Ball State's MS in Nursing FNP: credits, clinical courses, states and preceptors
Ball State's online Family Nurse Practitioner concentration runs 48 credits with 690 supervised clinical hours across six courses, plus a single required day of clinical hours on campus in Muncie. You live and train in one of the 26 jurisdictions where the MS in Nursing is authorized, and Ball State tells FNP students to line up their own preceptors in their community. Here is the whole plan and where each preceptor fits into it.
Plan your FNP preceptors
Tell us your next Ball State clinical course, the term it opens and where you live. A placement advisor replies with preceptor options that fit it.
The FNP concentration at a glance
The Family Nurse Practitioner concentration sits inside Ball State's online MS in Nursing, next to Nurse Educator and Leadership and Management. It is the longest of the three and the only one with a campus visit. Every figure below comes from the 2026-27 Graduate Catalog or the FNP and MS program pages as they read in September 2026.
| Item | What Ball State publishes |
|---|---|
| Credits | 48: an 18-credit shared core and 30 concentration credits |
| Clinical hours | 690 in the FNP courses, plus 45 in NUR 610 |
| Campus | One 8-hour clinical day in Muncie, inside NUR 681 |
| Length | Six or eight semesters |
| Next start | January 11, 2027, with fall, spring and summer admissions |
| Priority deadlines | July 19 for fall, September 15 for spring, February 15 for summer |
| Weekly time | About 6-10 hours for online courses and 8-12 hours in a clinical course |
| Outcome | Eligible to apply for the ANCC and/or AANP FNP certification exam |
Admission calls for an accredited nursing degree, a GPA of at least 3.0, three recommendation letters and an RN license that is active and unencumbered. The catalog adds that FNP applicants cannot be admitted on probationary or conditional status.
The shared core, and why the hour total reads 690 or 735
All MS in Nursing students take the same six core courses. NUR 605 Nursing Information Technology comes first; NUR 603 Nursing Theory, NUR 604 Research, NUR 630 Advanced Nursing and Role Theory, a statistics course (NUR 607 or EDPS 641) and NUR 610 follow. Only NUR 610, the population health promotion course, carries clinical time.
Ball State's FNP page states 690 supervised hours yet lists 45 hours beside NUR 610, so its own course list adds up to 735. The School's archived 2018 information packet explains the difference: the NUR 610 hours sit outside the FNP total. Plan for both anyway, because NUR 610 still needs a population-focused setting and a nurse to supervise you there.
The six FNP clinical courses make up the 690, and the 690-hour breakdown takes them one course at a time. For every Ball State program side by side, use the clinical hours planner.
Six clinical courses, in the order the catalog allows
Prerequisites fix the order. Advanced pathophysiology (NUR 632) and pharmacology (NUR 638) run with or before NUR 634, and all three need a B before any primary care course opens.
| Course | Hours | Typical pace |
|---|---|---|
NUR 634 Advanced Health Assessment | 60 | About 1 day a week |
NUR 681 Primary Care of the Adult 1 | 120, including 8 on campus | About 1 day a week |
NUR 682 Primary Care of Children | 120 | About 1 day a week |
NUR 683 Primary Care of the Adult 2 | 120 | About 1 day a week |
NUR 684 Primary Care of Women | 90 | Not stated |
NUR 673 Practicum-Family Nurse Practitioner | 180 | About 1.5-2 days a week |
Of the 690, Ball State allows 682 in family practice primary care, and the remaining 8 belong to the campus day. The MS FAQ describes the setting as primary care or a clinic, never acute care.
By our reading of the prerequisites, the shortest path is four clinical terms back to back: NUR 634, then NUR 681 alongside NUR 682 or NUR 684, then NUR 683 with the remaining one, then NUR 673 on its own. Each of those terms needs a preceptor confirmed before it starts.
The Muncie campus day, and the FAQ that predates it
FNP students are the only MS in Nursing students with a required clinical day on campus. The MS landing page makes one exception to all-online study, an 8-hour clinical day in Muncie, and the FNP page attaches it to NUR 681. The catalog notes that clinical travel costs belong to the student.
The program FAQ still tells applicants a campus visit is optional. That page also quotes credit totals from the 2018 curriculum, so rely on the FNP page and the catalog and budget for the trip. The date and content of the day are not public; your NUR 681 course faculty announce them.
Orientation is a separate event. The MS application page describes a mandatory orientation held for one day on campus or over Zoom, while the 2025-26 graduate handbook calls it virtual. Ask admissions which format your cohort will use.
Rules that can hold up a clinical start
A preceptor can be ready and a course still fail to open. The catalog says you may be asked to prove at least 500 hours of work as an RN before any clinical course, and the graduate handbook makes registration permission-only, granted to students who are current with health clearance.
Clearance runs through American Data Bank, and during your first clinical semester you link that account to CORE. Hours worked while you are marked noncompliant do not count and must be repeated. Uploads can take ADB three to five business days to review, so renew early.
Grades gate progress as well. A B is the lowest passing grade in any NUR course, a second failed course ends enrollment, and an unfinished Incomplete in any NP clinical course from NUR 634 through NUR 684 stops you from starting the next one. The whole master's must be finished within six calendar years.
Where you can live and train: 26 jurisdictions
Ball State requires both your home and all of your clinical hours to be in a place where its School of Nursing is authorized. For the MS in Nursing, FNP included, the State Authorization Map (entry last saved September 19, 2025) lists 25 states plus the District of Columbia.
Authorized for the MS in Nursing
- Indiana and its neighbors Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Ohio
- Alaska, Arkansas, Connecticut, Florida, Hawaii, Kansas, Maine, Massachusetts and Mississippi
- Missouri, Montana, New Jersey, Oregon, Rhode Island, South Carolina and Utah
- Vermont, Washington, Wisconsin, Wyoming and the District of Columbia
California, Texas, New York, Pennsylvania, Georgia, North Carolina, Virginia and Tennessee are among the 25 states left off. Moving to one of them halts your progress, a travel contract there needs a leave of absence, and you have seven days after any move to tell the Clinical Placement Coordinator. Licensure is a separate question: Ball State issues no per-state licensure determinations, so check with the nursing board in the state where you intend to practice. See clinicals outside Indiana for the details.
How FNP preceptors get found
Ball State's FNP page tells students plainly that they find their own preceptors in their community. The MS FAQ adds that the School expects an active role in every placement, that faculty support students when problems arise, and that a site found for you by faculty must be accepted or the course moves to a later term. Ball State's exact wording is collected on finding your own preceptor.
Timing is the part to watch. The graduate handbook advises starting a year before each clinical course because students compete for clinical placements. Once a preceptor says yes, the practice needs to execute Ball State's standard affiliation agreement, which Ball State suggests starting about a semester out, and a second agency should stand by. The FNP clinical packet, which admitted students reach through Ball State's Canvas community for nursing graduate students, holds preceptor qualifications, forms and deadlines.
Per Ball State's MS FAQ, clinical hours cannot happen on your own unit or in your own clinic. Search outside the place you work from the first course on.
What we do for Ball State FNP students
We build your preceptor plan around Ball State's own sequence and start as early as you are ready.
- Map your termsWe line your plan of study up with every course that needs a preceptor, from
NUR 610andNUR 634throughNUR 673, and set a search start a year ahead of each. - Match a preceptor to each courseA pediatric preceptor for
NUR 682, a women's health preceptor forNUR 684, adult primary care forNUR 681andNUR 683, and a busy family practice for theNUR 673practicum, all near home. - Check it against Ball State's rulesOutside your own unit or clinic, in an authorized state, in primary care rather than acute care, and clear of the systems Ball State has excluded in certain states.
- Prepare the agreement and packet detailsWe confirm the practice accepts Ball State's standard affiliation agreement and collect every detail the clinical packet calls for, so the file School of Nursing staff receive is whole.
- Hold a backup and stay on callA second preceptor waits in reserve each semester, and if a preceptor drops mid-course we start on a replacement at once.
Every site still needs sign-off from your course faculty and School of Nursing staff; our work is making the file they receive whole, well matched and early. Send your next course and ZIP code through the placement request form.
Questions Ball State students ask
How long does Ball State's online FNP program take?
Ball State's FNP page gives six or eight semesters. The handbook's default is two courses per term unless you get approval for another pace, and your personal plan of study is emailed once you are admitted. Stepping off that plan can add two or three semesters because not every course runs every term, and the master's has a six-year limit.
Can I get into the FNP concentration with a GPA below 3.0?
Not on current rules. Ball State's MS application page describes a probationary or conditional route for GPAs from 2.8 to 2.99, but the catalog says that route is closed to Family Nurse Practitioner applicants. Because the two pages describe the under-3.0 route differently, confirm with graduate admissions before you apply.
Which certification exam can I take after Ball State's FNP?
Ball State says finishing the concentration makes you eligible to apply for national FNP certification through ANCC, AANP or both. The graduate handbook lets you sit for it in your last semester or after you finish, and NUR 673 includes a required board review course that you pay the review company for directly.
Is Ball State's MS in Nursing accredited?
Yes, through June 30, 2031, according to CCNE's directory, which shows the master's program last reaccredited on October 7, 2020. The baccalaureate program and the post-graduate APRN certificate carry the same term. Ball State's own accreditation page names those three programs.
Can a physician or PA precept a Ball State FNP student?
Ball State has not published the answer. The Nurse Practitioner clinical packet spells out who may precept, and Ball State shares it with admitted students after orientation through Canvas. Until you can read it, check with your course faculty before a physician or PA commits to a course.
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.