UVA PNP Programs (Pediatric Nurse Practitioner)

The University of Virginia offers 4 Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Tracks:

BSN to DNP – Primary Care
BSN to DNP – Acute Care
Post-Professional Certificate – Primary Care
Post-Professional Certificate – Acute Care

Program Tracks Overview

Program	Est. Tuition (In-State / Out-of-State)	Est. Duration	Credit Hours
DNP – PC	~$67K / ~$109K	33 mos (full-time)	~74–78
DNP – AC	~$67K / ~$109K	33 mos (full-time)	~74–78
Certificate – PC	$914 / $1,493 per credit	Not clearly stated	Not clearly stated
Certificate – AC	$914 / $1,493 per credit	Not clearly stated	Not clearly stated

UVA’s defining advantage is a guaranteed practicum placement inside Virginia, paired with named pediatric subspecialty rotations across six children’s hospitals in Virginia and Washington, D.C. Both primary care and acute care are offered at the DNP and certificate level, but classes meet in Charlottesville about once a month, so this is a regional program in practice.

Quick Facts

Feature	Details
Program Types	BSN to DNP; Post-Professional Certificate. No MSN PNP pathway.
Format	Hybrid. In-person class in Charlottesville about once a month; balance online.
Population Focus	Both. Separate Primary Care and Acute Care tracks; no dual PC/AC option.
Clinical Hours	750 hours (14 practicum credits) in every track.
Clinical Placement	Guaranteed within Virginia. Out-of-state placement is not guaranteed.
Distinctive Coursework	9 elective credits, selectable from graduate courses across the University.
Concentrations	7 DNP specialty areas, including PNP-PC and PNP-AC.
RN License Requirements	Active unencumbered Virginia RN license or compact license from your state of residence. International licenses not accepted.
RN Experience Requirements	None currently. One year full-time RN experience required for fall 2027 matriculants onward.
Pediatric Experience Gate	None stated, including for the acute care track.
Certificate Financial Aid	Certificate students are ineligible for university scholarships and student loans.
Application Cycle	DNP: opens July 1, closes January 5. Certificate: opens July 1, closes October 1.
Tuition	$914/credit resident, $1,493/credit non-resident (part-time basis); flat full-time rate available.
Accreditation	CCNE (baccalaureate, master’s, DNP, and post-graduate APRN certificate programs).

BSN to DNP – Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, Primary Care

The estimated tuition for the BSN to DNP PNP-PC track at the University of Virginia is approximately $66,933 in-state or $108,783 out-of-state, based on three years at the 2025–26 full-time rate. The program can generally be completed in about 33 months full-time, or five to six years part-time.

Full program details are on UVA’s Pediatric – Primary Care NP specialty page.

PNP-PC Curriculum

Structure. The plan of study has four parts: a 29-credit DNP core, 22–26 credits of PNP specialty coursework, 9 elective credits, and 14 practicum credits equal to 750 clinical hours. That works out to roughly 74–78 credits total.

What the mix means. The DNP core is systems-heavy, and it is the largest single block in the program. Fewer than half the credits are pediatric-specific. That is the standard trade of a BSN-to-DNP over a master’s-level PNP: you get quality, policy, informatics, and implementation science alongside the specialty, and you pay for the extra terms.

Electives. The 9 elective credits are unusual. UVA lets students pull master’s- and doctoral-level courses from across the University, including ethics, religion, contemplative sciences, and medicine. For a pediatric student, that is a real opening to build depth in adolescent behavioral health, bioethics, or child health policy rather than filling a slot.

DNP Core Courses (29 credits)

GNUR 8180: Healthcare Data Analysis (3 credits)
GNUR 8620: Quality and Safety in Healthcare Systems (4 credits)
GNUR 8645: Ethics and Leadership in Interprofessional Practice (3 credits)
GNUR 8650: Information Systems and Patient Care Technology (3 credits)
GNUR 8660: Evidence-Based Practice (3 credits)
GNUR 8680: Culturally Sensitive Care/Population Health (3 credits)
GNUR 9026: Health Policy, Economics & Finance (3 credits)
GNUR 9027: Practice Change Management (2 credits)
GNUR 9710: Implementation of Practice Change (3 credits)
GNUR 9720: Dissemination of Practice Scholarship (2 credits)

UVA does not name the PNP-PC specialty courses or the three advanced practice science courses on its program page.

More curriculum details are available here, where the school posts full plans of study by track and entry year.

PNP-PC Clinical Requirements

750 direct-care practicum hours, carried as 14 credits (roughly 54 hours per credit).
Hours accumulate across all three years of the program rather than in a single terminal block.
Practicum placement is guaranteed inside Virginia, with faculty guidance in finding qualified preceptors.
Placements are not restricted to UVA Medical Center; the school holds contracts across the Commonwealth.
Students may propose their own sites, subject to faculty approval.
Out-of-state placement is never guaranteed, and requires UVA to be authorized to place students in that state.
Sites UVA cannot always secure include those limited by capacity, affiliation, or specialty availability.

750 hours sits at the top of the 600–750 band typical for a single-population PNP program, and well above the 500-hour certification floor. The placement guarantee matters more than the number. Pediatric preceptors and pediatric-specific sites are scarcer than adult ones, and most programs hand that search to the student. UVA does the work, but only inside Virginia. In the last three years the school reports arranging placements in North Carolina, Maryland, and Washington, D.C. as well, which is encouraging but not a commitment you can plan around.

PNP-PC Admissions

Admission is annual, with one January deadline and no pediatric or RN experience gate for current applicants — though that changes for fall 2027 entry.

BSN or master’s degree in nursing from a CCNE- or ACEN-accredited school.
Minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA; 3.25 or higher is competitive.
Active unencumbered Virginia RN license, or a compact license from your state of residence.
Resume or CV, official transcripts from all post-secondary study, and an $85 application fee.
Interview if requested. No GRE.
Applications open July 1 and close January 5 annually; decisions are announced the first week of March.
UVA School of Nursing alumni with a 3.5 BSN GPA are guaranteed admission until capacity is reached.
Holders of generalist MSN degrees (CNL, education, informatics) apply here and may petition to transfer up to 12 credits.

BSN to DNP – Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, Acute Care

The estimated tuition for the BSN to DNP PNP-AC track at the University of Virginia is approximately $66,933 in-state or $108,783 out-of-state, matching the primary care track on the same full-time rate. The program can generally be completed in about 33 months full-time, or five to six years part-time.

Full program details are on UVA’s Pediatric – Acute Care NP specialty page.

PNP-AC Curriculum

Shared spine, different specialty block. The acute care track runs the same 29-credit DNP core, 9 electives, and 14 practicum credits as the primary care track. Only the 22–26 credit specialty sequence differs. UVA states the curriculum is built to AACN, NONPF, and PNCB standards for the care of infants, children, adolescents, and young adults with acute, complex, critical, and chronic illness.

What is not published. UVA does not itemize the acute care specialty courses, and does not describe a procedural skills lab, simulation intensive, or on-campus boot camp of the sort many PNP-AC programs require. That is a notable gap for an acute care track, where procedural competency content is usually front and center. Ask admissions directly what the specialty sequence covers.

Where the acute care depth actually shows. UVA’s differentiation here is in the clinical network rather than the course list. The named rotation sites below go well beyond what most programs disclose.

PNP-AC Clinical Requirements

750 direct-care practicum hours, completed across the three years of DNP enrollment.
Sites are assigned collaboratively by student and faculty, based on learning value, student request, and availability.
Rotations span six children’s hospitals across Virginia and Washington, D.C.
Named inpatient and critical care sites include Children’s Hospital of Richmond at VCU (PICU, pediatric ED, hematology-oncology, surgery, urology, bone marrow transplant), Bon Secours St. Mary’s Pediatric ICU, Children’s Hospital of King’s Daughters, Children’s National Hospital, and Inova Children’s Hospital.
UVA Children’s Hospital rotations include hematology-oncology, surgery, neurosurgery, neurology, epilepsy, endocrinology, cardiovascular surgery, infectious diseases, and developmental pediatrics.
Outpatient and primary care sites are also in the mix, including KidMed Urgent Care, Capitol Pediatrics, and UVA Health’s Teen and Young Adult Health Center.
Practicum is generally conducted within Virginia; out-of-state placement requires state authorization and faculty approval.

This is the strongest part of UVA’s PNP offering. Acute care students need PICU, pediatric ED, and inpatient subspecialty exposure, and those rotations are the hardest in all of advanced practice nursing to secure independently — children’s hospitals are few, and they ration preceptors. A program that names its PICU and BMT sites in writing is telling you the relationships already exist. The 750-hour total is standard rather than generous for acute care, so the value here is in rotation quality, not volume.

PNP-AC Admissions

Requirements are identical to the primary care track. Notably, UVA sets no prior PICU or acute pediatric RN experience requirement for PNP-AC, which is uncommon — many acute care PNP programs gate admission on one to two years of inpatient pediatric nursing. For comparison, UVA’s own neonatal track does require two years of clinical experience.

Same application, deadline, GPA, license, and fee requirements as the PNP-PC track above.
Same fall 2027 one-year RN experience rule.
Same UVA alumni guaranteed-admission provision.

The absence of an experience gate widens access, but it shifts the burden onto you. If you have not worked in pediatric acute care, ask how the program builds inpatient assessment and stabilization skills before your first PICU rotation.

Post-Professional Certificate – Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, Primary Care

The estimated tuition for the PNP-PC post-professional certificate at the University of Virginia is $914 per credit for Virginia residents and $1,493 per credit for non-residents;

UVA does not publish the credit total, so a full-program estimate is not possible. The program can generally be completed on a part-time basis, with entry the summer following an October 1 application.

Full program details are on UVA’s Post-Professional Certificate Programs page.

Certificate PC Curriculum

The certificate is delivered in what UVA calls an executive hybrid format, with students on Grounds roughly once a month for hands-on learning. Coursework is the PNP specialty sequence only; the three advanced practice science courses (pathophysiology, health assessment, pharmacology) must already be complete before entry.

UVA does post certificate plans of study, updated April 2025, on its plans of study page.

One useful protection: on admission, the school runs a transcript gap analysis for every certificate student to confirm certification eligibility at completion. That prevents the common certificate failure mode, where a student finishes coursework and discovers a missing requirement blocks the exam.

Certificate PC Clinical Requirements

Over 750 clinical hours, matching national certification requirements for the specialty.
All practicum activity is facilitated by UVA School of Nursing faculty who work with students on placement.
Placement is guaranteed inside Virginia under the same school-wide policy that covers DNP students.
Out-of-state placement is not guaranteed at any point in the program.

Faculty-facilitated placement is the practical reason to choose a certificate here over a self-arranged program elsewhere. An APRN adding pediatrics is usually working full time and has no bandwidth to cold-call pediatric practices for a preceptor. ⚠️ Note the wording difference: the DNP pages state 750 hours exactly, while the certificate pages say over 750. Confirm the figure in writing.

Certificate PC Admissions

This is an APRN-to-APRN program, not an entry point for RNs. You must already hold advanced practice licensure and certification.

Active state license and certification to practice as an APRN at program start.
Graduate nursing degree from a CCNE- or ACEN-accredited school.
Three separate comprehensive graduate courses in advanced physiology/pathophysiology, advanced health assessment, and advanced pharmacology.
Active unencumbered Virginia RN license or compact license from your state of residence.
Resume or CV; interview if requested. No GRE.
Applications open July 1 and close October 1 for entry the following summer.
UVA School of Nursing alumni receive guaranteed admission until capacity is reached.

The aid exclusion is the single most consequential fact on this page for certificate applicants. Every dollar is out of pocket or employer-funded, and at $914 to $1,493 per credit plus a comprehensive fee each term, that adds up quickly. Price the full program before you apply.

Post-Professional Certificate – Pediatric Nurse Practitioner, Acute Care

The estimated tuition for the PNP-AC post-professional certificate at the University of Virginia is $914 per credit for Virginia residents and $1,493 per credit for non-residents. The credit total is not published, so no program total can be derived. The program can generally be completed on a part-time basis, with entry the summer following an October 1 application.

Full program details are on UVA’s Post-Professional Certificate Programs page.

Certificate AC Curriculum

Same executive hybrid delivery and same monthly Charlottesville cadence as the primary care certificate. UVA describes the acute care preparation as aligned to AACN, NONPF, and PNCB standards for infants through young adults with acute, complex, critical, and chronic illness. As with the DNP acute care track, the specialty course list is not published. The same transcript gap analysis applies on admission.

Certificate AC Clinical Requirements

Over 750 clinical hours, faculty-facilitated, with placement guaranteed inside Virginia.
Access to the same children’s hospital network described in the DNP acute care track is not explicitly stated for certificate students.
Out-of-state placement is not guaranteed.

UVA lists its six-children’s-hospital network on the DNP PNP-AC page only. Whether certificate students draw from the same PICU, pediatric ED, and subspecialty sites is the question that determines whether this certificate is worth its price relative to a cheaper program closer to home.

Certificate AC Admissions

Requirements match the primary care certificate exactly, including the APRN licensure and certification prerequisite, the three advanced practice science courses, the October 1 deadline, and the exclusion from scholarships and student loans. No prior PICU or acute pediatric experience is stated as a requirement.

Tuition

BSN to DNP, full-time (2025–26). UVA bills full-time DNP students a flat rate at 12 or more credits for fall and spring terms: $21,942 tuition plus $369 in fees for Virginia residents, and $35,832 plus $429 for non-residents.

That is $22,311 and $36,261 per year. Across the 33-month full-time plan, the estimate is about $66,933 in-state and $108,783 out-of-state.

Part-time and per-credit basis. Part-time DNP students pay $914 per credit (resident) or $1,493 per credit (non-resident), plus term fees. At the derived 74–78 credit range, that is roughly $67,600–$71,300 in tuition for residents and $110,500–$116,500 for non-residents — before the extra terms of fees that a five- to six-year plan adds.

Certificate. Certificates are billed part-time only at $914 or $1,493 per credit. With no published credit total, a program estimate is not possible.

Costs beyond the per-credit rate

Regular Session Comprehensive Fee for part-time certificate students: $3,722 resident, $4,404 non-resident.
Nursing Clinical Laboratory Fee: $100 per credit for any course with a clinical or lab component. With 14 practicum credits in the DNP tracks, that alone is meaningful.
University Activity Fee ($58) and Nursing Activity Fee ($34) each term.
Summer terms are billed per credit, not at the flat full-time rate: $567 resident, $1,151 non-resident, plus a $277/$337 session fee.
International Student Fee: $240.
Travel and lodging for monthly Charlottesville class days, which is a real recurring cost if you do not live nearby.

One counterintuitive result: at UVA, going full-time is cheaper than going part-time. The flat rate caps tuition at 12 credits, so a student carrying 13 or 14 credits in a full-time semester pays nothing extra, while a part-time student pays for every credit and absorbs more terms of fees. If you can manage the schedule, the accelerated plan saves both time and money.

Official figures are on UVA’s DNP tuition and fees listing.

Why Choose This PNP Program?

Best suited for nurses who live in or near Virginia, want a doctorate rather than a master’s, and do not want to spend a year hunting for their own pediatric preceptors.

The placement guarantee is the core of the value here. Pediatric clinical placement is the quiet failure point in PNP education: children’s hospitals are concentrated in a handful of metros, preceptors are limited, and programs that leave placement to the student can stretch a two-year plan into three. UVA commits to finding your Virginia sites, and for the acute care track it publishes the specific PICU, pediatric ED, hematology-oncology, and transplant rotations it draws from. That level of disclosure is rare.

The trade-offs are geographic and financial. Monthly in-person class in Charlottesville rules out anyone who cannot drive there, and the placement guarantee stops at the state line, so out-of-state applicants get the least favorable version of both. Cost is moderate for residents and steep for everyone else — roughly $109,000 out-of-state for the DNP. Certificate students face a harder problem: no scholarships and no student loans, which makes UVA’s certificate a cash purchase in a market where many competitors are loan-eligible.

Primary care or acute care? Choose primary care if you want outpatient practice — pediatric offices, school-based health, subspecialty clinics — and the flexibility to work anywhere in the country. Choose acute care if you intend to work inside a children’s hospital; UVA’s rotation network is the reason to pick this school specifically. The two credentials are not interchangeable. A CPNP-PC graduate cannot sit for the acute care exam or hold an inpatient PNP-AC role, and UVA offers no dual PC/AC pathway, so the choice at application is close to permanent.

Accreditation

The baccalaureate, master’s, and Doctor of Nursing Practice programs at the University of Virginia are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), and UVA reports that its post-graduate APRN certificates were first accredited by CCNE in 2023. This was verified from UVA’s own accreditation page, since the PNP program pages do not name the accreditor. The University of Virginia is institutionally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges.

On certification: graduates of the primary care track are prepared for the CPNP-PC exam and graduates of the acute care track for the CPNP-AC exam, both administered by the Pediatric Nursing Certification Board (PNCB). Eligibility follows your track. A primary care graduate cannot sit for the acute care exam, and the reverse is equally true.

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