UCF AGPCNP Programs (Adult Gerontology)

The University of Central Florida’s College of Nursing offers 2 Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner pathways:

BSN-DNP
Certificate for APRNs – admissions suspended effective Fall 2026

Both are hybrid programs taught from UCF’s Lake Nona campus in Orlando. Clinical placements are arranged by UCF and occur only inside a nine-county Central Florida service area. DNP students must live in Florida for the duration of the program. With the certificate closed to new applicants, the BSN-to-DNP track is currently the only way into AGPCNP preparation at UCF.

Program Tracks Overview

Program	Est. Tuition (Resident)	Est. Duration	Credit Hours
BSN-DNP	$27,354	3 years full-time (9 semesters); 4 years part-time (12 semesters)	74
Post-Master’s Certificate	$6,654–$8,132	4 semesters part-time	18–22 (conflicting sources)

Tuition estimates multiply UCF’s 2026–2027 graduate rate ($369.65 per credit for Florida residents, $1,276.48 per credit for non-residents, tuition plus mandatory per-credit fees) by each pathway’s credit total. The certificate range reflects UCF’s two published credit totals.

Why choose it: UCF coordinators secure every clinical site and preceptor, and the program director reviews each placement for fit.
Trade-off: Students must live in Florida for the entire program, clinicals stay in UCF’s Central Florida service area, and NP didactic courses meet on campus roughly every other week.

Quick Facts

Program Types	Post-BSN DNP; post-master’s graduate certificate (admissions suspended)
Format	Hybrid – asynchronous online coursework with required on-campus attendance
Campus Attendance	NP didactic courses approximately biweekly; lab courses live on campus; one to two days per semester of simulation in each clinical course; DNP students also attend a one-day virtual intensive each fall and spring
Clinical Hours	DNP: 1,320 total, of which 720 are flagged as direct clinical hours. Certificate: 600
Clinical Placement	Assigned by UCF coordinators; students do not source their own sites or preceptors
Clinical Locations	Orange, Seminole, Volusia, Lake, Brevard, Osceola, Flagler, Northern Indian River and Marion counties only
Residence Requirement	DNP students must reside in and be physically located in Florida throughout the program
Population Focus	Patients 13 years and older, adolescence through end of life
Licensure Required	DNP: unencumbered Florida or Florida multistate RN license. Certificate: Florida APRN license plus current national board certification
Start Terms	DNP: fall only, February 1 deadline. Certificate: spring entry, currently suspended
Tuition	$369.65 per credit (Florida resident) / $1,276.48 per credit (non-resident), 2026–2027
Accreditation	CCNE (nursing); Higher Learning Commission (institutional)

Adult/Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner DNP

The post-BSN AGPCNP DNP runs 74 credits and 1,320 clinical hours. Estimated tuition is about $27,354 at the Florida resident rate and $94,460 at the non-resident rate. Full-time students finish in nine semesters, roughly three years; part-time students take twelve semesters, roughly four years. Admission requires a BSN and an unencumbered Florida or Florida multistate RN license, and the program admits once a year for a fall start.

DNP Curriculum

UCF publishes the curriculum as a semester-by-semester plan of study rather than as labeled blocks, so the grouping below is calculated from that plan. Three strands run in parallel: an advanced practice core of 15 credits, an AGPCNP specialty sequence of 20 credits including its clinical courses, and 36 credits of DNP core and doctoral project work, plus a 3-credit elective.

The sequencing matters more than the credit split. DNP core coursework starts in the first semester and the doctoral project sequence begins in the fourth, while the first AGPCNP specialty course does not appear until Fall of year two full-time, or Fall of year three part-time. A full-time student is therefore roughly 15 months in before the first primary care rotation, and project work overlaps clinical rotations for most of the back half of the program.

Two features distinguish this plan from a generic NP curriculum. The elective is restricted to chronic care, case management or palliative-focused options, which keeps it aligned with adult-gerontology practice instead of leaving it open. And UCF splits women’s health into a 2-credit didactic course and a separate 1-credit, 60-hour clinical, an allocation many adult-gerontology tracks fold into general primary care hours.

Advanced practice core (15 credits)

NGR 5141 Pathophysiological Bases for Advanced Nursing Practice (3)
NGR 7003 Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning (2)
NGR 7003L Advanced Health Assessment and Diagnostic Reasoning Lab (2 / 120 hours)
NGR 6172 Pharmacology for Advanced Nursing Practice (3)
NGR 6063L Advanced Skills (2 / 120 hours)
NGR 7673 Epidemiology Principles in Advanced Practice Nursing (3)

AGPCNP specialty sequence (20 credits, 720 direct clinical hours)

NGR 6201 Adult I Primary Care (3)
NGR 6240L Adult I Primary Care Clinical (3 / 180 hours)
NGR 6334 Women’s Health for APNs (2)
NGR 6342L Women’s Health Clinical (1 / 60 hours)
NGR 6202L Adult II Clinical (3 / 180 hours)
NGR 6263 Gerontologic Care for APNs (3)
NGR 6263L Gerontologic Care Clinical for NPs (2 / 120 hours)
NGR 6248L Advanced Practice Practicum (3 / 180 hours)

DNP core and doctoral project (36 credits)

NGR 7661 Healthcare for Susceptible Populations (3)
NGR 7855C Evidence-Based Practice Development for DNP (3 / 60 hours)
NGR 7827 Concepts, Measurement, and Data Management (3)
NGR 7853 Dissemination and Implementation Science (3)
NGR 7779 Program Management and Development (3)
NGR 7793 Leadership and Economics in Advanced Practice Nursing (3)
NGR 7892 Healthcare Systems and Policy (3)
NGR 7820 Innovative Technologies in Healthcare (3)
NGR 7065 Advanced Clinical Management for Advanced Practice Nursing (3)
NGR 7911C DNP Project 1 (3 / 120 hours)
NGR 7912C DNP Project 2 (3 / 120 hours)
NGR 7913C DNP Project 3 (3 / 60 hours)

A 3-credit elective in chronic care, case management or palliative care completes the 74 credits. Full-time and part-time plans of study are published on UCF’s AGPCNP DNP curriculum page.

DNP Clinical Requirements

1,320 total clinical hours, the figure UCF publishes and the total of the clinical hours column in both plans of study
720 direct clinical hours – the sum of the five courses UCF flags with a (D) for direct clinical hours: NGR 6240L, 6342L, 6202L, 6263L and 6248L
The remaining 600 hours sit in the assessment lab (120), the advanced skills lab (120), the evidence-based practice course (60) and the three DNP project courses (300)
UCF states that each credit hour of clinical study equals 60 patient-contact hours, so a 3-credit clinical course is a 180-hour rotation
Placement responsibility: UCF’s graduate internship experience coordinators and clinical experience coordinator secure the sites and preceptors, and the program director reviews them. Students are not required to find their own
Geography: clinical hours are completed within the Central Florida region, and students must reside in and be physically located in Florida for the duration of the program
Settings include clinics, provider offices, skilled nursing facilities, hospices and private practices. Primary care students do not rotate in hospitals
Each clinical course adds one or two days per semester of on-campus simulation
Weekly clinical load is not published; UCF says it varies by semester according to which clinical courses are running

At 720 direct patient-care hours, the track clears the 500-hour supervised clinical floor used for national NP certification eligibility with room to spare, and the extra 600 hours of lab, simulation and project time explain why UCF’s headline number looks unusually high next to other programs. When comparing schools, match direct hours to direct hours rather than total to total.

Assigned placement cuts both ways. It eliminates the search, the cold emails and the risk of starting a term without a site. It also means you do not choose your preceptor, your practice setting or your commute, and the pool is limited to nine counties. Applicants who want exposure to a specific subspecialty or a particular health system should ask how much preference the placement process accommodates before assuming it will.

DNP Admissions

BSN from a regionally accredited institution, with the nursing program accredited by CCNE or ACEN
Unencumbered Florida or Florida multistate RN license. Out-of-state applicants must be eligible for Florida licensure and must hold the Florida license before the program begins
Must reside in and be physically located in Florida for the duration of the program
Completed and passed an undergraduate statistics course
Official transcripts from every college or university attended
Curriculum vitae covering education, clinical accomplishments, scholarly work, certifications and professional activity
Three professional recommendations
Written essay, 500 words or less, addressing career goals, readiness for doctoral study and a proposed DNP project area
A faculty interview may be required
No GRE
February 1 deadline, fall start, one admission cycle per year
RNs holding a non-nursing bachelor’s degree may apply but must complete NUR 3805 Dimensions of Professional Practice, NUR 4637 Public Health Nursing and NUR 3165 Nursing Research (3 credits each) the semester before graduate coursework begins

UCF publishes no minimum GPA. The admissions committee reviews overall GPA, GPA across the last 60 undergraduate credits, the CV and the essay together, which gives a strong clinical record and a well-argued essay real weight for applicants whose undergraduate GPA is unremarkable.

The Florida residence rule is the requirement most likely to end an application. It is not a preference or a clinical convenience: UCF states that students must live in and be physically located in Florida for the whole program. Combined with a single February 1 deadline and a fall-only start, a missed cycle costs a full year. Applicants planning to relocate should also confirm how they will be classified for tuition, because the gap between the resident and non-resident per-credit rate is roughly $907 per credit and UCF does not address relocation on the program page.

Adult/Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner Certificate for APRNs

Admissions to this certificate are currently suspended. UCF’s AGPCNP certificate page and its degrees, certificates and deadlines table, both updated in early September 2026, list admission as suspended effective Fall 2026. UCF’s FNP certificate is suspended on the same terms; the AGACNP certificate is still open. No resumption date is published. The description below covers the program as UCF last published it, for APRNs tracking whether it reopens.

The certificate is a part-time, four-semester, spring-entry program of 600 clinical hours, open only to nurses who already hold an MSN, a Florida APRN license and current national board certification. Estimated tuition runs $6,654 to $8,132 at the Florida resident rate and $22,977 to $28,083 at the non-resident rate, depending on which credit total applies.

A published conflict worth knowing about. UCF’s certificate page states 22 credit hours. The official four-semester plan of study lists seven courses totaling 18 credits, and both sources agree on 600 clinical hours. The 4-credit gap is unexplained and most plausibly covers prerequisite coursework the graduate catalog requires but the plan of study omits. This page carries both figures rather than picking one, because the plan of study is course-level and verifiable while the program page is more recently maintained.

Certificate Curriculum

The certificate is specialty content only. There is no DNP core, no doctoral project, no pathophysiology, pharmacology or advanced assessment sequence, because APRN applicants already hold that coursework. Four of the seven courses are clinicals, which makes this a rotation-heavy program rather than a classroom one.

Two differences from the DNP version of the same specialty are worth noting. Adult II Clinical is a 2-credit, 120-hour course here against 3 credits and 180 hours in the DNP plan, and there is no separate women’s health clinical. Certificate students graduate with 600 clinical hours against the DNP’s 720 direct hours.

NGR 6201 Adult I Primary Care (3)
NGR 6240L Adult I Primary Care Clinical (3 / 180 hours)
NGR 6334 Women’s Health for APNs (2)
NGR 6202L Adult II Clinical (2 / 120 hours)
NGR 6263 Gerontologic Care for APNs (3)
NGR 6263L Gerontologic Care Clinical for NPs (2 / 120 hours)
NGR 6248L Advanced Practice Practicum (3 / 180 hours)

Graduates who want a doctorate afterward can move into UCF’s online Advanced Practice post-master’s DNP, a seven-semester part-time program. The full plan of study is published as a downloadable PDF.

Certificate Clinical Requirements

600 clinical hours across four practicum courses: NGR 6240L (180), NGR 6202L (120), NGR 6263L (120) and NGR 6248L (180)
Placement responsibility: the Clinical Placement Director assigns students to sites and preceptors; students do not find their own
Geography: UCF states the program cannot be completed outside its service area, which covers Orange, Seminole, Volusia, Lake, Brevard, Osceola, Flagler, Northern Indian River and Marion counties
Settings are primary care: clinics, physicians’ offices, skilled nursing facilities, hospices and private practices. No hospital rotations
Clinical courses require a one- or two-day per semester simulation workshop on campus
Live on-campus board certification review sessions are offered and recommended, but optional

One item in UCF’s format description does not line up with the published plan of study: the certificate FAQ says lab courses in advanced health assessment and diagnostic reasoning are taught live on campus roughly every other week, but no lab course appears in the four-semester plan. It most likely refers to prerequisite coursework rather than the certificate itself. Anyone applying if the program reopens should confirm the on-campus cadence before assuming the load is limited to simulation days.

Certificate Admissions

BSN and MSN or higher from a regionally accredited institution
Current board certification as a nurse practitioner, nurse midwife, nurse anesthetist or clinical nurse specialist, with a graduate degree in that focus specialty
Active APRN license in the State of Florida
Completed and passed an undergraduate statistics course
Program-specific prerequisite courses listed in the UCF Graduate Catalog
Official transcripts, a CV, three professional recommendations and a 500-word essay covering career plans, changes you would make to succeed, and a contemporary US healthcare problem
A faculty interview may be required; no GRE
Admission is space-available
Spring entry, September 1 deadline – suspended effective Fall 2026

UCF’s graduate certificate admissions page, last updated in May 2026, still lists a September 1 deadline for spring entry into this certificate. The certificate program page and the college’s deadline table, both updated in September 2026, record the suspension. The newer sources govern, and applicants should treat the September 1 date as stale until UCF says otherwise.

Eligibility here is narrower than most post-master’s NP certificates. An MSN is not enough on its own. You must already be a board-certified APRN in another population focus, which rules out MSN-prepared nurse educators, administrators and informaticists as well as every RN without an advanced practice credential. Those applicants go to the DNP instead.

Tuition

UCF charges graduate tuition by the credit hour. The 2026–2027 rate table published by Student Account Services puts the all-in cost at $369.65 per credit for Florida residents ($288.16 tuition plus $81.49 in mandatory per-credit fees) and $1,276.48 per credit for non-residents, the difference being an $863.66 non-resident fee and a $43.17 non-resident financial aid fee. Neither nursing program page publishes a program total.

That residency gap of about $907 per credit is the single largest financial variable at UCF. Across 74 credits it is roughly $67,000. Because the DNP requires students to live in Florida anyway, the practical question for a relocating applicant is how quickly they can be classified as a Florida resident for tuition purposes, not whether they can attend.

Estimated Total Tuition

Pathway	Florida Resident	Non-Resident
AGPCNP DNP (74 credits)	$27,354	$94,460
AGPCNP Certificate (18 credits, per plan of study)	$6,654	$22,977
AGPCNP Certificate (22 credits, per program page)	$8,132	$28,083

These totals are calculated by AGPCNPonline.com from UCF’s published 2026–2027 per-credit rate. UCF does not publish program totals for either pathway.

Fees Beyond Tuition

Distance learning course fee of $18 per credit hour, charged on specific courses rather than across the board
Material and supply fee up to $70, and an equipment fee up to $90, both course-specific
ID service and access fee of $10 per year
Travel to the Lake Nona campus for biweekly didactic sessions, labs and simulation days, and travel to assigned clinical sites across a nine-county area. UCF does not publish an estimate for either

UCF lists scholarships, fellowships and financial aid for graduate nursing students on its scholarships and aid page, and separately advertises tuition waivers for nurses who serve as preceptors. Current rates are maintained on the graduate tuition rate table, and the university’s full cost-of-attendance figures are on the financial aid cost page.

Why Choose This AGPCNP Program?

Best suited for: a Central Florida RN who wants a doctoral AGPCNP credential at in-state prices, never wants to arrange a clinical placement, and can be on campus roughly every other week for three years.

Assigned placements remove the biggest variable in NP school

UCF secures every site and preceptor through dedicated coordinators, with the program director signing off on fit. Across the AGPCNP market this is uncommon; most programs leave students to negotiate with practices themselves, and a failed search delays progression. If the prospect of cold-calling clinics while working full time is what is holding you back from applying anywhere, UCF removes it entirely.

Florida residence is a hard requirement, not a preference

DNP students must live in and be physically located in Florida for the entire program, and all clinicals sit inside nine Central Florida counties. Nurse practitioner didactic courses meet on campus about every other week, labs are live, and each clinical course adds simulation days. This is a hybrid program in the literal sense, not a distance program with occasional intensives. Anyone outside a reasonable commute of Orlando should stop here.

Resident tuition is low; non-resident tuition is not

At an estimated $27,354, the 74-credit DNP is inexpensive for a doctoral NP program with 720 direct clinical hours and no preceptor search attached. At the non-resident rate the same degree estimates to $94,460, which changes the calculation completely. Establishing Florida residency for tuition purposes is worth more here than almost any scholarship a comparable program would offer.

One entry point, one cycle a year, and a long runway to clinicals

With the certificate suspended, the BSN-to-DNP is the only AGPCNP route at UCF, and it admits once a year for a fall start with a February 1 deadline. The specialty sequence is also back-loaded: a full-time student reaches the first primary care rotation about 15 months in, and a part-time student waits more than two years. Nurses who want to be in a clinic quickly, or who want an MSN-level AGPCNP credential rather than a doctorate, will not find either at UCF.

The Verdict

The strongest case for UCF belongs to a Florida-licensed RN already living in the Orlando region who wants a DNP-level AGPCNP credential, values managed clinical placement above scheduling flexibility, and qualifies for in-state tuition. That combination buys a 74-credit doctorate with 720 direct clinical hours for under $28,000 and no preceptor hunt, which is difficult to match.

Everyone else should look elsewhere. Out-of-state nurses cannot complete the program remotely and would pay roughly three and a half times as much if they could. Nurses who need an MSN-only route, a spring or summer start, or clinical rotations near their own home have no option here. And APRNs who wanted the post-master’s certificate as a fast specialty add-on will have to wait for UCF to reopen admissions or apply to a school that still accepts them.

Accreditation

The baccalaureate, master’s, Doctor of Nursing Practice and post-graduate APRN certificate programs at UCF’s College of Nursing are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). The college is approved by the Florida Board of Nursing. UCF itself is institutionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, having moved from SACSCOC in 2026.

UCF states that graduates of both the AGPCNP DNP and the AGPCNP certificate are eligible to sit for AGPCNP board certification through the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Board or the American Nurses Credentialing Center, and that passing either exam meets Florida licensure requirements.

UCF participates in NC-SARA, but that matters less here than usual: the AGPCNP programs are taught in Florida, clinical placements occur only in the Central Florida service area, and DNP students must be physically located in Florida throughout. UCF says it cannot confirm other states’ licensure requirements. Applicants planning to practice outside Florida should check with that state’s board and review UCF’s state restrictions page before applying.

More AGPCNP Programs in Florida

Florida A&M University - Tallahassee
Florida Atlantic University - Boca Raton
Florida Southern College - Lakeland
Palm Beach Atlantic University - West Palm Beach
University of Miami - Miami
University of South Florida - Tampa

Compare all AG-PCNP programs in Florida