JSU's four FNP practicums, course by course
JSU's Family Nurse Practitioner track puts its precepted NP hours in four practicum courses, FNP 7869, FNP 7873, FNP 7875 and FNP 7877, taken in four straight semesters from one spring to the next. The 2026-27 catalog sets them at 120, 210, 250 and 250 hours, and each one travels with a lecture course you have to pass alongside it.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your JSU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your JSU course.
Four practicums, four lecture partners
Each FNP practicum at JSU is built around a lecture course in the same semester, and the catalog lists every one as offered in a single term per year. The table uses the 2026-27 catalog's numbers, credits and hours, which replace the three-digit numbers still printed in older JSU documents.
| Practicum | Credits | Hours | Offered | Taken with |
|---|---|---|---|---|
FNP 7869 Practicum I | 2 | 120 | Spring only | FNP 7068 and FNP 7071 |
FNP 7873 Practicum II | 3 | 210 | Summer only | FNP 7072 |
FNP 7875 Practicum III | 3 | 250 | Fall only | FNP 7074 |
FNP 7877 Practicum IV | 3 | 250 | Spring only | FNP 7076 |
Practicum I stays locked until three catalog prerequisites are behind you: NU 7007 for assessment, NU 7013 for pathophysiology and NU 7020 for pharmacology. JSU's NP timeline puts it more simply, telling students to finish all three advanced courses before any clinical course begins.
When the four semesters land
Both FNP plans of study reach Practicum I in Spring of Year 2. For a fall entrant that is the fifth semester of study; a spring entrant gets there in the fourth. From that point the practicums run without a gap: summer, fall, then a second spring for Practicum IV.
Mapped onto the calendar (our reading, not a JSU table), a student who starts in Fall 2026 or Spring 2027 meets FNP 7869 in Spring 2028, FNP 7873 in Summer 2028, FNP 7875 in Fall 2028 and FNP 7877 in Spring 2029. JSU's plans say the MSN is awarded once Practicum IV is complete, and DNP 8796 project planning starts the doctoral phase that same summer.
JSU's nursing plans of study place every practicum in a full semester rather than one of the university's half-terms, so each course's hours stretch across the whole term. The first clinical course guide covers the run-up to Practicum I in more depth.
What each practicum asks of your preceptor
The load grows term by term: 120 hours to start, 210 over the summer, and 250 apiece for the final pair. Summer is the tightest squeeze. FNP 7873 has to fit 210 hours between the first day of the full summer session and its finals (May 6 and July 29 in 2027), which works out, by our math, to about 17 or 18 hours weekly beside a preceptor for close to twelve weeks.
Practicum IV is the broadest of the four. Its catalog description names pediatric, adult, obstetric and geriatric populations, so we plan the final spring around a practice whose patients span children through older adults, or add a second site where your course faculty want a gap covered.
JSU's public pages describe the clinician you work beside only as "a licensed preceptor," and the School of Nursing posts no longer list of NP preceptor qualifications. The preceptor requirements guide sets out what Alabama's rules add and which points to confirm with the FNP clinical coordinator.
Paired courses: pass both or retake both
JSU treats each practicum and its lecture course as corequisites. The catalog's rule is direct: if one or both are not passed, the student retakes all of the paired courses together. Since each FNP course is scheduled just once a year, repeating the pair usually costs twelve months while you wait for that term to return (our inference from the schedule, not a JSU statement).
Grades below B stall you as well. Each clinical course expects a B or higher in everything before it, the catalog lets you retake one C a single time for an A or B, and a student holding more than three credit hours of C cannot continue. The grades and progression guide has the full set of rules.
A preceptor who leaves mid-term puts more than the practicum at risk: under JSU's corequisite rule, the lecture course rides on the same outcome, so a replacement has to be found fast.
Where JSU's hour figures disagree
The per-course numbers above come from the 2026-27 catalog, and the current plan of study and NP timeline match them. Older documents differ. The 2024-25 graduate handbook, the newest one JSU posts, lists the FNP practicums under the old numbers FNP 669 through FNP 677 at 120, 210, 210 and 210 hours, so Practicums III and IV have since gained 40 hours each.
The NP timeline has a slip of its own. Its summer column assigns 210 hours to "FNP 7869," while the catalog and the plan of study put those hours on FNP 7873, so read that summer figure as Practicum II.
Program totals are a separate conflict. JSU's track page, its catalog and the course sums give three different answers, so this guide sticks to course-level numbers, and the BSN-DNP hours guide lines up the totals. When a number shapes your plan, the catalog comes first and your course faculty settle whatever it leaves open.
How we line up all four practicums
Whatever part JSU plays in arranging your practicums, our team secures a family practice preceptor and site for each one that satisfy JSU's rules, within reach of home, whether that is Alabama or one of the four neighboring states the NP tracks accept. We plan the four semesters as one run instead of four separate searches, because a practice that can host you from one spring to the next can spare you a fresh round of site paperwork every term.
- Clearance items firstYour CastleBranch record gets checked, and we wait for JSU to sign off your malpractice coverage, because the handbook puts that approval ahead of any first contact with a practicum site.
- A match for each courseWe search for family practice preceptors near you, weighting the summer load of Practicum II and the four population groups of Practicum IV.
- A complete file for facultyWe collect the preceptor's credentials, board certification and practice profile, plus the site information a contract calls for, so the faculty review starts from a finished file.
- On call all semesterIf a preceptor steps away, we start on a replacement right away, with your paired lecture course in mind.
Approval of each preceptor and site rests with JSU's faculty; our job is to hand them a match that fits. Tell us your start term in the form below and we begin with Practicum I.
Questions JSU students ask
How many hours is FNP 7869 at Jax State?
The 2026-27 catalog lists 120 clinical hours for FNP 7869, the two-credit Practicum I. It runs in spring only, in the same semester as FNP 7068 and FNP 7071. JSU's plan of study, its NP timeline and even the older 2024-25 handbook agree on 120 for this course, which makes it the one FNP practicum with no hour conflict.
Is FNP 7873 offered in any term besides summer?
The catalog lists Practicum II as a summer-only course, and both FNP plans of study place it in the summer right after Practicum I. Its 210 hours have to fit inside the full summer term, which is why the summer preceptor usually needs the most weekly availability of the four.
When does a JSU FNP student receive the MSN?
JSU's plans of study say students receive their MSN once Practicum IV, FNP 7877, is complete, then continue four more semesters to finish the DNP. Those semesters hold DNP 8796 and the three residency courses, where JSU wants one preceptor and one site to stay with you for 16 months.
Why do older JSU documents say FNP 669 instead of FNP 7869?
JSU renumbered its graduate courses. The 2026-27 catalog uses four-digit numbers such as FNP 7869, while the 2024-25 graduate handbook and an older plan of study for a Fall 2023 start still show three-digit ones like FNP 669. Register with the catalog's numbers, and quote them to any preceptor who asks what the course is.
When should preceptor planning for Practicum I begin?
JSU publishes no lead time for NP practicum placements. Since malpractice approval must come before any site contact and a site contract can take time, we suggest starting during the fall semester that comes before Practicum I. Share your plan of study and we map all four practicums in one pass.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against JSU's 2026-27 catalog, nursing handbooks, program pages and licensure disclosures. Your course faculty and your plan of study have the final word.
Whether JSU helps or you start alone, we find the preceptor.
Tell us your JSU program, your next practicum or residency and the town you train near. We find preceptors and sites that fit the course and gather what JSU's faculty need to clear them, early enough for the semester.
- Preceptors matched to the course: family practice across the lifespan, adult-gerontology acute care, DNP residencies
- License, certification and site details ready for JSU's clearance, with your CastleBranch and malpractice items in order
- Across Alabama and in Georgia, Florida, Mississippi and Tennessee
Start your placement plan
Your program, your town and your next clinical semester is all we need to begin.