Can Be Completed Fully Online
The doctoral program is 44 credit hours, which includes required practicum scholarship
hours.
- You can complete this year-round, part-time program in 2+ years. Your program completion/graduation
timing will depend on your progression with program courses, the DNP Scholarly Project
and required electives.
- Coursework is completely online.
Orientation
A required half-day orientation, which you can attend online or in-person on campus
(Greeley, Colorado), will be held the week prior to the start of fall courses in August.
You will meet program faculty, administrators and fellow students; obtain resources
for program success; and receive individual advising.
Coursework (44 Credit Hours)
To see a typical list of courses by term, visit an example Current Students page for this program.
For full program requirement details, see the official program listing in the UNC Graduate Catalog.
Include a Graduate Certificate or Area of Focus
Your elective credits can be chosen to better support your professional interests
or to achieve a graduate certificate. Focused elective options include...
- Nursing Education Graduate Certificate (UNC School of Nursing)
- Business Focus (through UNC Monfort College of Business)
- Public Health or Rural Public Health Focus (through UNC/Colorado School of Public
Health)
You will work with a faculty advisor to determine elective options to fit your interests
and when elective credits are offered. Focus areas will be visible on university transcripts
but not on the student degree. Graduate Certificates will receive a hard copy certificate
and it will be visible on your transcripts.
Scholarly Project Hours
DNP scholarly project practicum hours are completed via coursework completion. You
need a minimum total of 1,000 combined clinical and DNP scholarly project hours to
successfully complete your DNP. The hours that you completed in your master’s will
count toward those 1,000 hours.
You will work be able to work remotely with your scholarly project advisor for your
project proposal and defense. On-campus visits/sessions can be arranged if desired.
Admission Requirements
Possess a bachelor's degree and a master's degree in Nursing from accredited (NLN/ACEN
or CCNE) programs in nursing, with a cumulative master's GPA of 3.00 or better (4.00
scale).
If you are still completing your master's degree at the time you apply, admission
will be based on your current cumulative GPA, and you will need to re-submit your
official transcript (showing your conferred degree and final GPA) during your first
semester. If your final GPA fell below 3.00, you will be given additional academic
stipulations to remain enrolled at UNC.
-
Preparation as an Advanced Practice Nurse (APN) with documentation of national certification
as an APN.
-
Minimum of 500 clinical practicum hours in the APN master’s program.
Current Colorado Registered Nurse (RN) license; or current RN license in the state
where you practice and eligibility for Colorado RN licensure.
-
One year of clinical experience is required.
Note: the Graduate Record Exam (GRE) is NOT required for this program.
Eligibility by State
At this time, the University of Northern Colorado can provide postsecondary distance
education in all 50 states, the District of Columbia, and all major U.S. territories.
We are continuing to monitor requirements in all U.S. jurisdictions and seek clarification
from government agencies when needed. If you have questions about whether UNC can
offer distance education where you are located, please contact us and we will gladly
assist you.
Certain distance education activities that occur outside of Colorado may have additional
state approval processes or requirements. This most commonly occurs for experiential
learning placement activities such as practica, internships, student teaching, and
healthcare clinicals. Please review the State Authorization (SARA) page for additional information on UNC’s ability to offer distance education across state
lines and a list of activities and states where approval may be required. For additional
information or questions, please contact jake.henderson@unco.edu.
International Student Eligibility
International students residing outside of the United States are eligible to apply
to our online programs. Applicants for online programs must demonstrate English proficiency,
or enroll in the UNC Intensive English Program, in order to be considered.
Students in completely online UNC programs are not required to come to the United
States. You will not need a student visa or receive any immigration documentation,
and do not need to provide financial documentation.
Please visit the International Students Admission Requirements page for details about English proficiency requirements and applying as an international
student.
Transferring Credit
UNC graduate school accepts applicable graduate credit with a grade of C or higher
from accredited institutions. Please note that if your chosen program has a higher
grade minimum for any program coursework, that minimum would apply to transfer requests
for those courses. Graduate program faculty are responsible for reviewing any proposed
transfer credit to ensure that course content and objectives match program content.
- Students must complete at least 50% of their graduate program credits at UNC, not
including research, capstone, seminar, internship/externship/practicum, thesis, dissertation
proposal, dissertation and any credits graded with S/U (P/F).
- Courses requested for transfer must not be more than eight years old for doctoral
degree credit; will not be used to meet any residency requirements; are not used in
calculation of the grade point average; and cannot have been used to fulfill requirements
for a previously awarded degree. See the full Graduate Transfer Credit Policy.
Tuition
This is an Extended Campus program, which means:
- We charge a flat per-credit tuition rate for all students (in-state or out-of-state).
- There are no added student fees or technology fees. However, certain courses may carry
specific course fees to support additional services and materials.
Program tuition for the 2025-26 academic year (which runs Fall, Spring, and Summer
terms) is $771 per credit hour. Tuition for the 2026-27 academic year will be determined
mid-June 2026.
Estimates of additional costs: For the purposes of determining financial aid, UNC
follows Colorado Department of Higher Education (CDHE) and federal guidelines to develop
an estimated, average Cost of Attendance (budget) for different student classifications.
For your personal tuition estimates, we recommend using the program-specific tuition
information above. But UNC's official Cost of Attendance/Student Budgets page can help you identify other estimated expenses for which you may be responsible while
completing your program.
Financial Aid
Degree-seeking students who cannot pay for tuition alone are encouraged to apply for
federal financial aid. Students must first complete the Free Application for Federal
Student Aid (FAFSA). The UNC FAFSA/financial aid page for graduate students has key dates and support, including the release date and deadline for each academic
year (a Fall-Spring-Summer cycle which begins each August).
Late submissions of the FAFSA are still accepted throughout the school year but you
may not be considered for the maximum amount of aid. If the priority deadline has
passed for the upcoming/current school year, we encourage you to apply for FAFSA consideration
as soon as you enroll for your first courses. Depending on the time of year, you may
be able to submit an application for the current academic year and an early/priority
application for the following academic year.
Doctoral degree students must be enrolled in a minimum of 5 credits per academic term for financial aid eligibility. Full time
enrollment is based on 9 credits per term.
To apply for federal financial aid assistance
Fill out the FAFSA form at https://studentaid.gov/h/apply-for-aid/fafsa
For more specific help, contact the Office of Financial Aid: ofa@unco.edu, 970-351-4862 or via the UNC Financial Aid website.
Students can also find helpful information such as the Guide to Federal Student Aid
at https://studentaid.gov/resources. Most of the resources are available in English, Spanish and Braille.
Student Health Insurance
The University of Northern Colorado offers a Student Health Insurance Plan (SHIP)
to all degree-seeking students who enroll in courses on our main UNC Campus, an Extended
Campus Center, or Online.
Degree-seeking graduate students enrolled in 6 or more credit hours will automatically
receive this benefit each term. SHIP premiums will appear on your semester bill. If
you have comparable insurance coverage, and do not want to be charged for SHIP coverage,
you must opt out of this plan each Fall via an online waiver process.
Please visit the UNC Student Health Insurance pages for more information about the insurance plan.
