The University of Washington School of Nursing offers 2 Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner pathways:
- BSN-DNP (open to BSN and MSN holders; full-time or part-time)
- Post-Graduate Certificate
Both pathways place every student in Washington State clinical sites arranged by the school. DNP applicants need an active, unrestricted Washington RN license or a Nurse Licensure Compact (NLC) license. UW does not offer an MSN entry point for this specialty.
Program Tracks Overview
| Program | Est. Tuition (Resident) | Est. Duration | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| BSN-DNP AGPCNP | $105,312 | 10 quarters full-time (about 2.5 years); 14 quarters part-time | 96 |
| Post-Graduate Certificate AGPCNP | $1,097/credit (total not published) | 12–15 months | Not published (set by gap analysis) |
Tuition estimates multiply UW’s 2026–2027 fee-based DNP and advanced practice certificate rate ($1,097/credit, identical for residents and non-residents) by the 96-credit plan published for cohorts beginning Autumn 2027.
What sets UW apart from most AGPCNP programs is that it arranges every clinical placement itself while delivering coursework online. Students take classes remotely through required live sessions and asynchronous work, then come to Seattle for up to one two- to four-day intensive per quarter. Practicum sites and preceptors are found by the School of Nursing, not the student.
The catch is geography. All placements are in Washington State, and clinicals run for four straight quarters, from spring of year two through winter of year three in the full-time plan. An applicant living outside Washington can complete the early coursework from home but should plan to relocate for roughly a year. The flat $1,097 rate also means Washington residents get no in-state discount.
UW removes the preceptor search entirely, but only for students who can complete a year of clinicals in Washington State.
Quick Facts
| Program Types | BSN-DNP, Post-Graduate Certificate |
| Format | DNP: online coursework with required live sessions; certificate: listed as full-time, in-person |
| Campus Attendance | DNP: up to one 2–4 day intensive in Seattle per quarter |
| Clinical Hours | DNP: 750; certificate: set by gap analysis, not published |
| Clinical Placement | Arranged by the School of Nursing; all sites in Washington State |
| Population Focus | Adolescents through older adults in primary care |
| Licensure Required | Active, unrestricted Washington RN license or NLC multistate license |
| Start Terms | DNP: Autumn; certificate: Winter, Spring, or Autumn |
| Tuition | $1,097 per credit, same for residents and non-residents (2026–2027) |
| Accreditation | CCNE (DNP and post-graduate APRN certificate) |
BSN-DNP Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner
The DNP AGPCNP track costs an estimated $105,312 for 96 credits. Full-time students finish in 10 quarters, about two and a half years including summers; UW labels this the three-year plan. A part-time plan spreads the same 96 credits over 14 quarters. Applicants need a BSN or MSN; UW publishes no shortened plan for MSN holders, so both follow the same curriculum.
Updated plan for Autumn 2027. The previous version of this profile listed 93 credits. UW’s current curriculum grid, which applies to cohorts beginning Autumn 2027, totals 96 credits and reconciles course by course. This page uses the 96-credit plan.
DNP Curriculum
The full-time plan divides into three phases. Year one (35 credits) pairs the DNP core in evidence, health systems, policy, and health equity with the advanced practice foundation: physiology and pathophysiology, pharmacotherapeutics, and comprehensive health assessment. Pathophysiology and pharmacology each run as two shorter courses over consecutive quarters rather than one large course.
The specialty sequence starts in autumn of year two with adult management, adolescent health, and diagnostic reasoning, then moves to geriatric pharmacology and acute and episodic adult care. Practica begin in spring of year two and grow from 6 to 8 credits per quarter. The DNP project runs in three 2-credit phases (planning, implementation, evaluation) alongside the last three practica, so project work and clinical work overlap for a full year.
Two courses reflect the full adult-gerontology age span: a dedicated adolescent health course and a geriatric pharmacotherapeutics course taught through UW’s pharmacy curriculum. A sexual and reproductive health course is required in the first summer.
Advanced practice foundation
- NSG 557 and NSG 587: Physiology and Pathophysiology Across the Lifespan I and II (2 credits each)
- NSG 520 and NSG 521: Pharmacotherapeutics for Advanced Nursing Practice I and II (1.5 credits each)
- NCLIN 500: Comprehensive Health Assessment (3)
- NCLIN 501: Clinical Reasoning and Diagnostic Health Assessment (2)
- NCLIN 505: Diagnostic Management and Decision Making (3)
AGPCNP specialty sequence
- NSG 562: Management of Adults I (3)
- NSG 563: Management of Adults II (3)
- NSG 564: Care and Management of Older Adults (3)
- NURS 515: Diagnosis and Management of Common Adolescent Health Conditions (2)
- PHARM 549: Pharmacotherapeutics for Older Adults (3)
- NURS 552: Wellness, Health Promotion, and Disease Prevention (3)
- NURS 541: Sexual and Reproductive Health (3)
Practica and DNP project
- NCLIN 516: Advanced Clinical Practicum I (6)
- NCLIN 517: Advanced Clinical Practicum II (7)
- NCLIN 518: Advanced Clinical Practicum III (8)
- NCLIN 801: Advanced Clinical Practicum Immersion (8)
- NMETH 536: Methods of Program Evaluation and Quality Improvement (4)
- NMETH 801: Practice Doctorate Project, three phases (2 each, 6 total)
See the full AGPCNP curriculum grid for Autumn 2027 cohorts, or search UW course descriptions.
DNP Clinical Requirements
- Total clinical hours: 750
- Hours per practicum course: not published; practicum credits total 29 across four quarters
- DNP project hours: not separately published
- Placement responsibility: all placements arranged by the UW School of Nursing
- Location: all sites in Washington State
- Timing: spring of year two through winter of year three (full-time); begins in year three (part-time)
- Final quarter: an 8-credit clinical immersion
Placement by the school is the program’s strongest practical advantage. Many online AGPCNP students spend months cold-calling clinics, and a missing preceptor can delay graduation. At UW, that risk shifts to the school.
The 750 hours are well above the 500 supervised clinical hours that national NP certification boards require. UW does not say where in Washington sites are located, so students should expect that a placement may require commuting within the state.
DNP Admissions
- BSN or MSN from a CCNE-, NLN-, or ACEN-accredited program, completed before the start date
- Minimum 3.0 cumulative GPA in the last 60 semester or 90 quarter graded credits
- Active, unrestricted Washington RN license or NLC multistate license; any ARNP license held must be active and unrestricted in Washington
- Graded statistics course of at least 3 credits, completed between January 2022 and September 2027 for an Autumn 2027 start
- Resume, essays on professional goals and clinical expertise, and three recommendation letters
- No GRE; no minimum years of RN experience published
- Apply through the UW Graduate School; one application per specialty track per year
- Priority deadline January 15 (full-time applicants); space-available deadline May 1 for select tracks (full-time and part-time)
- Autumn start
The statistics rule can cost a year. The course must fall within a five-year window and appear on UW’s approved list, so an applicant with an older course needs to retake it before September of the start year. Part-time study is offered for select tracks based on space, and part-time applicants can only use the May 1 deadline. Full program prerequisites are on the DNP admissions page.
Post-Graduate Certificate in Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner
The post-graduate AGPCNP certificate takes 12 to 15 months. UW charges $1,097 per credit but publishes no credit total, because each plan is built from a gap analysis. It is designed for nurses who hold or are pursuing a graduate nursing degree (MN, DNP, or PhD), especially practicing APRNs adding a population focus.
Certificate Curriculum
There is no fixed course list. The AGPCNP Specialty Director reviews each applicant’s prior graduate coursework against program competencies, and a faculty adviser then builds the individual plan, including clinical fieldwork. A nurse practitioner with current pharmacology, pathophysiology, and assessment coursework would likely need mostly specialty and practicum courses; a nurse educator or researcher would need far more. That is an interpretation of the gap-analysis model, not a published UW figure.
- Individualized plan based on formal gap analysis
- Primary care across older adolescents through older adults
- Course titles and credit totals not published
Certificate Clinical Requirements
- Clinical hours not published; fieldwork is set in the individual plan
- Urban and rural settings available
- Format listed as full-time and in-person
A published inconsistency worth knowing about. The AGPCNP certificate page states that many core Adult-Gerontology Acute Care NP courses require weekly in-person attendance. That sentence names the acute care track, not primary care, and UW does not explain it. Combined with the in-person format label, applicants should assume regular Seattle attendance until UW’s certificate materials say otherwise.
Certificate Admissions
- Earned or in-progress graduate nursing degree (MN, DNP, or PhD)
- Designed for APRNs (NPs, CNSs, nurse anesthetists); UW directs non-APRNs to the DNP tracks
- Gap analysis with the Specialty Director during the application
- Space-available admission; confirm the program is open on UW’s apply page
- Deadlines: October 15 (Winter 2027), January 15 (Spring 2027), May 1 (Autumn 2027)
The certificate page no longer states a hard APRN requirement, a change from the earlier version of this profile. GPA, licensure, and recommendation requirements are not clearly published for the certificate. Because placements are in Washington, applicants should expect to need Washington practice authority.
Tuition
The AGPCNP DNP track and the AGPCNP certificate are both fee-based. For 2026–2027, UW charges $1,097 per credit for both, regardless of residency. The earlier version of this profile used $1,062 per credit; the current UW costs page lists $1,097.
The fee-based model removes the usual public-university advantage for Washington residents. The same flat rate makes UW more competitive for non-residents than its sticker price suggests, since out-of-state students pay nothing extra.
Estimated Total Tuition
| Pathway | Resident | Non-Resident |
|---|---|---|
| BSN-DNP AGPCNP (96 credits) | $105,312 | $105,312 |
| Post-Graduate Certificate | $1,097/credit | $1,097/credit |
Figures are calculated from UW’s published per-credit rate and credit total; UW does not publish a program total.
Fees Beyond Tuition
- Technology, Services and Activities, U-PASS, and facilities fees are included in the fee-based rate
- CastleBranch immunization tracking account (one-time)
- Annual School of Nursing background check and Student Health fee
- CPR training every two years and required immunizations, at the student’s cost
DNP students can apply for School of Nursing scholarships, grants, and loans. Students enrolled only in a certificate program are not eligible for financial aid, so certificate costs are generally paid out of pocket or by an employer. See UW’s costs and financial support page for current rates.
Why Choose This AGPCNP Program?
Best suited for: Washington-licensed RNs (or compact-licensed nurses willing to relocate) who want a doctoral AGPCNP credential without having to find their own preceptors.
School-Arranged Placements, Limited to Washington
UW arranges every clinical placement. That removes the most common cause of delays in distance NP programs. The condition is that all four practicum quarters happen in Washington, which makes the program a poor fit for nurses who must keep a job or family obligations in another state.
Online Coursework With Quarterly Seattle Intensives
DNP coursework is online, but the live sessions meet on a consistent weekday during daytime hours. Working nurses need a schedule that frees that day each week. On-campus time is limited to up to one two- to four-day intensive per quarter, which is manageable for students anywhere in the Pacific Northwest.
A Flat Rate That Favors Non-Residents
At an estimated $105,312, the DNP is a significant expense for a public university program, and Washington residents pay the same rate as everyone else. Compact-licensed nurses from other states lose nothing on tuition by choosing UW, but they still bear relocation costs during clinicals.
750 Clinical Hours and a Part-Time Option
The 750 clinical hours exceed the certification floor by 250, and the final quarter is an immersion. The four-year part-time plan keeps the same credits but delays clinicals until year three, giving working nurses more time before the heaviest clinical stretch.
The Verdict
UW is a strong choice for Washington nurses who want a DNP and can free one weekday for live classes: placements are handled, clinical volume is high, and campus visits are limited. Nurses who cannot spend a year of clinicals in Washington, want an MSN, or want the lowest cost should compare other programs. Practicing APRNs considering the certificate should confirm the in-person schedule and plan to pay without federal aid.
Accreditation
UW’s DNP program and post-graduate APRN certificate program are accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). Graduates of both pathways may apply for AGPCNP-BC certification through ANCC or AGNP-C certification through the AANP Certification Board. See UW’s accreditation page.
The most important licensure limit is Washington-specific: DNP applicants must hold a Washington or NLC RN license, and all clinical placements are in Washington. Out-of-state applicants should plan for Washington licensure and relocation before applying.
Other AGPCNP Programs in Washington
- No related programs found for state WA.