How many years does it take?

carachel2 · Mar 19, 2007

The costs vary widely. Here in Texas one 3 hr graduate class is about 1300.00 per semester plus about 150-250.00 a semester in books and supplies.

If you go full time (3 classes per semester) you can knock it out in 2 years.

Psychaprn · Mar 21, 2007

My advice-work as a nurse in your specialty area for a few years-save your money-then go get your Masters and APRN--2-3 years. The experience of working is invaluable and you'll validate your desire to go on and have some money to boot! The fastest way isn't always the best way.

DaisyRN, ACNP · Apr 8, 2007

hi to all nps or ones soon to be. i have some questions regard the np and my first question would be, how long does it take for a person with bsn to become an np? how much do i need to expect to spend for the entire program? i know some of you might advice me to go with financial aid. but guess what? since i got married, i've never been qualified schools aren't cheaper; it gets more expensive every year, lets alone those additional requirements courses, so i want to plan wisely. thanks for you help:specs:

hi there,

i'm in an acnp program... i am married, make too much money for "free money," and use a loan because of it. i am doing my program in 18 months... which is very quick. i chose to do it like that because my school only starts the clinical practicum every january. if i didn't double up last year, i would have had to wait an entire year to start my last practicum year.

what you need to do is look at the school you are interested in, go to their financial services website and then look at how much their tuition costs. that will be the best indicator. also, you can talk to your school (the actual school of nursing) about financial aid... ends up that at my school, there is a grant called the aent grant (government money) and it doesnt matter how much money you make at home. you apply and depending on how much money the school gets to disperse to students, you will get a certain amount. i'm not sure all schools have this, but with this money, i'm getting $2400/semester. i use the loan money to pay for my tuition and then whatever i get that's extra... goes to savings to cover the times when i can't work much.

BChapp3182 · Apr 8, 2007

The fastest way I know of getting NP degree is at university of miami. They have a one year full time program where you go to school every day. You would not be able to work during this program.

I am in a 2.5 year program or 8 continual semesters. We have 2 classes a semester. I spend at least 30 hrs a week studying and 1 day in class and another in clinical. It does not leave much time for anything else. I do work and I'm seriously considering cutting back on my hours. I don't qualify for free money either, so I got student loans to help.

As for experience, as I progress in my studies I am actually seeing that well seasoned RNs sometimes do worse than newbie's. For example, in my pharmacology class several seasoned nurses had to drop out for failing tests. While I'm a newbie nurse and am getting good grades. My instructor said it's because seasoned nurses have experience doing "non-textbook" things, so come exam time they may rely on what they have done in practice but that may not be the "text book" answer.

VivaRN · Apr 8, 2007

The FNP program here is 15 months, which is four semesters, going through the summer. I will take a bit longer because I'm in a dual-degree program with the school of public health (FNP, MPH).

The cheapest way I've seen people do it is get a job at the hospital affiliated with the university. They have awesome tuition reimbursement - up to 80%. You have to work there full-time for at least a year to be eligible. Not bad at all.

Rhfish2 · Apr 9, 2007

It all depends on the school. My program in NY was 24 months and it was 2 evenings a week. I worked fulltime, am married plus I taught at a BSN program 1 day per week througout the program and did the 750 clinical hours. It is a comittment but worth it in the end. If you file for FAFSA at least you can get a low cost graduate loan from the federal government and start paying it off 6 months after graduation. Good luck

Spacklehead, MSN, NP · Apr 9, 2007

I am in a FNP program going part-time. It will take me five years, total. If I were to go full-time, I would have been finished in two years plus one summer.

My courses cost roughly $700/credit - with the credits ranging from 3-5 per course. There are 47 total credits to the program. I had to take out loans to help pay for school since I cannot receive tuition reimbursement with the weekend program I work.