Purdue University PNP Programs

School of Nursing • West Lafayette, IN • Online • $500 to $600/Credit

Purdue University offers 3 Primary Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner tracks:

  • MS Primary Care
  • BSN-to-DNP, Primary Care
  • Post-Master’s Primary Care

The MS and certificate both build toward the same 630-hour clinical preparation, while the DNP layers doctoral coursework and 1,000+ clinical hours on top.

Program Tracks Overview

Program NameEst. TuitionEst. Duration
MS PNP$25K~2.5 years
BSN-DNP PNP$30K3 years
Post-Master’s Certificate PNP$15K–$20K1.5–2 years

The hybrid, distance-friendly format fits working nurses in rural Indiana who want to advance without relocating.

MS PNP

The estimated cost for the MS Primary Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner program at Purdue University is about $25,000.

The program would take roughly 2.5 years to complete on a full-time basis.

MS Curriculum

The MS totals 47 credits across three buckets: a 14-credit Graduate Nursing Core, a 17-credit Advanced Practice Nursing Core, and a 16-credit Pediatric NP Specialty curriculum.

It covers core APRN content (advanced pathophysiology, pharmacotherapeutics, advanced health assessment), pediatric primary care, diagnostics, and a three-course preceptorship sequence.

Delivery is mixed: several courses are online or asynchronous, others hybrid, and a few classroom-based.

  • NUR 50000 Theoretical Constructs in Nursing (3)
  • NUR 50200 Pharmacotherapeutics for Advanced Practice Nursing (3)
  • NUR 50300 Advanced Health Assessment — 45 clinical hours (3)
  • NUR 50500 Sociocultural Influences on Health (2)
  • NUR 50700 Physiologic Concepts for Advanced Practice Nursing (4)
  • NUR 51000 Research and Evidence-Based Nursing Practice (3)
  • NUR 51100 Health Promotion for Advanced Practice in Nursing — 45 clinical hours (3)
  • NUR 51400 Clinical Application in Pharmacotherapeutics for Pediatric Nurse Practitioners (1)
  • NUR 51500 Health Promotion in Pediatric Populations — 120 clinical hours (3)
  • NUR 52500 Informatics in Nursing (3)
  • NUR 52800 Acute Illness: Pediatric Health Practice (3)
  • NUR 52900 Acute Illness: Pediatric Health Preceptorship — 210 clinical hours (3)
  • NUR 55200 Chronic Illness and Commonly Recurring Conditions: Pediatric Health Practice (3)
  • NUR 55300 Chronic Illness and Commonly Recurring Conditions: Pediatric Health Preceptorship — 210 clinical hours (3)
  • NUR 63200 Health Policy: Local to Global (3)
  • NUR 67400 Quality Initiatives, Leadership and Advanced Practice Nursing (2)
  • NUR 67500 Role Transition and Synthesis (2)

More curriculum details are available here.

MS Clinicals

The MS requires 630 supervised preceptorship hours, set to meet the standards of the AANP, ANCC, and the Pediatric Nursing Certification Board.

The hours run across three preceptorship courses plus clinical time in Advanced Health Assessment and a hands-on suturing workshop, with placements spread across Purdue’s 100-plus clinical contracts in Tippecanoe and surrounding counties.

  • 630 total preceptorship hours
  • Pediatric population focus: infants, toddlers, school-age children, adolescents, young adults
  • Settings include nurse-managed clinics, FQHCs, community clinics, physician and specialty offices, and public health agencies
  • At least one semester in a rural clinic serving underserved populations, one in a private clinic, and one with a pediatric NP
  • Faculty visit each clinical site at least twice per semester; preceptor-to-student ratios kept tight

MS Admissions

Applicants need a BSN and an Indiana RN license; full-time applicants receive priority review.

  • BSN from an accredited nursing program
  • Current Indiana RN license
  • Minimum 3.0 undergraduate nursing GPA (conditional enrollment possible below this)
  • Official transcripts from each school attended
  • 300–500 word statement of purpose
  • Three letters of recommendation (at least one from a nursing professor)
  • Curriculum vitae or resume
  • Copy of current RN license
  • TOEFL minimum 100 for international applicants
  • Personal interview if invited

BSN-DNP PNP

The estimated cost for the BSN-to-DNP with a Primary Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner concentration at Purdue University is about $30,000.

The full-time plan of study runs about 3 years.

DNP Curriculum

Delivered in a hybrid format that blends online courses with limited campus time, the post-BSN DNP combines the Graduate Nursing Core, APRN Core, PNP specialty, and the AACN DNP Essentials, finishing with at least 1,000 post-BSN clinical hours.

On top of the full PNP specialty and clinical sequence shared with the MS, it adds doctoral coursework in systems, analytics, and a DNP scholarly project.

  • NUR 64000 Human Factors in Healthcare Engineering (3)
  • NUR 64100 Principles of Epidemiology (3)
  • NUR 64200 Systems Approaches in Healthcare (3)
  • NUR 62400 Evidence-Based Practice (3)
  • NUR 62600 Applied Biostatistics for Outcome Evaluation (3)
  • NUR 67800 Healthcare Economics and Finance (3)
  • NUR 51700 DNP Project Seminar (0, recurring each term)
  • NUR 67300 DNP Health Policy Residency — 128 residency hours (2)
  • NUR 68000 DNP Cognate Residency: Direct Practice/Systems Management I — 192 hours (3)
  • NUR 68700 DNP Practice Inquiry: Evidence-Based Practice I — 192 hours (3)
  • NUR 68900 DNP Practice Inquiry: Evidence-Based Practice II — 192 hours (3)

A post-master’s DNP entry point also exists: it transfers up to 40 credits from an accredited master’s, with the post-MS APRN track set at 40 credits (704 added residency hours) and the non-APRN track at 55 credits (1,069 residency hours). More curriculum details are available here.

DNP Clinicals

The DNP requires a minimum of 1,000 post-BSN clinical hours, an accreditation mandate. It pairs the 630-hour PNP preceptorship with doctoral residency hours in health policy, cognate practice, and evidence-based practice inquiry.

  • 1,000+ post-BSN clinical hours (post-BSN pathway)
  • Post-MS APRN entry: 704 added residency hours to reach the mandated 1,000
  • Non-APRN post-MS entry: 1,069 residency hours
  • PNP preceptorship blocks of 210 + 210 + 120 + 45 + 45 hours across pediatric acute, chronic, and health-promotion courses
  • Same rural and underserved pediatric placement model used in the MS

DNP Admissions

Post-BSN entry requires a BSN from a CCNE- or NLN-accredited program; post-master’s entry is evaluated case-by-case. A recent statistics course is required.

  • BSN from an accredited program (post-BSN path); prior MS credits reviewed individually (post-MS path)
  • RN license valid in the state of practice
  • Minimum 3.0 undergraduate nursing GPA
  • Upper-division statistics course (3.0+) within the past five years, or taken concurrently in the first term
  • 300–500 word essay on goals and practice interests; DNP applicants align goals with specific faculty
  • Three letters of recommendation (at least one from a nursing professor)
  • CV or resume, RN license copy, and official transcripts
  • Prior master’s coursework grades of “B” or better
  • TOEFL minimum 100 for international applicants; interview possible

Post-Master’s Certificate PNP

The estimated cost for the Post-Master’s Primary Care Pediatric Nurse Practitioner Certificate at Purdue University ranges from roughly $15,000 to $20,000. Most students finish in about 1.5 to 2 years.

Certificate Curriculum

Built for nurses who already hold a master’s in nursing, the certificate has no fixed course list. The credit load is individualized around prior coursework, clinical background, and career goals, filling the gaps needed to function as a primary care pediatric NP.

  • Minimum 16 credits; typically 16–34 credits
  • Tailored to each applicant’s prior graduate coursework and clinical experience
  • Prepares existing master’s-prepared nurses for the primary care PNP role

More curriculum details are available here.

Certificate Clinicals

The certificate requires the full 630 clinical hours, which fulfills national PNP certification eligibility. Placements follow the same pediatric primary care preceptorship model as the degree tracks.

  • 630 total clinical hours
  • Meets certification eligibility requirements
  • Same pediatric primary care preceptorship structure as the MS and DNP

Certificate Admissions

Applicants must already hold a completed graduate degree in nursing or a health-related field and meet Purdue’s standard graduate nursing admission criteria.

  • Master’s or doctorate in nursing or a health-related field (MPH, MHA, MBA-Healthcare, PhD, DNP, and similar)
  • Current RN license
  • Minimum 3.0 GPA
  • Official transcripts, statement of purpose, three letters of recommendation, and a CV or resume

Tuition

Purdue’s provided graduate cost figures list roughly $9,992 in tuition and fees for an academic year, or about $4,996 per semester, and the data does not clearly break out resident versus non-resident rates or separate pricing by program level.

The tuition estimates above multiply that academic-year figure by each track’s expected length.

Note: the supplied cost table references “flight course fees,” which suggests it may be a generic or mismatched university estimate rather than the exact graduate nursing rate — confirm current per-credit graduate nursing tuition with the Purdue Bursar before relying on these figures.

Accreditation

Purdue University’s Doctor of Nursing Practice is explicitly accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), and the program’s 630 clinical hours are set to meet certification standards from the AANP, ANCC, and the Pediatric Nursing Certification Board. The provided MS and post-master’s certificate pages do not separately restate an accrediting body, though all sit within Purdue’s School of Nursing. Confirm current CCNE status for the specific track directly with the School of Nursing.

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