Rush University offers 6 Pediatric Nurse Practitioner tracks:
- BSN to DNP – Primary Care
- BSN to DNP – Acute Care
- MSN to DNP – Primary Care
- MSN to DNP – Acute Care (non-APRN)
- MSN to DNP – Acute Care (APRN)
- Acute Care PNP Postgraduate Certificate
Program Tracks Overview
| Program | Est. Tuition | Est. Duration | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| DNP – PC (BSN entry) | $102K | 2.5–3.5 yrs | 68 |
| DNP – PC (MSN entry) | $83.6K | 2.5 yrs | 56 |
| DNP – AC (BSN entry) | $102K | 3⅔ yrs (part-time) | 68 |
| DNP – AC (MSN, non-APRN) | $83.6K | 3 yrs (part-time) | 56 |
| DNP – AC (MSN, APRN) | $43.3K | 2 yrs (part-time) | 29 |
| Cert – AC | $17.2K | 8 mos (part-time) | 12 |
Estimates are tuition only. DNP students also pay a $429 administrative fee each fall, spring, and summer term, adding roughly $2,600–$4,700 across a program.
Rush’s defining advantage is acute care access. It is the only Illinois school on this site offering a CPNP-AC pathway to nurses who do not already hold a doctorate — BSN-prepared nurses can enter the acute care DNP directly, and MSN-prepared APRNs can add the credential through a 12-credit certificate. All Rush PNP coursework is delivered online with countable campus visits, and its APRN specialty programs are closed to New York residents.
Rush University PNP Program Details
Quick Facts
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Program Types | BSN-DNP, MSN-DNP, postgraduate certificate |
| Format | Mostly Online — online coursework plus required campus visits (all tracks) |
| Population Focus | Primary Care (DNP only) and Acute Care (DNP and certificate). No dual PC/AC track. |
| Clinical Hours | 756 specialty practicum hours (DNP tracks); 504 (AC certificate); plus 252 DNP project hours |
| Clinical Placement | Faculty and a clinical site coordinator work with students to secure sites; not guaranteed |
| Distinctive Coursework | ELNEC Pediatric palliative care training; Antiracism in Organizational Leadership; Diagnostics for the APRN |
| Concentrations | None — population tracks only |
| RN License Requirements | Active U.S. RN licensure required for all tracks |
| RN Experience Requirements | PC: pediatric experience preferred. AC DNP: 6 months acute pediatric. AC certificate: 2 years. |
| Tuition | $1,493 per credit (2026–27), plus $429 DNP administrative fee per term |
| Accreditation | CCNE (MSN, DNP, and post-graduate APRN certificate programs) |
| Cohort Size | 27 (PC DNP), 20 (AC DNP), 30 (AC certificate) |
Clinical Education
All Rush PNP tracks use the same placement model: students work with faculty and a clinical site project coordinator to identify preceptors and sites, and Rush negotiates the affiliation contracts. This is a middle path between the two extremes students usually face. It is more support than a fully self-sourced online program, but Rush is explicit that success is not guaranteed — a meaningful difference from the faculty-guaranteed model at UIC, where students never source their own placements.
Chicago-area students draw on Rush’s own pediatric practices plus outpatient subspecialty and hospital sites across the metro. Distance students are placed locally, and Rush reports having successfully negotiated most distance practicum contracts.
Placement Rules That Affect Eligibility
- Distance learning is not available in every state or at every hospital — acute care applicants must contact the program director before applying to confirm availability in their locale.
- Rush cannot enroll residents of Louisiana or Tennessee in any online program, and cannot enroll New York residents in APRN specialty programs.
- Students who relocate after matriculating are subject to their new state’s regulations, which may block clinical completion. Any move must be discussed with the program director.
- California is not an NC-SARA member state, which can complicate distance enrollment there.
General Admissions
All Rush nursing applications run through NursingCAS, and applicants may apply to only one Rush track per admission cycle — applications submitted to multiple tracks are not considered. Requirements shared across the PNP tracks:
- Minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA and 3.0 prelicensure nursing GPA (4.0 scale)
- Active U.S. RN license; BSN from a regionally accredited institution for BSN-entry tracks
- Three professional letters of recommendation from people in leadership positions; a letter from the current manager is strongly preferred, and letters from friends, relatives, or co-workers are not accepted
- Substantive essay responses and a resume covering work, scholarly, and service activity
- Personal interview with faculty
- $80 NursingCAS fee plus a $40 Rush supplemental application fee
- Applications must be completed without the use of artificial intelligence
MSN-entry applicants to any track need graduate-level research and biostatistics/epidemiology coursework completed before admission or added to the plan of study. The single-track application rule matters more here than at most schools: a nurse weighing primary care against acute care cannot hedge by applying to both and deciding later.
Primary Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner DNP
The estimated tuition for the Primary Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner DNP at Rush University is approximately $101,524 for BSN entry (68 credits at $1,493/credit) and $83,608 for MSN entry (56 credits).
The BSN pathway can generally be completed in about 2.5 years full-time or 3.5 years part-time, and the MSN pathway in about 2.5 years.
Primary Care PNP Curriculum
The BSN-entry plan runs 68 credits across five blocks: a 12-credit graduate nursing core, an 18-credit advanced practice core, a 14-credit DNP core, 12 credits of pediatric population cognates, and 12 credits of practica and project work. MSN-entry students skip the graduate nursing core, dropping to 56 credits.
Pediatric Specialty Sequence
The pediatric content is a three-course primary care management sequence plus a dedicated pediatric pharmacology course. That is a conventional structure, but the sequencing is worth noting: Rush spreads primary care management across three terms rather than compressing it into one or two, which lets clinical practicum run concurrently with the didactic content it supports.
Unique Coursework
Two courses stand outside the typical PNP template. Antiracism in Organizational Leadership is a required 3-credit graduate core course, not an elective module. Diagnostics for the APRN is taught as a separate 3-credit course rather than folded into health assessment, giving diagnostic reasoning and test interpretation more room than most programs allot.
- NSG 551A/B/C — Advanced Primary Care of the Child I, II, III (9 credits)
- NSG 556 — Applied Pharmacology: Pediatric (3 credits)
- NSG 535 — Diagnostics for the APRN (3 credits)
- NSG 625/625L — Advanced Health Assessment Across the Life Span + Lab (3 credits)
- NSG 521 — Antiracism in Organizational Leadership (3 credits)
- NSG 610/615 — DNP Project Planning and Proposal Seminar (5 credits)
More curriculum details are available here.
NOTE: Rush’s primary care program page states that BSN-entry students need a minimum of 56 term hours, but the plan of study on the same page totals 68. The 56 figure matches the MSN-entry track exactly, so it appears to be a page error — but the gap is 12 credits, or about $17,900. Confirm your required credit total with the program director in writing before budgeting.
Primary Care PNP Clinical Requirements
- 504 clock hours in the DNP Specialty Practicum (NSG 606, 6 credits)
- 252 clock hours in the DNP Immersion Residency (NSG 607, 3 credits)
- 252 additional clock hours across three DNP project practicum courses (NSG 609A/B/C)
- Settings range from pediatric primary care clinics to outpatient subspecialty hospital practice
- Clinical rotations typically run two to three days per week during the final three terms
The decomposition matters. Rush’s course listings total 1,008 clock hours, but only 756 of those are specialty practicum and residency hours; the remaining 252 are DNP project hours that do not count toward CPNP-PC certification requirements. At 756 direct hours the program sits comfortably above the 500-hour PNCB floor and in the upper half of single-population PNP programs — but a student comparing Rush’s “1,008 hours” against another school’s headline number would be comparing different things.
Primary Care PNP Admissions
The primary care track admits once a year for a September start, with the BSN-entry deadline falling in early May and the MSN-entry cycle closing earlier. Beyond the shared requirements above:
- Preference is given to applicants with RN experience in a pediatric setting, though experience is not formally required
- MSN-entry applicants must have completed research and biostatistics/epidemiology coursework, or add it to the plan of study
- One annual intake — a missed deadline means waiting a full year
The absence of a hard experience requirement makes this the more accessible of Rush’s two population tracks. A new-graduate BSN nurse with a strong GPA and pediatric interest can realistically apply here; the acute care track effectively rules that candidate out.
Acute Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner DNP
The estimated tuition for the Acute Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner DNP at Rush University is approximately $101,524 for BSN entry (68 credits at $1,493/credit), $83,608 for MSN entry as a non-APRN (56 credits), and $43,297 for MSN entry as a practicing APRN (29 credits).
The program is offered part-time on a cohort basis and generally takes about 3⅔ years from BSN entry, 3 years for MSN-prepared non-APRNs, and 2 years for MSN-prepared APRNs.
Acute Care PNP Curriculum
The BSN-entry acute care plan shares its cores with the primary care track — same 12-credit graduate nursing core, same 18-credit advanced practice core, same 14-credit DNP core. The divergence is entirely in the 12-credit specialty block.
Specialty Sequence
Where primary care students take three primary care management courses, acute care students take one primary care course (NSG 551A) plus two acute care management courses covering episodic, critical, and complex chronic illness. That structure gives acute care students a grounding in well-child and outpatient assessment before they move into inpatient management — useful clinically, since acute care PNPs still evaluate developmental status and chronic disease baselines. It does not, however, make them eligible for the CPNP-PC exam. Graduates of this track sit for CPNP-AC only.
Palliative Care Requirement
Every acute care student must complete ELNEC Pediatric training, a palliative care certification, or equivalent palliative coursework before starting Pediatric Acute Care I. This is genuinely uncommon as a hard gate. It reflects a program that treats end-of-life and goals-of-care conversations as core acute care competencies rather than optional enrichment, and it is one of the clearest curricular signals distinguishing Rush from other online AC PNP programs.
- NSG 557A/557B — Pediatric Acute Care I and II (6 credits)
- NSG 551A — Advanced Primary Care of the Child I (3 credits)
- NSG 556 — Applied Pharmacology: Pediatric (3 credits)
- NSG 606 — DNP Specialty Practicum, Acute Care Pediatric (6 credits)
- NSG 607 — DNP Immersion Residency (3 credits)
- ELNEC Pediatric or equivalent palliative care training (prerequisite to NSG 557A)
More curriculum details are available here.
APRNs entering with an existing population certification take a stripped 29-credit plan: the DNP core, the two acute care management courses, and practica. Rush requires evidence of current APRN certification and active practice within the past two years to enter this pathway.
Acute Care PNP Clinical Requirements
- 756 practicum hours for BSN-entry and MSN-entry non-APRN students
- 500–756 hours for MSN-entry APRNs, set by gap analysis, with prior clinical hours plus new hours expected to total at least 1,000
- Settings include critical care, inpatient units, emergency care, specialty services, transport teams, and acute care home services
- Learning methods include simulation, case studies, and video-conference seminars alongside direct practice
At 756 hours the acute care track matches the primary care track exactly — a design choice worth noticing, because acute care programs often run longer than their primary care siblings to accommodate procedural training. Rush instead adds time rather than hours: the acute care DNP takes about 14 months longer than the primary care DNP from the same starting point, spreading the same clinical load across a mandatory part-time schedule.
Acute Care PNP Admissions
Unlike the primary care track, acute care has a hard experience gate and a two-cycle calendar. BSN-entry students start in the fall; MSN-entry students start in the summer.
- Minimum six months of recent acute care pediatric nursing experience by the application deadline
- MSN-to-DNP APRN applicants need current certification, active practice within two years, and a long prerequisite list including advanced primary care of the child didactic
- Applicants must contact the program director to confirm the program is offered in their state and locale
- Applications for the following academic year open in early August
Six months is a low bar by acute care PNP standards — many programs ask for one to two years of PICU or pediatric ED experience. That makes Rush a realistic option for a pediatric nurse roughly a year into practice, but it also means cohorts include less-experienced students than at programs with stiffer gates.
Acute Care PNP Postgraduate Certificate
The estimated tuition for the Acute Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Postgraduate Certificate at Rush University is approximately $17,232 (12 credits at the $1,436/credit rate published on the program page). The program can generally be completed in a minimum of eight months by nurses who already hold pediatric or family NP degrees, though a gap analysis may extend it.
Certificate Curriculum
The certificate is deliberately narrow: two acute care management courses and two practica, nothing else. That works only because Rush assumes the applicant already has the advanced practice core, and it verifies that assumption through a gap analysis. Applicants missing any of the prerequisites — advanced pathophysiology, pharmacology, physiology, health assessment and diagnostics, transition to the APRN role, advanced primary care of the child didactic, or palliative care training — take them as part of the plan of study, which is what pushes some students past eight months.
- NSG 557A/557B — Pediatric Acute Care I and II (6 credits)
- NRS 541P — Specialty Practicum (3 credits, 252 clock hours)
- NRS 600P — Specialty Residency (3 credits, 252 clock hours)
More curriculum details are available here.
The certificate carries the heaviest campus obligation of any Rush PNP track: one full week on campus with each of the two acute care management courses. Budget for two weeks in Chicago plus travel and lodging.
Certificate Clinical Requirements
- 252 clock hours in the specialty practicum
- 252 clock hours in the specialty residency
- Placements coordinated across ICU and pediatric subspecialty settings
- Two years of full-time pediatric experience required before the clinical portion begins
At 504 hours the certificate clears PNCB’s 500-hour minimum by four hours. That is not a problem in itself — post-graduate certificates are built on the assumption that prior APRN training carries part of the load — but it leaves no cushion. Students who need to make up a missed rotation or who want broader subspecialty exposure will be negotiating for hours beyond the required plan.
Certificate Admissions
This is the most experience-restrictive track at Rush and the most flexible on timing, with three annual intakes and rolling deadlines.
- Open to any certified nurse practitioner with an MSN or doctoral degree and pediatric experience — a DNP is not required
- Minimum two years of recent acute care pediatric nursing experience by the application deadline
- Two years of full-time pediatric experience required before starting clinicals
- Applicants must contact the program director before applying
- Fall, spring, and summer starts with rolling review
The four-times-higher experience requirement compared with the acute care DNP is the trade-off for the compressed format: Rush is relying on the applicant’s clinical background to substitute for the coursework the certificate omits.
Tuition
Estimated tuition at Rush ranges from about $17,232 for the acute care certificate to about $101,524 for either BSN-entry DNP track. Rush is a private university, so there is no in-state or out-of-state distinction — every student pays the same rate regardless of residency.
| Program | Est. Tuition |
|---|---|
| DNP – Primary Care (BSN entry, 68 cr) | $101,524 |
| DNP – Primary Care (MSN entry, 56 cr) | $83,608 |
| DNP – Acute Care (BSN entry, 68 cr) | $101,524 |
| DNP – Acute Care (MSN, non-APRN, 56 cr) | $83,608 |
| DNP – Acute Care (MSN, APRN, 29 cr) | $43,297 |
| Certificate – Acute Care (12 cr) | $17,232 |
These are derived estimates based on the 2026–27 rate of $1,493 per credit for post-licensure MSN, DNP, and PhD programs, multiplied by each track’s published credit total. Tuition only — fees are listed separately below.
Key Cost Takeaways
- The DNP administrative fee is real money. At $429 every fall, spring, and summer term, it adds roughly $2,600 over a two-year APRN pathway and about $4,700 over the 3⅔-year acute care BSN-DNP.
- Rush states plainly that students should expect annual tuition increases. A four-year BSN-DNP will not finish at the rate it started, and there is no published cohort rate lock.
- The certificate’s published rate conflicts with the university schedule. The program page lists $1,436 per credit while the 2026–27 tuition page shows $1,493 for post-licensure graduate programs — a $684 difference across 12 credits. Confirm which applies before enrolling.
- Certificate students should budget for two weeks in Chicago. One campus week per acute care management course means airfare, lodging, and time off that no tuition table captures.
- DNP campus visits add travel too. Acute care DNP students make two visits of two to three days each; primary care DNP students attend two on-campus skills days.
- NOTE: The 56-credit figure on the primary care page is not a discount. If you budget the BSN-entry primary care DNP at 56 credits and the plan of study is 68, you will be about $17,900 short.
- Deviating from the plan of study costs money. Rush charges per credit, so a repeated or added course is a direct add of roughly $1,500 each.
What makes Rush’s pricing unusual among PNP programs is not the headline rate — private research universities routinely charge $1,400 to $1,600 per credit — but the spread between its own tracks. An APRN adding acute care through the 29-credit DNP pays about 43% of what a BSN-entry student pays for the same credential, and the certificate holder pays about 17%. Rush is expensive at the front door and comparatively efficient for nurses who arrive with graduate credit already banked.
Why Choose This PNP Program?
Best For
- Pediatric nurses in Illinois who want CPNP-AC certification but do not already hold a doctorate — the option UIC does not offer
- MSN-prepared APRNs who want to add acute care pediatrics in eight months rather than two or three years
- Nurses roughly a year into pediatric acute care practice, who meet the six-month experience bar but would be screened out by programs requiring two years
- Working nurses who need to keep a full-time job — Rush reports most students do, and the acute care DNP is part-time by design
- Students who want doctoral-level preparation without relocating, and can absorb a small number of Chicago trips
- Applicants drawn to palliative and end-of-life care as part of acute pediatric practice
Biggest Strengths
Acute care depth at multiple entry points. Rush runs the acute care PNP as a full program family — BSN entry, two MSN entries, and a certificate — rather than as a single narrow pathway bolted onto a primary care program. Nationally, online acute care PNP options remain scarce, and most schools that offer one offer exactly one. That breadth means a nurse’s current credential rarely determines whether Rush is available to them.
Palliative care built into the requirements. Requiring ELNEC Pediatric or equivalent palliative training before acute care management coursework is a curricular position, not a formality. Acute care PNPs manage children who die, and Rush is one of the few programs that treats preparation for those conversations as a prerequisite rather than an elective topic.
Small cohorts with practicing faculty. Twenty students in the acute care DNP and 27 in primary care is unusually small for an online program, and Rush draws faculty from academic medical centers and rural clinics across the country. For an online program, the ratio matters more than usual — it is what makes video-conference seminars and individualized clinical planning workable.
Potential Drawbacks
- Placement is supported, not guaranteed. Rush negotiates most distance contracts but explicitly does not promise success. UIC does guarantee placement.
- Hard state restrictions. Louisiana and Tennessee residents cannot enroll at all; New York residents cannot enroll in APRN specialty tracks. Acute care availability in other states must be confirmed individually.
- Cost. At roughly $102,000 plus fees, the BSN-entry DNP runs about $2,000 more than UIC’s, with no in-state discount available to anyone.
- No dual PC/AC pathway. Students wanting both certifications must complete one program and return later for a certificate.
- One track per application cycle. No hedging between primary and acute care, and the primary care track has only one intake a year.
- The acute care DNP is part-time only — 3⅔ years from BSN entry, with no accelerated option.
- Published credit and tuition figures conflict in two places, so nothing on the site should be treated as final without written confirmation.
Bottom Line
Rush changes the acute care math in Illinois. Until now, an Illinois nurse who wanted CPNP-AC certification either already held a DNP — the only way into UIC’s acute care certificate — or looked out of state. Rush opens that pathway to BSN-prepared nurses through a doctoral program and to MSN-prepared APRNs through a 12-credit certificate, with a six-month experience bar that is genuinely reachable. The costs are real: roughly $102,000 for the full doctorate, placement help that stops short of a guarantee, and enrollment closed to several states. Nurses who want guaranteed placements, in-state pricing, or a primary care credential specifically will find UIC the stronger value. Nurses who want acute care pediatrics and do not already have a doctorate will find Rush is one of the few doors open to them.
Accreditation
Rush University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. The MSN, DNP, and post-graduate APRN certificate programs at Rush University College of Nursing are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE); the College hosted its most recent CCNE re-accreditation site visit in April 2024.
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