Post University offers one AGPCNP pathway: a Master of Science in Nursing with an Adult Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner specialization, delivered online in 8-week courses with monthly start dates.
Program Track Overview
| Program | Est. Tuition | Est. Duration | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSN – AGPCNP Specialization (BSN entry) | $25,100 -$26,900 | 28 months | 42–45 |
| MSN – AGPCNP Specialization (MSN-prepared, maximum transfer) | $14,500 | Not published | 24 in residence |
Tuition figures are calculated from Post’s published 2025-26 per-credit rates and cover tuition only. Fees add roughly $5,800 more.
What separates this program from other online AGPCNP options is its conditional admission structure. You are not formally accepted into the NP specialization until you have completed or transferred in the three “P” courses and passed the APEA 3P exam. Two failed attempts, or a failing grade in the remedial course, ends your enrollment in the NP specialization.
The trade-off is clinical. Post requires students to find their own preceptors and provides no placement service. Its 540 clinical hours sit close to the 500-hour national certification minimum, and those hours are packed into four 8-week courses at roughly 17 hours per week.
Quick Facts
| Program Types | MSN specialization only |
| Format | Online, asynchronous, 8-week courses |
| Campus Visits | None required |
| Start Terms | Monthly starts into MSN coursework |
| Clinical Hours | 540, across four preceptorship courses |
| Clinical Placement | Student-arranged; no university placement service |
| Population Focus | Adolescents through older adults, primary care |
| Distinctive Requirement | APEA 3P exam must be passed before acceptance into the specialization |
| RN Requirements | Active, unencumbered US RN license in an approved state; 1 year full-time clinical experience in the last 3 years |
| Transfer Credit | Up to 18 MSN core credits considered |
| State Restrictions | Not available in 9 states and 3 territories |
| Tuition | $588/credit NP graduate core; $603.75/credit population-focused |
| Accreditation | CCNE (MSN) |
MSN – Adult Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Specialization
The MSN – AGPCNP Specialization carries estimated tuition of roughly $25,100 for the standard 42-credit plan, completed in about 28 months of continuous full-time study. Post publishes a range of 42 to 45 credits. Applicants may hold either a BSN or an MSN, since Post has no AGPCNP certificate and routes master’s-prepared nurses into the same specialization for a second MSN.
Curriculum
The plan of study runs as 14 three-credit courses taken one at a time in 8-week blocks. It divides into two halves that also correspond to Post’s two tuition rates.
The MSN and NP graduate core covers 18 credits: role development, health policy and ethics, research design, and the three P courses. Post considers up to 18 hours of MSN core coursework for transfer credit, which is exactly the size of this block and the reason an MSN-prepared applicant can finish in eight courses.
The AGPCNP population-focused sequence covers 24 credits and alternates didactic and clinical courses in strict pairs. Advanced Practice Nursing I pairs with a general primary care preceptorship, Advanced Practice Nursing II covers women’s health with a matching preceptorship, Complex Concepts of Aging pairs with a geriatric preceptorship, and an integration course closes with a final synthesis preceptorship.
A dedicated women’s health didactic-and-clinical pair is unusual inside an adult-gerontology track, which typically folds reproductive health into general primary care. Each didactic course is a prerequisite for its paired preceptorship, so a failed course stops clinical progression rather than merely delaying it.
You should know: students who do not pass the APEA 3P exam on the first attempt must complete N 523 Diagnostic Reasoning for 3 credits, which produces the 45-credit upper figure. Post publishes the credit range and the N 523 requirement separately without explicitly connecting them; this is our reading of the two policies together.
Core sequence (18 credits)
- N 502 Advanced Role Development and Organizational Leadership (3)
- N 503 Policy Advocacy and Healthcare Ethics (3)
- N 515 Research Design (3)
- N 512 Advanced Pathophysiology (3)
- N 521 Advanced Pharmacology (3)
- N 522PE Advanced Physical Assessment (3)
AGPCNP specialty sequence (24 credits)
- N 580 Advanced Practice Nursing I (3)
- N 581 Advanced Practice Nursing I Preceptorship (3)
- N 582 Advanced Practice Nursing II: Women’s Health (3)
- N 583 Advanced Practice Nursing II Preceptorship: Women’s Health (3)
- N 584 Complex Concepts of Aging (3)
- N 585 Complex Concepts of Aging Preceptorship (3)
- N 598 Advanced Practice Nursing Integration (3)
- N 599 Advanced Practice Nursing Integration Preceptorship (3)
- N 523 Diagnostic Reasoning (3), required only after a failed 3P exam attempt
Full course descriptions are in Post’s catalog.
Clinical Requirements
- 540 total precepted clinical hours, distributed as 135 hours in each of the four preceptorship courses
- Hours must be completed inside the 8-week window of each course, roughly 17 hours per week
- Primary care settings serving adolescents, adults, and older adults
- Students are responsible for locating their own preceptor and clinical site. Post provides no placement service and does not guarantee placement
- Clinical activity is restricted to states where Post’s NP specializations are approved and where the student holds an active unencumbered RN license
- Clinical work outside the student’s state of residence requires prior specialization approval
- Clinical compliance package required before registering for any NP course or accruing hours: background check, 10-panel urine drug screen, MMR, influenza, varicella, hepatitis B, TB, Td, physical exam, CPR, HIPAA and OSHA certification, and health insurance
- Compliance must stay current throughout the program, including annual renewals
- Clinical documentation is tracked through CastleBranch and Typhon, both billed by third parties
Self-placement is the largest planning risk in this program. Post’s fee page acknowledges that students who cannot secure a preceptor may contract with a placement company, and states those service fees are not covered by the $750 clinical fee. Because hours must fit inside a fixed 8-week window, a preceptor who cancels or a site that limits hours can force a course withdrawal and push the timeline out by a full term.
The 540-hour total clears the 500-hour supervised clinical minimum common to AANPCB and ANCC certification, with 40 hours of margin. Students who want broader exposure before entering practice will need to arrange it independently.
Admissions
- BSN or MSN from an accredited nursing program, minimum 3.0 GPA
- Active, unencumbered US RN license
- Minimum one year of full-time work experience in a nursing clinical role within the last three years
- Resume, CV, or list of professional accomplishments
- Official transcripts from all post-secondary institutions
- Driver’s license or state ID showing residence in an approved NP specialization state, matching the state on the application
- Completion or transfer of N 512, N 521, and N 522PE with a 3.0 GPA in those courses
- Passing score on the APEA 3P exam before official acceptance into the specialization
- No published application deadline; monthly start dates into MSN coursework
- Applicants below the 3.0 GPA threshold may petition with a resume, a 300-word statement, and permission from the Dean or designee
You should know: the 3P gate means you enroll in and pay for three graduate courses before Post decides whether you are in the NP specialization. Applicants who fail the exam twice, or who fail N 523 regardless of a later passing exam score, are academically withdrawn from all NP specializations.
Be aware: Post requires the ID state, the application state, the RN license state, and the clinical site state to line up. Nurses who live near a state line, hold a compact license, or expect to relocate mid-program should confirm the effect before applying.
Full admissions requirements are on Post’s nursing admissions page.
Tuition
Post charges two per-credit rates for NP students under its 2025-26 online rate schedule: $588 per credit for NP graduate core courses and $603.75 per credit for NP population-focused courses.
Post does not publish which specific courses fall into each category. Our estimates assume the 18 core credits bill at $588 and the 24 specialty credits at $603.75, producing $25,074 in tuition for the 42-credit plan and roughly $26,900 if N 523 is required. The full range under any course-to-rate mapping is $24,696 to $27,169.
Mandatory and program fees
| Fee | Amount | Est. total (42 cr) |
|---|---|---|
| Resource fee | $50 per 3 credits | $700 |
| Clinical fee | $750 per clinical course | $3,000 |
| Electronic course materials | $90 per course | $1,260 |
| Technology fee | $50 per term | ~$700 |
| Graduation fee | $150 ($0 military) | $150 |
| Fee subtotal | ~$5,810 |
The technology fee figure assumes one 8-week term per course; Post does not publish a term count for this program. A 42-credit student should plan on roughly $30,900 in university charges, plus third-party costs Post identifies but does not bill: Shadow Health ($90 to $110), Shadow Health Pharmacology ($90 to $110), EHRGo ($45 per 12 weeks), the 3P exam fee ($35), Typhon clinical tracking ($100), a CastleBranch account (varies by state), and books at roughly $150 per course.
Be aware: a Practicum Workroom fee of $400 per term applies to students who transfer in MSN courses that did not carry the required practice hours. MSN-prepared applicants using the transfer pathway should ask how many workroom terms their gap analysis produces.
Tuition reductions
Post publishes several reductions specific to American Sentinel College students. Only one applies per student, whichever is most favorable, and all apply to tuition rather than fees.
| Reduction | Eligibility | NP core / population rate | Est. 42-cr tuition |
|---|---|---|---|
| Standard | — | $588 / $603.75 | ~$25,074 |
| Rural | Work or reside in a HRSA FORHP rural zip code | $462 / $472.50 | ~$19,656 |
| Nurse Appreciation | RN for 10+ years | $483 / $498.75 | ~$20,664 |
| Canada | Canadian resident | $483 / $498.75 | ~$20,664 |
| Public Safety | Law enforcement, fire, EMS, corrections, and household family | 25% off online credit tuition | ~$18,800 |
| Alumni | Completed a prior Post degree | 20% off tuition only | ~$20,059 |
A nurse with ten years of licensure working in a rural zip code faces a program that costs roughly $20,000 less in tuition than the standard figure. Estimates assume current rates hold; Post publishes rates by academic year.
Why Choose This AGPCNP Program?
Best suited for: an experienced RN in an approved state who already has a confirmed preceptor relationship, wants a low-cost online AGPCNP route, and can absorb 17 clinical hours a week on top of a job.
Price, especially with a reduction
At roughly $30,900 all in, the standard path is inexpensive for a private-university NP degree, and Post charges no application fee. With the rural or nurse appreciation reduction, total university charges land closer to $26,000. For a nurse who qualifies for a reduction and can manage placement independently, cost is the strongest argument here.
Self-arranged placement with no fallback
Post is explicit that finding a preceptor is the student’s responsibility and that placement-company fees are the student’s expense. Programs that arrange placements charge more, and that premium removes the risk that a completed didactic course cannot be paired with clinical hours. Applicants without an existing relationship with a willing primary care provider should treat this as the deciding factor.
A second MSN instead of a certificate
MSN-prepared nurses at most schools pursue a post-master’s certificate. Post has no AGPCNP certificate, so this group enters the MSN with up to 18 core credits transferred, leaving 24 credits and roughly eight courses at about $14,500 in tuition plus fees. The outcome is a second MSN degree at a cost comparable to many certificate programs. Nurses who only need certification eligibility should still compare certificate options before assuming the degree is worth the difference.
The 3P screening gate
Post front-loads its academic screening rather than admitting on GPA and experience and letting students discover the difficulty of pathophysiology and pharmacology mid-program. That produces a specialization cohort that has already cleared a hard bar and gives applicants an early signal about fit. It also puts nine credits of tuition at risk with no guaranteed seat.
The program fits a nurse who qualifies for the rural or nurse appreciation reduction, has a preceptor lined up, holds a license in an approved state, and wants an accredited AGPCNP credential at close to the lowest total cost available online. Applicants who need help finding clinical sites, want clinical volume well above the certification minimum, or cannot commit to 135 hours inside a fixed 8-week window should compare other programs.
Accreditation
Post University’s baccalaureate and master’s nursing programs are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE), and Post is institutionally accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education. Graduates are prepared to sit for AGPCNP certification through the ANCC or AANPCB.
Post states it does not recruit or enroll NP students residing in any state or territory where its coursework does not meet the educational requirements for NP licensure. As currently published that excludes Alaska, Arizona, Kansas, Louisiana, Nebraska, New York, Oregon, Tennessee, and Washington, plus Guam, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands. Verify your own state on Post’s Nurse Practitioner Disclosure by State chart before applying, since the list changes.
More AGPCNP Programs Nearby
- Quinnipiac University - Hamden
- Western Connecticut State University - Danbury
- Yale University - Orange