How many clinical hours is the Wilmington University FNP? 750
Wilmington University's MSN-FNP requires 750 clinical hours, with planned simulation counted inside that total. They are spread over four Family Practicums: three of 175 hours, from GRN 7121 through GRN 7123, and a final 225-hour course, GRN 7124. If a WilmU page you found says 600 or 700, it came from an older catalog.
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GRN 7121 to GRN 7124
How the 750 hours divide
The 2026-27 graduate catalog gives each Family Practicum 4 credits and a fixed number of hours, worded as "175 direct care clinical hours are required" for the first three and 225 for the last. Taken in order, they build to 750.
| Course | Hours | Running total | Share of 750 |
|---|---|---|---|
GRN 7121 Family Practicum I | 175 | 175 | 23% |
GRN 7122 Family Practicum II | 175 | 350 | 23% |
GRN 7123 Family Practicum III | 175 | 525 | 23% |
GRN 7124 Family Practicum IV | 225 | 750 | 30% |
The practicums fall in the latter half of the program and begin once the prerequisite courses through GRN 7105 are behind you. The last course is the heaviest, so a plan that feels comfortable at 175 hours needs extra room at 225. Each course has its own guide, starting with GRN 7121.
Why 750: Delaware's minimum for APRN tracks
750 is the floor in Delaware's Board of Nursing rules, which require at least 750 supervised clinical hours in each APRN track. WilmU's MSN-FNP meets that number exactly, with no cushion built in above it.
In practice, every hour counts toward a legal minimum rather than a target you can round down. A preceptor who cancels a week, or a site that closes a clinic day, leaves a gap that has to be made up before the course ends.
The same Board rules sketch the APRN program preceptor. The license may be a physician's, an APRN's, a PA's or a pharmacist's, but it has to be active and unencumbered, the practice focus has to be comparable to the student's, faculty give approval, and the preceptor is briefed on the curriculum and each course's objectives. In a family program that points to clinicians who see patients of every age, with faculty judging what is comparable. Delaware's APRN rules covers the rest of the law.
600, then 700, then 750
WilmU's FNP hours have risen twice in five years. The 2021-22 catalog listed 600 hours in four practica of 120 hours each. The 2024-25 catalog listed 700. The 2026-27 catalog lists 750, the same figure as the current curriculum page.
Older catalogs stay online, so the lower totals still turn up in search results. Those older pages also place the FNP at campuses the current program does not list: the 2021-22 catalog named Wilson Graduate Center, Georgetown and Brandywine, and the 2024-25 catalog named Dover and northern Delaware campuses. Today the MSN-FNP is listed as online.
If you started under an earlier catalog, or you are returning after time away, ask the NP Program Chair in writing which total applies to you, and plan your preceptor hours to that answer.
Hold off on planning to a 600- or 700-hour figure from an older WilmU catalog until the NP Program Chair confirms it applies to you.
Simulation inside the 750
WilmU's MSN-FNP curriculum page counts planned simulation experiences as part of the clinical hours. Part of the 750, in other words, can come from simulation rather than patient care with a preceptor.
What the public pages leave open is the size of that part. They give no number of simulation hours, name no practicum that carries them, and each Family Practicum's catalog entry describes its hours as direct care clinical hours. Until course faculty tell you otherwise, plan your preceptor time as if each course total will be direct care.
WilmU's MSN-FNP overview adds twice-yearly in-person seminars for students in the practicums, yet its format line reads Online only. Simulation and seminars sets out both points and what to ask.
The same 750 in other WilmU routes
The post-master's FNP Graduate Certificate, open to nurses who already hold a master's or doctorate, lists the same four practicums and the same 750 hours inside its 27 credits. Its GAP analysis reviews the prerequisite block, GRN 7101 to GRN 7104, against your earlier study. See the FNP Graduate Certificate.
The certificate page is inconsistent about that block. In one place it lets students take missing GAP courses while enrolled; in another it calls them prerequisites to finish before enrollment. Because the first practicum follows those courses, the answer can move your GRN 7121 semester, so ask the NP Program Chair early.
BSN to DNP students on the FNP track complete the 750 FNP hours and then DNP practice hours, with no combined total on WilmU's pages. For the combined FNP certificate with the DNP, WilmU gives 750 and 500 as two separate figures. In every route the Family Practicums, and the preceptor search behind them, are the same four courses.
What 750 hours asks of your preceptor plan
750 hours means four practicums and possibly four preceptors. A plan can keep one clinician across several courses or move between settings to see more of the lifespan. WilmU's public pages are silent on whether a single clinician can precept several of the four courses, so ask course faculty before you build a plan on it.
Either way, each course needs a preceptor whose site your RN license reaches, a license that fits Delaware's rule, and enough clinic time to carry that course's hours. We plan the whole 750 at the outset: the preceptor or preceptors, each site's intake steps, and a replacement if someone drops. FNP preceptor searches explains how we match, or tell us your first practicum in the form below.
Questions WilmU students ask
Does WilmU's FNP certificate require fewer hours than the MSN-FNP?
No. The certificate carries the MSN-FNP's four Family Practicums, GRN 7121 to GRN 7124, and its full 750 clinical hours. What the certificate shortens is the coursework: 27 credits, with a GAP analysis of the prerequisite courses based on your earlier master's or doctoral study.
Why does an old WilmU catalog say 600 FNP hours?
Because the program has changed. Back in 2021-22 the catalog set 600 hours, four practica of 120 each; by 2024-25 it said 700. The current catalog and curriculum page list 750. If you are unsure which total applies to your start term, ask the NP Program Chair and keep the reply.
Are all 750 FNP hours spent with a preceptor?
Not necessarily. WilmU's curriculum page says FNP clinical hours include planned simulation experiences, so some hours may come from simulation. WilmU does not publish how many, and the course entries call the hours direct care clinical hours, so treat each full course total as preceptor time until your course faculty say otherwise.
Does Delaware require 750 hours for an NP license?
Delaware's Board of Nursing rules require every APRN program track to include at least 750 supervised clinical hours, and the APRN license itself requires graduating from an accredited APRN program and passing national certification in your role and population focus. WilmU's 750 matches the Board's minimum. Other states set their own rules, so check the board where you plan to practice.
How many FNP practicum hours fall in each semester at WilmU?
Each Family Practicum is its own course. Three carry 175 hours apiece and the last carries 225. WilmU does not publish whether the practicums run as 7-week blocks or 15-week semesters, so a 175-hour course could mean about 12 or 25 hours a week. The clinical hours overview shows the pace for every course.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-27
We check these pages against Wilmington University's own program and curriculum pages, the 2026-27 graduate catalog, the College of Nursing and Health Sciences policies and the State Licensures by Program page. Your NP Program Chair, your course faculty and the College have the final word.
A WilmU practicum coming up? Your preceptor search starts here.
Tell us your WilmU program, where you live and when your next practicum starts. Whether WilmU's faculty help with your placement or you are starting the search yourself, we find preceptors who fit the course, check the health system's own intake steps, and organize the preceptor's license and credentials well before the first day.
- Preceptors matched to the course: family practice across the lifespan for
GRN 7121toGRN 7124, psychiatric mental health forGRN 7221toGRN 7224, doctorally prepared for the DNP - Clinicians who meet Delaware's rule for APRN program preceptors: an active APRN, PA, pharmacist or physician license in a comparable focus
- Close to home, in a state where you hold an RN license, with each system's onboarding mapped out early
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