The University of Colorado Anschutz College of Nursing offers three Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner (AGPCNP) pathways:
- MS (Master of Science)
- Post-Graduate Certificate
- BS to DNP
Program Tracks Overview
| Program | Est. Tuition (CO Resident / WRGP) | Est. Duration | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| MS AGPCNP | $39,360 | 2.5 years (7 semesters) | 48 |
| Post-Graduate Certificate | $20,500 (excludes any required core courses) | 1.5 years per CU; plan of study shows 4 semesters | 25 |
| BS to DNP | $59,274 (CU figure) / $60,680 at current rates | 4 to 4.5 years per CU; plan of study shows 8 semesters | 74 |
Non-resident tuition as published by CU: $63,840 (MS), $33,250 (Certificate), $96,052 (BS-DNP).
The defining variable at CU Anschutz is geography, not degree level. If you live in the Denver metro area, the College arranges your clinical placements. If you live anywhere else, including elsewhere in Colorado, you are primarily responsible for finding your own preceptors and sites, with support from the Clinical Placement Team and Specialty Director. That single policy changes the value of this program more than tuition, curriculum, or format does.
The second lever is residency. Colorado residents and residents of the 15 WICHE states who qualify for the Western Regional Graduate Program (WRGP) pay $820 per credit instead of $1,330, a difference of roughly $24,500 on the MS and $37,700 on the BS-DNP.
The trade-off: published clinical volume is modest at 540 AGPCNP practicum hours, campus visits are mandatory even for distance students, and out-of-metro applicants absorb the placement burden themselves.
Quick Facts
| Detail | CU Anschutz AGPCNP |
|---|---|
| Program Types | MS, Post-Graduate Certificate, BS to DNP |
| Format | Mostly online with required visits to the Aurora campus |
| Campus Visits | Certificate: 1 course (2-day skills intensive). MS: 2 courses. BS-DNP: 3 courses. Duration published only for the 2-day skills course. |
| AGPCNP Clinical Hours | 540 across four practicums (all three tracks) |
| Total Clinical Hours | 540 (MS, Certificate); 1,080 (BS-DNP, including 540 DNP project hours) |
| Clinical Placement | Arranged by CU for Denver metro students, anywhere in Colorado. Students outside the metro or out of state self-arrange, subject to director approval. |
| Population Focus | Adolescents through older adults |
| RN/APRN Requirements | Active, unrestricted US RN license. MS and BS-DNP require a BSN; Certificate requires an MSN. APRN certification is not required for the Certificate. |
| Start Terms | Fall and Spring. AGPCNP is currently open for Fall 2027; Spring 2027 is closed. |
| Transfer Credit | Up to 12 graduate credits, with conditions |
| Certification Pass Rate | 100% for AGPCNP (cohort size not published) |
| Accreditation | CCNE |
Master of Science (MS) – AGPCNP
The MS AGPCNP track is 48 credits, takes 2.5 years across 7 semesters, and carries an estimated tuition of $39,360 for Colorado and WRGP residents / $63,840 for non-residents. It requires a BSN and is the shortest route to AGPCNP certification for a nurse without a graduate degree.
MS Curriculum
The 48 credits split into 36 didactic and 12 clinical. Year one is entirely didactic: theory, pathophysiology, professional role, evidence-based practice, pharmacology, informatics, assessment, and policy. No practicum starts until the fourth semester.
From that point, each remaining term pairs one 3-credit practicum with one AGPCNP specialty course. Practicum I runs alongside health promotion and prevention; Practicums II and III alongside the two diagnosis-and-management courses; Practicum IV alongside the complex older adult course. Didactic and clinical work advance in lockstep, so a student who falls behind in one falls behind in both.
Two courses carry on-campus requirements: Advanced Assessment (summer of year one) and the 2-day Foundational Clinical Skills intensive (spring of year two). CU publishes the duration only for the second. Both a Fall-start and a Spring-start plan exist, and both run 7 semesters.
| Course | Credits |
|---|---|
| NURS 6009 – Theory Foundations for Advanced Nursing | 3 |
| NURS 6243 – Advanced Pathophysiology | 3 |
| NURS 6859 – Advanced Professional Role | 2 |
| NURS 6109 – Evidence-Based Practice: Evaluating Evidence | 3 |
| NURS 6222 – Advanced Pharmacology and Therapeutics | 3 |
| NURS 6286 – Foundations of Health Care Informatics | 3 |
| NURS 6761 – Advanced Assessment (on-campus requirement) | 3 |
| NURS 6070 – Policy & Politics of Health | 3 |
| NURS 6819 – AGPCNP Primary Care I: Health Promotion and Prevention | 3 |
| NURS 6882 – Foundational Clinical Skills for APRNs (2-day on-campus) | 1 |
| NURS 6829 – AGPCNP Primary Care II: Diagnosis and Management I | 3 |
| NURS 6839 – AGPCNP Primary Care III: Diagnosis and Management II | 3 |
| NURS 6849 – AGPCNP Primary Care IV: D&M III, Care of the Older Complex Adult | 3 |
| NURS 5971-5974 – AGPCNP Advanced Practicums I-IV | 3 each |
MS plan of study (PDF) | Official catalog page
MS Clinical Requirements
Students complete 540 clinical hours across four practicums, 135 hours each. CU defines one clinical credit as 45 face-to-face direct patient care hours.
- Denver metro residents: CU matches the student with a site and preceptor. Placements may occur anywhere in Colorado.
- Students outside the Denver metro area or outside Colorado: primarily responsible for locating their own placements. Anything arranged must be approved by the program or specialty director.
CU publishes no placement guarantee for either group. The College’s general placement guidance warns that assignments may involve travel, rural locations, overnight shifts, multiple sites in one semester, and confirmation shortly before the start date.
This is the sharpest decision point for the MS track. A Denver-area nurse gets meaningful institutional support and access to UCHealth, Children’s Hospital Colorado, and CU’s nurse-led clinics. A nurse in Grand Junction, Pueblo, or another state gets referral support but does the sourcing. If you cannot secure four consecutive semesters of primary care preceptorship yourself, the lockstep sequence leaves little room to absorb a gap.
MS Admissions Requirements
- BSN from a regionally accredited institution and a CCNE- or AACN-accredited program
- Minimum 3.0 degree GPA; below 3.0, submit GRE scores and/or 12 graduate credits
- Active, unrestricted US RN license
- Nursing research course and statistics course, grade of C or better (AP Statistics accepted with a 4 or 5)
- Three reference letters, at least one academic recommended
- NursingCAS application, essay, CV/resume
- $85 NursingCAS fee plus $50 supplemental fee paid to CU Anschutz Nursing
- Zoom interview for selected applicants
- Attestation confirming you will seek licensure in an eligible state
- After admission: drug screen (includes marijuana), background check, immunizations
- Fall 2027: application opened August 15, 2026; priority deadline January 15, 2027
Two requirements deserve attention. The drug screen tests for marijuana despite Colorado law, and a positive result is disqualifying. Second, applicants who intend to seek licensure in a state CU labels “does not meet” cannot be admitted to the distance program at all. That is an eligibility bar, not a disclosure.
CU’s admissions pages name CCNE or AACN as acceptable program accreditors, while its transfer-credit page references ACEN or CCNE. Graduates of ACEN-accredited BSN programs should confirm eligibility with admissions before applying.
Post-Graduate Certificate – AGPCNP
The Post-Graduate Certificate is 25 credits with an estimated tuition of $20,500 for Colorado residents / $33,250 for non-residents. CU lists completion at 1.5 years across 5 semesters; the published plan of study lays the work out over 4 semesters. Eligibility requires an existing MSN, not APRN certification.
That distinction matters. A nurse with an MSN in leadership, education, or informatics is eligible on paper, but will likely need more gap coursework than a practicing NP would.
Certificate Curriculum
The plan of study shows 13 didactic credits and 12 clinical credits. The program page instead describes the certificate as 25 classroom-based credit hours, which conflicts with the plan of study’s breakdown. The plan of study is the more specific document and is consistent with the tuition math.
The certificate contains only the AGPCNP specialty sequence and the four practicums. It assumes the advanced practice core, meaning pathophysiology, pharmacology, and assessment, was completed during the prior master’s. That assumption is verified by transcript review, not taken on faith.
| Course | Credits |
|---|---|
| NURS 6819 – AGPCNP Primary Care I: Health Promotion & Prevention | 3 |
| NURS 6882 – Foundational Clinical Skills for APRNs (2-day on-campus) | 1 |
| NURS 6829 – AGPCNP Primary Care II: Diagnosis and Management I | 3 |
| NURS 6839 – AGPCNP Primary Care III: Diagnosis and Management II | 3 |
| NURS 6849 – AGPCNP Primary Care IV: D&M III, Care of the Older Complex Adult | 3 |
| NURS 5971-5974 – AGPCNP Advanced Practicums I-IV | 3 each |
Certificate plan of study (PDF) | Official catalog page
Certificate Clinical Requirements
Certificate students complete the same 540 clinical hours across the same four practicums, under the same placement policy: arranged by CU inside the Denver metro, self-arranged everywhere else.
The certificate carries the lightest campus burden of the three tracks, a single 2-day on-campus intensive, because Advanced Assessment is presumed complete.
Certificate Admissions Requirements
- Master’s degree in nursing from a CCNE- or AACN-accredited program
- Minimum 3.0 graduate GPA; below 3.0, submit GRE scores and/or 12 graduate credits
- Active, unrestricted US RN license
- Three reference letters, at least one academic recommended
- NursingCAS application, essay, CV/resume
- $85 NursingCAS fee plus $50 supplemental fee paid to CU Anschutz Nursing
- Zoom interview for selected applicants
- Transcript evaluation to determine which core courses are still required
- Fall 2027: application opened August 15, 2026; priority deadline January 15, 2027
The transcript evaluation is the item that can move your cost and timeline. CU states plainly that the certificate tuition estimate excludes core courses that may be added after transcript evaluation. Prior advanced practice coursework counts only if it was completed at an ACEN- or CCNE-accredited school within the last five years, earned a B- or better, matches CU’s credit requirements, and covers lifespan-focused content.
Advanced Pathophysiology, Advanced Pharmacology, and Advanced Assessment are each 3 credits, roughly $2,460 apiece at the resident rate. An MSN earned eight years ago could add $7,000 or more and one to two semesters. CU does offer special consideration for APRNs whose advanced coursework is older than five years, so practicing NPs should raise this with admissions before assuming the sticker price applies. Request a transfer credit evaluation early; CU says review typically takes two to four weeks.
BS to Doctor of Nursing Practice – AGPCNP
The BS-DNP track is 74 credits. CU publishes an estimated tuition of $59,274 for Colorado and WRGP residents / $96,052 for non-residents, and lists completion at 4 to 4.5 years across 10 semesters. Students apply once and earn the MS and DNP back to back.
Two figures on that page need care. The tuition estimate is calculated at 2025-26 rates ($801 and $1,298 per credit), while the MS and Certificate estimates use current 2026-27 rates. Recalculated at the current published rate, 74 credits comes to $60,680 resident / $98,420 non-resident. The published plan of study also covers 8 semesters, not the 10 the program page states.
DNP Curriculum
The 74 credits split into 50 didactic and 24 clinical. The first year is heavier than the MS first year: alongside the advanced practice core, students take epidemiology, innovative leadership, and inferential statistics. Research methods lands in the fourth semester.
The AGPCNP specialty sequence and the four practicums are identical to the MS. What is added is a four-course DNP project sequence, Project Prep followed by Projects I, II, and III, carrying 540 clinical hours of its own. Project Prep begins in the fifth semester, so the project runs concurrently with the NP specialty coursework rather than after it.
Three courses carry on-campus requirements: Advanced Assessment, the 2-day skills intensive, and DNP Project Prep. CU publishes two plans of study, one for students entering Fall 2026 and later and one for earlier entrants, so curriculum details should be confirmed against the plan matching your entry term.
| Additions beyond the MS curriculum | Credits |
|---|---|
| NURS 6303 – Epidemiology | 3 |
| NURS 6800 – Innovative Leadership | 3 |
| NURS 6108 – Inferential Statistics and Quality Improvement | 3 |
| NURS 6107 – Research Methods | 3 |
| NURS 8020 – DNP Project Prep (on-campus) | 2 / 45 clinical hrs |
| NURS 8030 – DNP Project I | 4 / 180 clinical hrs |
| NURS 8040 – DNP Project II | 4 / 135 clinical hrs |
| NURS 8050 – DNP Project III | 4 / 180 clinical hrs |
BS-DNP plan of study, Fall 2026 entry (PDF) | Official catalog page
DNP Clinical Requirements
CU lists 1,080 total clinical hours: 540 in the four AGPCNP practicums and 540 attached to the DNP project sequence.
Read that number carefully. The AGPCNP patient-care training is the same 540 hours the MS and Certificate students complete. The other 540 hours sit in project courses. CU applies the same 45-hours-per-clinical-credit conversion to both, but does not separately state how many project hours involve direct patient care. If you are comparing clinical volume across schools, compare CU’s 540 practicum hours, not the 1,080 total.
Placement policy is identical: coordinated for Denver metro students, self-arranged otherwise.
DNP Admissions Requirements
- BSN from a regionally accredited institution and a CCNE- or AACN-accredited program
- Minimum 3.0 degree GPA; below 3.0, submit GRE scores and/or 12 graduate credits
- Active, unrestricted US RN license
- Nursing research course and statistics course, grade of C or better
- Three reference letters, at least one academic recommended
- NursingCAS application, essay, CV/resume
- $85 NursingCAS fee plus $50 supplemental fee paid to CU Anschutz Nursing
- Zoom interview for selected applicants, plus state-eligibility attestation
- After admission: drug screen (includes marijuana), background check, immunizations
- Fall 2027: application opened August 15, 2026; priority deadline January 15, 2027
The BS-DNP program page still displays a Spring 2027 row, while CU’s central deadlines page lists AGPCNP as closed for Spring 2027. Treat Fall 2027 as the live cycle and confirm with admissions.
Applicants with prior graduate coursework should note the 12-credit transfer ceiling. Because the BS-DNP front-loads its core, a nurse arriving with recent, qualifying pathophysiology, pharmacology, and assessment credits could shorten the plan meaningfully, but 12 credits is the cap and CU has not published a shortened plan of study reflecting it.
Tuition
Current published per-credit rates for the College of Nursing:
| Academic Year | Resident / WRGP | Non-Resident |
|---|---|---|
| 2026-2027 | $820 | $1,330 |
| 2025-2026 | $801 | $1,298 |
Estimated total tuition by pathway at 2026-27 rates:
| Pathway | Credits | Resident / WRGP | Non-Resident |
|---|---|---|---|
| MS | 48 | $39,360 | $63,840 |
| Certificate | 25 | $20,500 | $33,250 |
| BS-DNP | 74 | $60,680 | $98,420 |
The MS and Certificate figures match CU’s published estimates exactly. The BS-DNP figures do not: CU publishes $59,274 / $96,052, which computes to 74 credits at last year’s rates. All three CU pages carry a footnote stating the estimates are based on 2025-26 costs, but only the BS-DNP figure actually is. Use the recalculated number for planning.
None of these estimates account for future tuition increases. CU raised graduate nursing tuition roughly 2.4% between 2025-26 and 2026-27.
Residency and WRGP
Residents of the 15 WICHE states and territories can receive the Colorado resident rate through the Western Regional Graduate Program. CU’s reduced-tuition page lists the MS AGPCNP specialty, the DNP, the DNP/MPH, and the PhD as participating. It does not list post-graduate certificates, even though the Certificate program page’s own footnote states the resident rate is available to WRGP residents. Certificate applicants from WICHE states should confirm eligibility directly. WRGP requires a separate application, delivered through your new-student Canvas shell after admission.
Fees and Other Costs
- Matriculation charge: $140, one time
- Other campus fees: Fall $392, Spring $232, Summer $180
- Master’s Program Fee: $26.57 per credit hour for master’s programs, roughly $1,275 across the MS and $664 across the Certificate. CU does not state whether it applies to BS-DNP students.
- Books and supplies: $2,000 estimated for the program. CU quotes the same $2,000 for all three pathways, including the 74-credit BS-DNP.
- Health insurance: $7,756 per year, waivable with proof of comparable coverage
Across the MS track’s seven semesters, the published per-term fees plus matriculation total roughly $2,140. CU’s fee schedule also lists a $100 fee per online course and $50 per hybrid course, and does not clearly reconcile those with the per-term estimates on the program pages, a meaningful gap for a mostly-online program.
Applications verified by the priority deadline receive priority scholarship consideration, which is a concrete reason not to wait for the extended window. Federal aid, Title VII loans, and institutional nursing loans are available through CU Anschutz financial aid. CU does not publish scholarships specific to AGPCNP students.
CU states that placements may occur anywhere in Colorado and may involve travel or rural assignment, but does not estimate the cost. Students outside the metro who self-arrange should budget for site visits, credentialing, and any preceptor-related expenses. Campus visit travel is also unbudgeted.
Why Choose This AGPCNP Program?
Best suited for: a nurse living in the Denver metro area, or a WRGP-state resident who already has reliable preceptor relationships, who wants a well-supported program at public in-state pricing and can accommodate a small number of trips to Aurora.
Placement support is the whole argument
Most online AGPCNP programs push preceptor sourcing onto the student. CU does the opposite, but only inside one metro area. For a Denver-area nurse, this eliminates the single most common reason NP students stall or drop out, and connects them to UCHealth, Children’s Hospital Colorado, and CU’s own nurse-led clinics. For everyone else, CU is functionally a self-placement program with a referral desk. If you live outside the Front Range, the honest comparison is CU against other self-placement programs, and on those terms its advantage narrows considerably.
WRGP turns a public-school price into a regional one
$820 versus $1,330 per credit is a 38% reduction. On the BS-DNP that is roughly $37,700. Residents of WICHE states should treat WRGP as the first thing to verify, before curriculum or format. Certificate applicants in particular need to confirm eligibility, since CU’s own pages disagree on whether the certificate participates.
Three clean entry points with no wasted coursework
The specialty sequence and the four practicums are identical across all three tracks. The differences sit entirely in what surrounds them: the Certificate strips away the core, the MS adds it, and the BS-DNP adds the core plus a research and leadership layer and a concurrent DNP project. A BSN nurse who wants the fastest route takes the MS. A BSN nurse who wants the doctorate without a second application takes the BS-DNP. An MSN-prepared nurse takes the Certificate. No pathway here duplicates another’s work.
Clinical volume is adequate, not generous
540 AGPCNP practicum hours is the same figure for all three tracks, and it is the number to compare across schools. The BS-DNP’s 1,080 total does not represent double the patient-care training. If clinical hours are a priority for you, this is not a program that distinguishes itself on volume.
Published timelines and totals need verification
CU’s own materials disagree with each other in several places: the certificate’s semester count, the BS-DNP’s semester count and tuition base year, whether the certificate qualifies for WRGP, whether ACEN-accredited degrees are acceptable, and which start terms are open. None of these are disqualifying, but they mean you should confirm your specific plan, cost, and deadline with an enrollment adviser rather than relying on any single page.
The Verdict
A nurse in the Denver metro area has the strongest case for CU Anschutz. Coordinated placements at major Colorado health systems, in-state public pricing, a 100% AGPCNP certification pass rate, and three coherent entry points make it a difficult program to beat within its own market. WRGP-eligible applicants with existing preceptor relationships come second.
Applicants outside Colorado should compare carefully. You will pay $1,330 per credit without WRGP, arrange your own clinicals, travel to Aurora for required intensives, and complete a program that is unremarkable on clinical volume. If your state carries a “does not meet” designation, you cannot be admitted at all. Applicants who need a fully online program with no campus attendance, or who want guaranteed placement outside Colorado, should look elsewhere.
Accreditation
The baccalaureate, master’s, Doctor of Nursing Practice, and post-graduate APRN certificate programs at the University of Colorado College of Nursing are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). The university is institutionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission.
Graduates of all three AGPCNP pathways are eligible to sit for board certification through the American Academy of Nurse Practitioners Certification Board (AANPCB) or the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC). CU reports a 100% certification pass rate for this specialty, though it does not publish the number of candidates behind that figure.
CU Anschutz participates in NC-SARA, but the College maintains program-specific state restrictions, and applicants who plan to seek licensure in a state CU designates “does not meet” cannot be admitted to the distance program. All applicants must complete an attestation form confirming they will seek licensure in an eligible state. Check the CU Anschutz state authorization page and the College of Nursing SARA page before applying, since designations change.
More AGPCNP Programs in Colorado
- Colorado Christian University - Lakewood
- Colorado Mesa University - Grand Junction