UIC AGPCNP Programs (Adult Gerontology)

The University of Illinois Chicago College of Nursing offers 2 AGPCNP pathways:

BSN-DNP
Post-DNP Certificate

Both run in a hybrid format that mixes online, blended and on-campus courses. The AGPCNP focus area is offered at three of UIC Nursing’s five campuses: Chicago, Rockford and Urbana. Faculty arrange every clinical placement, and UIC requires students to live within commuting distance of the campus they are admitted to. Both pathways admit in fall only.

Program Tracks Overview

Program	Est. Tuition	Est. Duration	Credit Hours
BSN-DNP AGPCNP	~$85K	4 years (part-time only)	75–77
Post-DNP Certificate AGPCNP	~$26K	~1 year (3 semesters)	23 (up to 36)

Tuition estimates multiply the credit total by UIC’s 2026–2027 DNP professional rate of $1,129 per credit, which UIC charges in-state and out-of-state students alike.

What separates UIC from most AGPCNP programs is who does the clinical legwork. Faculty arrange every practicum site and preceptor for every student, in both the DNP and the certificate. Nurses who have watched classmates at other schools lose a semester to a failed preceptor search will recognize what that is worth.

Because faculty place students, UIC will only admit applicants who can commute to the campus they applied to, which for AGPCNP means Chicago, Rockford or Urbana. The DNP then runs part-time only across four years, with a single fall entry point. There is no faster route and no distance option.

UIC places every student it admits, which is exactly why it only admits students who can drive to Chicago, Rockford or Urbana.

Quick Facts

Program Types	BSN-DNP; post-DNP certificate
Format	Hybrid – online, blended and on-campus courses
AGPCNP Campuses	Chicago, Rockford, Urbana
Campus Attendance	On-campus coursework required; regional students may travel to Chicago or another region for the NURS 532 health assessment lab
Clinical Hours	DNP: 1,000 practicum hours, 675 in the AGPCNP specialty. Certificate: 675 standard, 500 minimum
Clinical Placement	Faculty arrange all sites and preceptors
Population Focus	Young adults including late adolescents through older adults, wellness to illness
Geographic Requirement	Must live within commuting distance of the assigned campus – Illinois or a bordering state (IA, WI, IN, MO, KY)
Licensure Required	RN license in the state where clinicals are completed; certificate applicants must already hold a DNP
Start Terms	Fall only
Tuition	$1,129 per credit (2026–2027), in-state and out-of-state
Accreditation	CCNE

BSN-DNP AGPCNP

The BSN-DNP with an AGPCNP focus runs 75 to 77 credit hours across four years of part-time study, at an estimated $85K. Entry is open to nurses with a BSN from a CCNE- or NLN-accredited program, or a bachelor’s degree in another field plus an RN license. A master’s degree is not required, and UIC builds individual plans of study based on previous degrees and coursework rather than publishing a fixed transfer-credit allowance.

A published conflict worth knowing about. UIC’s 2026-2027 Graduate and Professional Catalog states that the AGPCNP focus area requires 75 semester hours. The College of Nursing program page says 77 credit hours. The catalog is the authoritative statement of degree requirements and carries the current academic year, so this page uses 75 as the estimating base and shows both figures in the tracks table. The two-credit gap is worth about $2,258 in tuition.

DNP Curriculum

The plan of study divides into four blocks: a DNP core taken by every focus area, an APRN core shared by all the practitioner tracks, a six-course AGPCNP specialty sequence, and a three-term DNP project sequence.

The AGPCNP specialty sequence pairs three didactic courses with three primary care practicums that run alongside them. Adult health diagnosis and disease management comes first, then the primary care version of the same content, then an applied course. The DNP project sequence overlaps the practicum year, so the final stretch carries clinical hours and project hours at the same time.

Two things distinguish this curriculum from a lean NP plan of study. The required core includes strategic business planning and health equity coursework that many AGPCNP programs treat as electives. And the specialty sequence overlaps heavily with UIC’s Family NP track: both take NUSP 537, NUSP 538 and all three primary care practicums, diverging on a single course. Students choosing between adult-gero primary care and family practice at UIC are choosing one course and one certification exam, not two different programs.

DNP Core Courses

NURS 514 – Applied Biostatistics and Epidemiology
NURS 520 – Health Equity and Social Determinants
NURS 522 – Health Policy and Advocacy
NURS 523 – Population Health Across the Healthcare Continuum
NURS 524 – Foundations for Scholarship
NURS 538 – Quality and Safety in Healthcare
NURS 539 – Informatics and Healthcare Technology
NURS 545 – Strategic Business Planning in Healthcare
NURS 546 – Translating Evidence to Practice

APRN Core Courses

NURS 521 – Advanced Physiological and Pathophysiological Principles Across the Lifespan
NURS 531 – Advanced Pharmacotherapeutics
NURS 532 – Comprehensive Health Assessment for Advanced Nursing Practice
NURS 544 – APRN Role Transition and Professional Development

AGPCNP Focus Area Courses

NUSP 537 – Adult Health, Diagnosis and Disease Management
NUSP 538 – Primary Care Adult Health, Diagnosis, and Disease Management
NUSP 539 – Applied Primary Care Advanced Practice Nursing
NUPR 521 – Clinical Practice in Primary Care I
NUPR 522 – Clinical Practice in Primary Care II
NUPR 523 – Clinical Practice in Primary Care III

DNP Practicum and Project Courses

NURS 547 – DNP Project Proposal Development
NUPR 548 – DNP Project Planning and Implementation
NUPR 549 – DNP Project Evaluation and Dissemination

Per-course credit values are not displayed in the catalog’s online course lists, and UIC distributes the AGPCNP plan of study as a downloadable file rather than a web page, so the term-by-term credit load is not clearly published.

View the full DNP degree requirements in the UIC catalog.

DNP Clinical Requirements

1,000 practicum hours required for the DNP degree
675 of those hours sit in the AGPCNP clinical specialty; the balance falls in DNP core and project practicum courses
Faculty arrange all practicum sites and preceptors; students do not self-source placements
Settings include primary care clinics, skilled and assisted living facilities, specialty ambulatory clinics, hospitals, home health agencies and other outpatient sites
Placements are arranged around the campus of admission, so students must live within commuting distance of Chicago, Rockford or Urbana
An RN license is required in the state where clinicals are completed
Regional campus students may need to travel to Chicago or another region for the NURS 532 health assessment lab
The hour split across individual practicum courses is not published in web-readable form

675 specialty hours clears the 500-hour floor most AGPCNP certification bodies expect, and it arrives without the placement search that consumes months at self-placement programs. The trade-off is mobility. Because the college owns the placement, the college also owns where you live: a job relocation mid-program, or a move across the state, puts the plan of study at risk in a way it would not at a school where students find their own sites.

DNP Admissions

BSN from a CCNE- or NLN-accredited program, or a bachelor’s degree in another field plus an RN license
Minimum 3.00/4.00 GPA for the final 60 semester hours of the first bachelor’s degree
Valid RN license in at least one U.S. jurisdiction; applicants may apply before passing the NCLEX, but proof of licensure is due by December 1 of the first semester
Residence within commuting distance of the campus applied to – Illinois or a bordering state (IA, WI, IN, MO, KY)
NursingCAS application plus the UIC Nursing Graduate Supplemental Application; both must be complete before the file is reviewed
Official transcripts from all post-secondary institutions, sent to NursingCAS
Resume or CV
Four essay responses covering specialty choice, an ethically difficult situation, a response to critical feedback, and why UIC
Three recommendations submitted as forms through the NursingCAS recommender portal; uploaded letters are not accepted
Asynchronous video interview on the Kira platform; applicants who do not complete it are not considered
No admission test required
Deadlines: November 1 early, January 15 standard, April 1 final. Interviews run August through April, decisions September through May
Fall admission only; one campus and one specialty per application term
The program does not meet F-1/J-1 student visa requirements

The catalog and the College of Nursing state the GPA rule differently. The catalog requires 3.00/4.00 for all work beyond the baccalaureate level and for the final 60 hours of the first bachelor’s degree; the admission requirements page lists only the final 60 hours. Applicants with graduate coursework below a 3.00 should assume the catalog’s stricter reading applies.

Two requirements decide more applications than the GPA does. The commuting-distance rule removes distance applicants entirely, however strong the file. And the campus-and-specialty selection is locked at application: changes after admission are reviewed case by case and are not guaranteed, so picking the wrong campus costs a year.

Post-DNP Certificate AGPCNP

The AG-PCNP post-DNP certificate is 23 credit hours over roughly three semesters, at an estimated $26K. Eligibility is the deciding factor: this pathway is for nurses who already hold a DNP and want to add adult-gerontology primary care as a new focus area. Master’s-prepared NPs are not the audience. Certificates are not degree-seeking programs at UIC, so federal financial aid is not available.

Certificate Curriculum

The certificate strips the degree down to specialty content: one applied pharmacotherapeutics course, two adult-gerontology management courses, and three practicums carrying 225 clinical hours each. There is no DNP core and no project sequence, which is what compresses four years into three semesters.

Worth noticing: the certificate runs on different course numbers than the DNP’s AGPCNP sequence. It is not a trimmed version of the degree track, and its practicum courses carry more clinical weight per course.

Required Courses (23 credits, 675 clinical hours)

NURS 533 – Applied Pharmacotherapeutics in Advanced Practice Nursing (2 credits)
NUSP 534 – Management of Health and Illness I: Adult Gerontology Acute and Primary Care (3 credits)
NUSP 535 – Management of Health and Illness II: Adult Gerontology Primary Care (3 credits)
NUPR 539 – NP Practicum I (5 credits, 225 hours)
NUPR 540 – NP Practicum II (5 credits, 225 hours)
NUPR 541 – NP Practicum III (5 credits, 225 hours)

Additional courses for applicants without current APRN certification (13 credits)

NURS 531 – Pharmacotherapeutics (3 credits)
NURS 532 – Comprehensive Health Assessment for Advanced Nursing Practice (4 credits)
NURS 535 – Advanced Pathophysiology Across the Lifespan (3 credits)
NURS 540 – Issues in Advanced Practice in Nursing and Policy Implications (3 credits)

Those four courses change the economics. A DNP-prepared nurse without current APRN certification can face 36 credits instead of 23, which pushes the estimate from roughly $26K to roughly $41K and adds at least a semester. DNP holders from systems-focused programs are told directly that additional coursework is required and should contact the program director before budgeting.

Certificate Clinical Requirements

675 clinical hours in the standard sequence, split evenly at 225 hours per practicum
500 clinical hours is the stated minimum for a new focus area
UIC runs an individual gap analysis to set the requirement between 500 and 675 hours
No clinical credit is given for hours earned in a student’s current APRN certification area
Faculty arrange all practicum sites and preceptors
UIC reports a 100% pass rate for graduates on the certification exam

The gap analysis is narrower than it sounds. It applies to a certified NP already practicing out of scope in adult-gerontology primary care, not to hours accumulated in the role you are certified for. A PMHNP or pediatric NP moving into adult primary care should plan on the full 675 hours.

Certificate Admissions

DNP degree required
Current APRN national certification and license, or the four prerequisite courses listed above
Active RN license in the state where clinicals will be completed
Application through NursingCAS plus the UIC Nursing Graduate Supplemental Application
Fall admission only; applications accepted August through March
Not eligible for federal financial aid

UIC does not publish a GPA floor, essay set, or interview requirement specific to the post-DNP certificate, so applicants should expect the College of Nursing to apply its standard graduate review. The certificate application window closes in March, a month before the DNP’s final deadline.

Tuition

UIC bills DNP students and post-DNP certificate students at professional program rates, not graduate rates. This matters when comparing UIC to other Illinois schools, because the professional schedule is a different and higher table than the one most nursing master’s students pay from.

The DNP is charged per credit hour. UIC’s professional tuition tables state explicitly that the Range I–IV semester brackets do not apply to the Doctor of Nursing Practice. Any cost estimate built on a per-semester range figure will be wrong for this program.

For Fall 2026 and Spring 2027, UIC charges $1,129 per credit hour for the DNP and post-DNP certificates, the same for in-state and out-of-state students. Summer terms are billed on a separate schedule ($1,075 per credit in Summer 2026), so estimates at the full rate slightly overstate a plan with summer coursework.

Pathway	Estimated Tuition
BSN-DNP AGPCNP (75–77 credits)	~$84,675–$86,933
Post-DNP Certificate (23 credits)	~$25,967
Post-DNP Certificate with prerequisites (36 credits)	~$40,644

Calculated from published per-credit rates and catalog credit totals. UIC does not publish program totals for these pathways.

Because the DNP rate does not change with residency, a nurse in Iowa, Wisconsin, Indiana, Missouri or Kentucky who can commute to a UIC campus pays what an Illinois resident pays.

Fees beyond tuition. Professional students are assessed a general fee, a service fee, and the Academic Facilities Maintenance Fund Assessment each semester, alongside health service and transportation charges that vary by campus. Regional sites drop some of these: the CTA U-Pass transportation fee is not assessed at Rockford or Peoria. On the Chicago campus, fees and assessments come to about $2,197 per fall or spring semester at 6 to 11 credits, including a $753 health insurance fee that can be waived with other coverage.

Aid. DNP students can apply for College of Nursing scholarships, awarded annually and evaluated on academic record, financial need and service. Graduate assistantships appointed between 25% and 67% carry a base tuition and service fee waiver, though UIC notes that assistantships do not always cover the nursing differential. Post-DNP certificate students are excluded from federal financial aid because the certificate is not degree-seeking.

See UIC Nursing’s cost and financial aid page for current details.

Why Choose This AGPCNP Program?

Best suited for: a working nurse within driving distance of Chicago, Rockford or Urbana who wants a doctoral AGPCNP credential, cannot afford to gamble on finding preceptors, and can commit to four part-time years on a fixed schedule.

Faculty placement removes the most common point of failure

Preceptor hunting is where NP students most often stall, and the cost of stalling is a lost term. UIC assigns sites and preceptors for every student in both pathways, across primary care clinics, long-term care, ambulatory specialty, hospital and home health settings. For a nurse without a professional network in primary care, that is worth more than a tuition discount elsewhere.

One rate for border-state nurses

UIC charges the same $1,129 per credit regardless of residency. For applicants in the border states UIC already accepts, that removes the out-of-state premium most public universities charge, with the same faculty-arranged placements.

Four part-time years, with no faster option

UIC states plainly that the AGPCNP program is part-time only. That suits nurses who intend to keep working, and it rules out anyone hoping to finish in two or three years of full-time study. Combined with fall-only entry, a missed deadline costs twelve months.

The certificate is closed to most practicing NPs

UIC’s post-graduate route requires a DNP, not an MSN. Master’s-prepared NPs who want to add adult-gerontology primary care will not find a post-master’s certificate here and would need to enter a degree program instead. Among DNP holders, those without current APRN certification face 13 extra credits before the specialty sequence begins.

The Verdict

UIC is a strong choice for a BSN-prepared nurse living in or near Illinois who wants a doctoral AGPCNP credential without managing their own clinical placements, and border-state nurses who can reach a UIC campus pay the same rate as Illinois residents. The clinical model is the reason to apply.

Look elsewhere if you need a distance program, a full-time schedule, an MSN-level AGPCNP credential, or a post-master’s certificate. Those applicants are not eligible or not served here, and no amount of placement support compensates for a program you cannot physically attend.

Accreditation

The Doctor of Nursing Practice program and the post-graduate APRN certificate programs at the UIC College of Nursing are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). UIC states that DNP graduates may be eligible to seek national certification, naming the American Nurses Credentialing Center as an example.

State authorization works differently here than at distance programs. Because faculty place every student, UIC requires residence within commuting distance of the admitting campus, in Illinois or a bordering state, plus an RN license in the state where clinicals occur. Applicants outside that footprint are not eligible, and the DNP does not meet F-1/J-1 student visa requirements. Review UIC Nursing’s accreditation page before applying.