RN to MSN-FNP Online Program
Accelerate from ADN to Family NP

We offer multiple options for current nurses of all types, including pathways for ASN/ADN, BSN, and MSN degree holders.

View our available online Family Nurse Practitioner programs.

Nurse practitioners have an expanded scope of practice compared to registered nurses. In addition to RN duties, nurse practitioners may also write prescriptions, order lab tests, diagnose illnesses, and more (although specifics vary by state). NPs have greater autonomy in delivering patient care, and for that reason, the education requirement is higher. 

Learn more about how to go from RN to nurse practitioner.

Sometimes hospitals form partnerships with schools like ours to provide employees with unique benefits should they choose to pursue an advanced nursing degree.

Employees of Herzing partners can potentially earn college credit for prior work or military experience, transfer existing credit, or earn a scholarship to make going back to school more affordable.

If you are currently an RN considering becoming a nurse practitioner, view our educational partnerships or check with your employer for potential possibilities.

Here’s a selection of the most common types of nurse practitioners:

• Family Nurse Practitioner (FNP)
• Adult Gerontology Acute Care Nurse Practitioner (AGACNP)
• Adult Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner (AGPCNP)
• Pediatric Nurse Practitioner (PNP)
• Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner (PMHNP)
• Women’s Health Nurse Practitioner (WHNP)

Each specialty has its own unique requirements in terms of job experience and certification.

According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, nurse practitioners earn an average salary of $128,490 per year ($61.78 per hour). Pay depends on many factors, including your location, what healthcare institution you work for and your level of experience.*

Discover the average nurse practitioner salary by state and find out what nurse practitioners make on average near you.

Completing the Accelerated RN to FNP option with Herzing takes 24 months. If you choose this path you will not earn a BSN.

If you choose to earn your BSN first, you’ll need 12 months to go from RN to BSN, and another 20 months to go from BSN to FNP in our MSN-FNP program—for a total of at least 32 months. If you choose to eventually go from BSN to DNP-FNP, it would take about 44 months (12 + 32).

Nurse practitioner represents an advanced practice role in nursing—it’s not an easy job, and our goal is to prepare you best for success! We strive to keep coursework manageable, but provide you with the knowledge, skills, and valuable clinical experiences to succeed as a nurse practitioner.

Our goal is to help you balance the challenge of an NP curriculum with everything else in your life, including your work, family and friends. You can take courses at the right pace for you, so you can get the most out of going back to school and be ready to practice as a nurse practitioner.

Increasingly yes, but it ultimately depends on the institution who issued the degree.

As the popularity of online degrees continues to rapidly trend upward, so has mainstream acceptance of online degree programs.

Attitudes toward online degrees were already becoming more positive before the COVID-19 pandemic forced the issue. According to a 2019 study from Northeastern University, 61 percent of HR leaders say online learning is “of equal or greater quality to more traditional methods.” More than half believe that in the future, most advanced degrees will be online.

Regarding nursing applicants who earned online degrees, there are a few important factors employers consider:

• The school and degree program’s accreditation. Herzing University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) and programmatically accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE).ⁱ
• If you have earned nursing licensure. Our programs are designed to help you pass any necessary exams and become licensed before getting your first job.
• The school’s reputation and history of producing excellent employees. Consider our many happy graduates and 50+ years producing more than 40,000 alumni.

For all these reasons employers know what it means when they see “Herzing University” on a resume!

i. Programmatic accreditation varies by program and by campus location. Find details about all Herzing University accreditations and approvals.

No. Registered nurses holding an associate degree who enroll in an accelerated RN to MSN (Nurse Practitioner concentration/track) program may skip earning a Bachelor of Science in nursing (BSN) on their way to earning their MSN.

Those who want to become an NP but only have a non-nursing bachelor’s degree may be eligible to enroll in our online Direct Entry MSN program, which makes it possible to earn a master’s degree in nursing in as few as 20 months without earning a BSN on the way.