Ball State's Doctor of Nursing Practice: cognates, hours, states and the DNP Project
Ball State reopened its online Doctor of Nursing Practice in Fall 2025, with entry after a BSN or a master's and three cognates: Family Nurse Practitioner, Nurse Executive and Nurse Educator. It starts in fall only, runs 74 to 78 credits in the 2026-27 catalog and requires 1,000 clinical and practicum hours, though the program page still shows 750 for two cognates. Six states are authorized, and CCNE's directory does not list the program.
Plan your DNP placements
Tell us your cognate, your state and your start term. A placement advisor replies with preceptor and project site options that fit.
The DNP at a glance
Ball State's first DNP sent out its final cohort on May 5, 2018. The revised program opened in Fall 2025, fully online, and the catalog frames it as DNP Advanced Practice, which is the FNP cognate, or DNP Leadership, which covers the Nurse Executive and Nurse Educator cognates. A scholarly project takes the place of a dissertation.
| Item | What Ball State publishes |
|---|---|
| Entry points | BS-DNP after a BSN from a CCNE or CNEA accredited program; MS-DNP after a master's |
| Start | Fall only; next start August 23, 2027, priority deadline July 19 |
| Admission basics | 3.0 GPA, an active unencumbered RN license and possible proof of 500 hours worked as an RN before clinical courses |
| Post-master's credit | At least 48 credits at Ball State; up to 30 master's credits accepted (28 in 2025-26) |
| Campus | Online; the application page says campus visits may be required in certain NP clinical courses |
| Time limit | Seven calendar years, with limited one-year extensions |
Credits: three sources, three answers
Ball State's documents disagree on the DNP's size, so plan from the 2026-27 catalog and check your plan of study when it arrives after admission.
| Measure | 2026-27 catalog | Other Ball State sources |
|---|---|---|
| Total credits | 74-78 | 74-78 on the DNP page; 76-78 in the 2026-27 Section I handbook and the 2025-26 catalog |
| Nurse Executive or Nurse Educator cognate | 36 | 29 on the DNP page; 38 in the 2025-26 catalog |
| FNP cognate | 40 | No other figure published |
| DNP core plus scholarship and research | 24 plus 14 | No other figure published |
By our addition of the catalog's blocks, the FNP cognate comes to 78 credits and each leadership cognate to 74, which explains the range. Post-master's students may also use NUR 799 Seminar in Nursing to cover core topics their master's did not.
Hours: 1,000 in the catalog, 750 on the program page
The 2026-27 catalog says every post-baccalaureate cognate completes 1,000 clinical and practicum hours, and post-master's students reach 1,000 across their master's and the DNP combined. The DNP program page, which mostly tracks the 2025-26 catalog, agrees for the FNP but gives 750 for the Nurse Executive and Nurse Educator cognates.
| Track | DNP program page | 2026-27 catalog |
|---|---|---|
| BS-DNP, FNP | 1,000 in NUR 781, NUR 782, NUR 783 and NUR 785 | 1,000 |
| BS-DNP, Nurse Executive | 750 in NUR 618, NUR 787 and NUR 788 | 1,000; NUR 618 no longer listed |
| BS-DNP, Nurse Educator | 750 in NUR 618, NUR 634, NUR 787 and NUR 788 | 1,000; NUR 618 no longer listed |
| MS-DNP, FNP | 475 in NUR 785 plus 525 master's hours equal to NUR 781 to NUR 783 | 1,000 across both degrees |
| MS-DNP, Executive or Educator | 600 in NUR 787 and NUR 788 | 1,000 across both degrees |
Ball State has not published the 2026-27 course-by-course split for the leadership cognates, or hours for NUR 760, NUR 764 and NUR 793, though each course description mentions clinical experience. The DNP clinical hours guide follows what is known.
The FNP cognate and the two leadership cognates
The FNP cognate runs as a strict chain. After NUR 632, NUR 634 and NUR 638, you take NUR 781 Primary Care 1 (adults), NUR 782 Primary Care 2 (infants through adolescents), NUR 783 Primary Care 3 (adults), NUR 784 Primary Care 4 (women's and behavioral health) and NUR 785 Primary Care Immersion, each gated by a B in the course before, then NUR 786 Transition into Advanced Practice and Entrepreneurship. Expect consecutive primary care placements, with pediatric and women's health sites in the middle.
The Nurse Executive and Nurse Educator cognates meet in two immersion practicums, NUR 787 (5 credits) and NUR 788 (6 credits). The catalog says faculty and the preceptor guide you through NUR 787 and that NUR 788 experiences are designed individually with faculty. Executives add NUR 751 to NUR 754 and three MBA courses; educators add the teaching courses, NUR 755 and the 3 P's, including the 60 hours in NUR 634.
No current Ball State page says who finds DNP clinical preceptors. Ball State tells its master's and certificate FNP students to find their own, so plan as if the same applies and confirm with your faculty advisor. The graduate handbook says post-baccalaureate FNP graduates may sit for the AANP or ANCC exam.
The DNP Project and its site
Every cognate ends in a DNP Project carried through NUR 792, NUR 793 and NUR 794. You meet your project advisor during NUR 744, and NUR 792 closes with a proposal and IRB approval. The handbook sets the key date: by the start of the semester you take NUR 792, you and your DNP Project Committee confirm the clinical or community site where the project will run.
Implementation happens within NUR 788, NUR 793 and NUR 794, and NUR 794 ends with a final manuscript in SQUIRE 2 format. Two mentors join you: a project preceptor mentor at the site, who sits on the committee, orients you to agency policies and writes your evaluation, and an external content expert mentor.
In place before implementation starts, per the handbook
- Every required IRB approval
- Complete clinical clearance paperwork
- A signed practicum mentor agreement
- An agency agreement with the host site
- Your project faculty advisor's final approval
Six states, and not the same six as the MS
Ball State's State Authorization Map lists the DNP, in an entry created September 19, 2025, for six states: Indiana, Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida and Georgia. You must live in one of them and complete every clinical and practicum hour there, project work included. If you do move, the graduate handbook asks you to tell the Clinical Placement Coordinator within seven days and to upload the new state's RN license to American Data Bank.
The footprints do not nest. Delaware and Georgia allow the DNP but not the MS in Nursing, while Illinois, Ohio, Michigan, Kentucky and Wisconsin allow the MS but not the DNP. The DNP page's warning about moving reuses the master's program wording, so check the DNP map itself before any move. The state authorization guide compares Ball State's nursing entries program by program.
Accreditation: state it precisely
The CCNE directory, checked September 26, 2026, shows three Ball State nursing programs accredited through June 30, 2031: the bachelor's, the master's and the post-graduate APRN certificate. No Ball State DNP appears there, and Ball State's own accreditation page also stops at those three.
The 2026-27 Section I handbook still describes DNP accreditation through June 30, 2027, but that line belongs to the earlier DNP, which closed in 2018. Whether and when the Fall 2025 program will be reviewed is not public, so ask the School of Nursing before you rely on its status for a job or certification plan. The Graduate Programs Director, who verifies education for certification exams and licenses in other states, is a sensible person to ask. The accreditation guide keeps the details.
What we do for DNP students
DNP students juggle three kinds of placement at once: primary care sites or leadership immersions, plus a project site with a mentor. We plan all three together.
- Primary care preceptorsFor the FNP cognate, adult, pediatric and women's health preceptors lined up course by course through
NUR 785, all in an authorized state. - Immersion preceptorsFor
NUR 787andNUR 788, nurse executives or nurse educators whose work fits the course, confirmed with your faculty. - Project site groundworkAn agency willing to host the project, sign an agency agreement and supply a project preceptor mentor, ready before
NUR 792begins. - Backup and follow-throughA second option for each placement, and a replacement search at once if a preceptor steps away.
Your DNP Project Committee and faculty approve every site and mentor; we hand them a complete plan early. Start with the placement request form.
Questions Ball State students ask
When can I start Ball State's DNP?
Fall only. Ball State's application page lists a single fall entry with a July 19 priority deadline, and the program page names August 23, 2027 as the next start. Because the FNP chain and the project run in a fixed order, your start term also sets when each placement and the project site must be ready.
Does Ball State's DNP require a dissertation?
No. The catalog says a dissertation is not required. You complete a scholarly DNP Project instead, implemented at a clinical or community site with a project preceptor mentor and written up as a final manuscript in NUR 794, which students take for 3 credits.
How many master's credits transfer into Ball State's MS-DNP?
Up to 30 under the 2026-27 catalog, up from 28 in 2025-26, and at least 48 credits must be earned at Ball State. Master's equivalents can stand in for some core courses, including HSC 683, NUR 701 and NUR 740, and executives may use equivalents for NUR 751 and NUR 753.
Can Ball State DNP FNP graduates take the certification exam?
Yes. The graduate handbook says post-baccalaureate FNP graduates may sit for the AANP or ANCC family nurse practitioner exam. Certification exam applications, and verification of your education for the certifying body and for licenses in other states, go through the Graduate Programs Director.
Is Ball State's DNP open to nurses in Ohio or Illinois?
Not at present. Ball State's map authorizes the DNP only in Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Florida, Georgia and Indiana, even though Ohio and Illinois are open for the MS in Nursing. Ball State does not say whether more states will follow; its DNP entry dates from September 2025, so check the map again before you apply.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against Ball State's own catalog, graduate handbook, program pages and State Authorization Map, and Indiana rules. Your course faculty, your advisor and the Graduate Clinical Placement Coordinator have the final word.
Ball State asks you to find your preceptor. We find one near you.
Tell us your Ball State track, where you live and when your next clinical course starts. We find preceptors near you who fit the course, confirm the practice will sign Ball State's affiliation agreement, and line up a backup, so the School of Nursing can clear the site before the semester.
- Preceptors matched to the course: pediatrics for
NUR 682, women's health forNUR 684, adult primary care forNUR 681andNUR 683 - Outside your own unit or clinic, in a state where Ball State's program is authorized
- Across Indiana, from Muncie to Evansville, and in the other states Ball State accepts
Start your placement plan
Program, city and start date is all we need to begin.