Chamberlain University offers 2 Acute Care Nurse Practitioner tracks:
- MSN
- Graduate Certificate
Both programs are delivered 100% online with required on-ground immersion events for hands-on skills assessment.
Program Tracks Overview
| Program | Est. Cost | Duration | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSN – AGACNP | $36.5K | 3 years | 48 |
| Graduate Certificate – AGACNP | $27.4K | 1 year 10 months | 36 |
Certificate tuition and the MSN semester count are calculated rather than published.
Chamberlain’s Practicum Commitment® provides dedicated support for securing clinical placements and preceptors, and all faculty are doctorally prepared, board-certified nurse practitioners.
Quick Facts
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Program Types | MSN, post-graduate certificate |
| Population Focus | AGACNP: adolescents, adults, older adults |
| Format | Mostly Online |
| Campus Visits | Three on-ground events in the Chicago area; travel and lodging at student expense |
| Clinical Hours | 700 practicum hours plus 50 lab hours, 750 total |
| Clinical Placement | Student secures site and preceptor; Chamberlain assistance is conditional |
| RN Experience | One year required at the time of application |
| License Requirements | Active, unencumbered RN license valid in the practicum state |
| Start Terms | Six start dates per year; eight-week sessions |
| Tuition | $760 per credit hour for NP courses |
| Certification | ANCC AGACNP-BC eligible |
| Accreditation | CCNE; Higher Learning Commission institutionally |
| State Restrictions | Approval varies by state; Minnesota excluded from both tracks |
Requirements Shared Across All Tracks
Chamberlain runs the same AGACNP specialty sequence, the same clinical requirements, and the same on-ground events for both the MSN and the graduate certificate.
Clinical Requirements
- Total supervised hours: 750, made up of 700 practicum clock hours and two 25-hour faculty-supervised labs
- Practicum sequence: six precepted courses, at 125, 125, 125, 100, 125, and 100 clock hours
- Settings: ICUs, emergency departments, urgent care, specialty clinics, and medical/surgical units
- Who finds the site: the student, working with a Chamberlain enrollment representative and readiness tools
- Assistance trigger: documentation of at least five sites that could not accommodate the student, submitted three sessions before the need
- What assistance delivers: one preceptor option within a 100-mile radius of the student’s home address
- Third-party matching services: Chamberlain does not reimburse fees paid to student-arranged preceptor brokers
- Licensure tied to placement: an active, unrestricted RN license in the state where the practicum will be completed
You Should Know
- Kansas applicants: the Kansas Board of Nursing requires 750 direct patient care hours for APRN licensure, and Chamberlain’s 700 practicum hours fall short
- Effect: students seeking a Kansas APRN license must complete an additional practicum course, adding credits and cost to the published totals
Campus Requirements
- Immersion one: two days during NR-509 Advanced Physical Assessment, before practicum courses begin, to be evaluated on clinical assessment skills
- Immersion two: during NR-573 Advanced Acute Care Management Lab, covering suturing, X-ray interpretation, airway management, and intubation
- Intensive review: two days during NR-575 Acute Care Practicum II, focused on board certification preparation
- Location: Chicago area for the immersion and the intensive review
- Cost: travel, lodging, and meals are the student’s responsibility and sit outside the published tuition and fee tables
- Remote component: NR-509 also requires a recorded physical examination check-off submitted by video
RN Experience and Licensure
- Required: one year of RN experience at the time the application is submitted, for AGACNP applicants specifically
- Not required: Chamberlain publishes no ICU, emergency, or critical care experience requirement
- Licensure: a current, active, unrestricted RN license in the U.S. or an NCSBN associate member jurisdiction
- Background screening: background check and fingerprint clearance before starting the MSN, or by the end of the first course for certificate students
- License review: past sanctions, violations, or restrictions are reviewed, and applicants may be denied at the discretion of the admissions committee or Dean
- Progression gate: students who do not clear screening cannot register for an NP practicum course
MSN Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner
The estimated tuition for the MSN AGACNP program at Chamberlain is $36,480 (48 credits at $760 per credit). The program can generally be completed in about three years of full-time study at two courses per semester, three semesters per year.
MSN Curriculum
Forty-eight credits across seventeen courses: six MSN core courses totaling 18 credits, and eleven specialty courses totaling 30 credits.
- NR-507: Advanced Pathophysiology (3 credits)
- NR-509: Advanced Physical Assessment, 25 lab hours plus on-ground immersion (3 credits)
- NR-565: Advanced Pharmacology Fundamentals (3 credits)
- NR-567: Advanced Pharmacology for the Adult-Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (3 credits)
- NR-569: Differential Diagnosis in Acute Care Practicum, 125 clinical hours (3 credits)
- NR-570: Common Diagnosis and Management in Acute Care Practicum, 125 clinical hours (3 credits)
- NR-571: Complex Diagnosis and Management in Acute Care Practicum, 125 clinical hours (3 credits)
- NR-572: Advanced Acute Care Management, 100 clinical hours (2.5 credits)
- NR-573: Advanced Acute Care Management Lab, 25 lab hours plus on-ground immersion (0.5 credits)
- NR-574: Acute Care Practicum I, 125 clinical hours (3 credits)
- NR-575: Acute Care Practicum II, 100 clinical hours plus on-ground intensive review (3 credits)
The MSN core covers foundational concepts, leadership and role development, informatics, quality and safety, research methods, and population health and epidemiology, at 3 credits each. More curriculum details are available here.
MSN Admissions
- Degree: BSN from an accredited institution
- GPA: minimum 3.0 cumulative on a 4.0 scale
- Entrance exam: none; no GRE required
- Application fee: none
- Transfer credit: a grade of B or higher, with NR-507, NR-565, and NR-509 subject to a five-year aging rule
- Aging rule waiver: applicants holding active national NP board certification can have the five-year limit waived on those three courses
You Should Know
- Provisional admission: applicants with a BSN GPA between 2.50 and 2.99 may be admitted provisionally rather than rejected
- The condition: pass an NP Provisional Assessment at 70% or higher, or complete NR-545 Pharmacology, Physical Assessment, and Pathophysiology at the current tuition rate before starting NP core courses
- Cost effect: NR-545 is billed at standard tuition and is not counted in the 48-credit total
Graduate Certificate in Adult-Gerontology Acute Care
The estimated tuition for the AGACNP Graduate Certificate at Chamberlain is $27,360 (36 credits at $760 per credit). The program can generally be completed in about one year and ten months of full-time study at two to three courses per semester.
Certificate Curriculum
Thirty-six credits across thirteen courses. The certificate uses the same eleven AGACNP specialty courses as the MSN, with the identical clinical hours, lab hours, immersions, and intensive review described in the shared requirements section.
The difference is the core. The certificate carries NR-586NP Population Health and Epidemiology and NR-582NP Leadership and Role Development, dropping the other four MSN core courses.
Chamberlain’s catalog states 5.5 semesters in its program description and 6 full-time semesters in its program details table. The two figures are not reconciled.
Certificate Admissions
- Degree: master’s or doctoral degree in nursing from an accredited institution
- Practicum readiness: currently practicing nurse practitioners are strongly encouraged to have a site and preceptor secured at admission to avoid progression delays
- Availability: Chamberlain states that certificate availability may be limited and that specialty track approval varies by state
You Should Know
- State approval is track-specific: Chamberlain publishes program eligibility state by state, and the two AGACNP tracks are not always approved together
- California: the MSN AGACNP is approved for California residents; the AGACNP graduate certificate is not
- Minnesota: neither AGACNP track is approved
- Check first: confirm your state on Chamberlain’s distance education approvals page before applying
Tuition
Chamberlain bills nurse practitioner courses at $760 per credit hour under its January 2026 MSN and certificate rate schedule. Non-NP graduate courses are $750, though Chamberlain’s own published MSN AGACNP cost table applies $760 across all 48 credits.
| Program | Credits | Estimated Tuition |
|---|---|---|
| MSN AGACNP | 48 | $36,480 |
| Graduate Certificate AGACNP | 36 | $27,360 |
Mandatory fees add materially to both totals:
- APRN fee: $450 per NP course, $7,200 across the MSN
- Student services charge: $200 per session, $3,200 across the MSN
- Course resource fee: $75 per course, $1,200 across the MSN
- Background check, fingerprint, and drug screen: $150, one time
Tuition plus those fees brings the MSN to roughly $48,230. Chamberlain’s published starting cost of $50,230 adds about $2,000 in estimated books and materials, which are not institutional fees. See the official tuition and expenses page.
Be aware
- Certificate costs are not published in full: Chamberlain provides an itemized cost table for the MSN but not for the AGACNP certificate
- What that leaves out: the $27,360 figure above is tuition only, and the per-course and per-session charges are not disclosed for the certificate’s course and session count
- Order of magnitude: applied on the same basis as the MSN, the APRN fee alone would add roughly $5,400
Financial aid
Chamberlain applies most grants automatically rather than by application. The Commitment to Completion Grant is the largest, with MSN savings advertised up to $9,202 and an average of $7,606 applied against the published starting cost.
Military-affiliated and Chamberlain alumni rates run $600 to $608 per credit hour, a reduction of roughly 20 percent on NP coursework. DAISY Award honorees receive a 5 percent tuition reduction.
Full aid and scholarship details are here.
Why Choose This ACNP Program?
- Six start dates a year. Courses run in eight-week sessions with six annual entry points, so a delayed start costs weeks rather than a full term.
- The certificate is a genuine subset, not a parallel program. It carries the same eleven specialty courses, the same 750 supervised hours, and the same three on-ground events as the MSN, at 36 credits instead of 48.
- No critical care experience gate. One year of general RN experience at application is the only practice requirement Chamberlain publishes, with no ICU or emergency department minimum.
- Placement is the student’s responsibility. The Practicum Commitment® is a backstop with documented conditions, not a guarantee that Chamberlain will find a local site.
- Board preparation is scheduled coursework. A two-day intensive review sits inside NR-575, and Chamberlain reports a 92.97% three-year AGACNP pass rate across 2023 to 2025.
This fits a working nurse who wants frequent entry points and can realistically line up an acute care preceptor near home. Nurses without hospital connections should weigh the placement terms carefully before committing.
Accreditation and Certification
Chamberlain University is institutionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, an accreditor recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Online degrees are conferred from the main campus in Addison, Illinois.
The Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education accredits Chamberlain’s master’s degree program in nursing and, separately, its post-graduate APRN certificate programs. That second accreditation matters for certificate applicants, because national certification bodies require the post-graduate certificate itself to be accredited, not just the parent institution.
Chamberlain restricts enrollment to states where each specific track is approved, so eligibility should be confirmed by state and by track before applying.
Both tracks carry an adult-gerontology acute care population focus. Graduates are prepared to sit for the American Nurses Credentialing Center AGACNP-BC examination, a step separate from graduation and from state APRN licensure.