says the Capstone must be the final course. The earliest it can run is alongside that last practicum.

What grade do I need in the Capstone?

A B or better, as in every required MSN course. Anything below a B means taking the course again under YSU's graduate nursing rules, and only one retake is permitted. Because the Capstone is the final course, a repeat moves your completion and graduation term back by at least one term.

Does the Capstone need an affiliation agreement or Exxat clearance?

YSU publishes nothing tying NURS 7005 to a clinical site, so no affiliation agreement is mentioned for it. Exxat still matters: YSU expects graduate nursing students to hold an active Exxat account for as long as they are enrolled, with compliance kept current across the program.

Is the Capstone the same for Nursing Education students?

Same course number, same 3 credits, same place at the end of the MSN. For Nursing Education the catalog's gate is the pair of practicums, NURS 7022 and NURS 7023, with a B or better. The 60-hour figure comes from YSU's FNP page, so confirm the Nursing Education expectations with your advisor.

YSU systemNURS 7065 Practicum 5NURS 7065, YSU's last FNP practicum: clinical mastery, autonomy and certification readiness, how it pairs with the NURS 7005 Capstone, and graduation dates.AGACNPAGACNP practicumsThe five YSU AGACNP practicums, NURS 7071 to NURS 7075: catalog focus, the B rule, which acute care preceptors fit each stage and hospital onboarding windows.Terms7-week practicum termsHow YSU's 7-week practicum terms work: one practicum per term in strict order, a B to move on, no didactic course alongside, and five preceptors back to back.YSU systemAcademic calendarYSU's 2026-27 accelerated calendar: 7-week term dates, the four online starts, graduation deadlines, a Spring 2 date conflict and how practicums map on.YSU systemNP certification examsThe boards YSU names for FNP and AGACNP certification, the pass rates YSU reports, how NURS 7065 and 7075 build toward boards, and the Ohio APRN license after.HoursClinical hoursClinical hours for each YSU nursing program: FNP and AGACNP (750 on program pages, catalog 600 and 540), Nursing Education, RN to BSN, and how hours are logged.

Last checked 2026-09-26

We check these pages against YSU's own catalog, graduate handbook, online program pages and FAQ, and Ohio rules. Your clinical faculty, the Graduate Clinical Coordinator and your advisor have the final word.

YSU asks you to secure your preceptor. We find one near you.

Tell us your YSU track, where you live and when your next practicum starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the practicum, check YSU's rules and hand you what the preceptor request needs, two months ahead, with the next term's preceptor already in view.

Primary care preceptors for FNP practicums NURS 7061 to NURS 7065, acute care for AGACNP NURS 7071 to NURS 7075
Outside your own unit and away from your supervisor, in a state YSU accepts
Across Ohio, from the Mahoning Valley to Cincinnati, and in Pennsylvania, West Virginia and Michigan

Start your placement plan

Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.