YSU's online MSN Family Nurse Practitioner, from the first course to Practicum 5

What the FNP program is and how long it runs

The FNP is one of two nurse practitioner specialties offered by the James and Coralie Centofanti School of Nursing, part of YSU's Bitonte College of Health and Human Services. The catalog describes the program as fully online, and it prepares graduates to sit for the family nurse practitioner certification exams given by the American Nurses Credentialing Center and the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners. Neither the catalog nor the graduate handbook sets a campus residency, although clinical faculty may evaluate you during a practicum through a site visit or a virtual check.

You can begin at four points in the year, Fall 1, Fall 2, Spring 1 or Spring 2, each the opening of a 7-week term. YSU's online page says the program can be done in as few as 22 months; the handbook estimates about 22 months full time and 36 part time, and a YSU timeline article says 20. Tuition is charged by the credit hour, the online page posts an in-state total for the program, and YSU notes that accelerated online students cannot use payment plans.

Five practicums and the 750 versus 600 question

Each practicum is 2 credits, fills one 7-week term, and needs a B before the next one opens. All five must take place in primary care, in adult, gerontology, pediatric or women's health settings. The catalog descriptions build from first steps toward independence:

• NURS 7061, Practicum 1: health promotion and early management of common acute and chronic problems
• NURS 7062, Practicum 2: turning assessment findings into differential diagnoses and evidence-based plans
• NURS 7063, Practicum 3: sharper diagnostic reasoning and evaluation of patient outcomes
• NURS 7064, Practicum 4: leadership, health promotion and disease management across the lifespan
• NURS 7065, Practicum 5: clinical mastery, autonomy and readiness for certification

YSU's hour figures do not match. The online FNP page and the FAQ's course-by-course list give every practicum 150 hours, 750 in total, which fits the five-practicum sequence the catalog now requires. The catalog's program summary still says 600, the total of the older four-practicum design, and the FAQ separately sets a pace of 180 hours per 7-week term, roughly 26 a week. Plan around 750, ask your clinical faculty which figure applies to your cohort, and use the clinical hours planner to see the weekly load.

Preceptors: five searches, each due two months ahead

YSU highly encourages FNP students to secure their own preceptors, which keeps practicums close to home and on a schedule that works around your job. Each preceptor's details go to YSU two months before that practicum begins, and the preceptor must be approved before clinicals start. YSU's FAQ also asks you to open the site and preceptor request as soon as you are admitted, since a new site can take many months, and to let the Graduate Clinical Coordinator know 90 days or more in advance if you have no preceptor. YSU's exact words are on the finding your own preceptor page.

Because the practicums run back to back, the next deadline arrives while you are still logging hours in the current term. The settings have to add up across all five as well: YSU's recommended minimums are 200 hours of adult, 100 of pediatric and 75 of women's health primary care, and some Ohio health systems' student pages limit pediatric or women's health requests. The FNP hour mix guide shows how to spread them.

Nurse practitioners and physicians can precept. The 2026-27 handbook also allows an approved physician assistant for up to 150 FNP hours once Practicum 1 is complete, while the older FAQ rules PAs out, so check with your clinical faculty before approaching one.