NAU's Doctor of Nursing Practice, for the students still in it

Where the program stands in 2026

Two NAU sources agree on the status. The archived 2026-27 catalog entry states that the plan "is not accepting applications", and the college's graduate pages, updated in spring 2026, say the same in their own words. NAU's degree search still carries a full description of the DNP with no closure note, so someone who lands there first can easily read it as open.

No public NAU page says when, or whether, admissions will reopen. If you were planning to apply, keep an eye on the graduate how-to-apply page and ask the graduate nursing advisors. The advanced practice routes that are open, the MS FNP and the post-master's FNP certificate, serve a different goal: they prepare you for NP certification rather than a practice doctorate.

For enrolled students, the clock matters more than the admissions page. NAU policy gives admitted DNP students eight years to finish every requirement, and the 2021-22 graduate handbook expects doctoral students to register each fall and spring. Degree search lists three years as the usual length.

The 1,000 hours at a glance

The catalog calls for 1,000 hours of clinical practice, no fewer than 240 of them completed at NAU. Under the 2022-23 DNP Practicum Handbook, up to 760 hours can count from an accredited master's or post-master's program that led to national certification, which is why most practicing APRNs owe 240 more.

Your opening balance rests on a document you supplied at admission: an official letter from the school that granted your degree, giving the actual total of clinical hours you completed. If that total fell short of 760, the difference is made up at NAU, which is the purpose the handbooks give NUR 608.

Each unit of NUR 703 equals 60 practicum hours, the project handbook schedules the course across your final four semesters, and it states that hours are not carried over. The DNP practicum hours guide works through that arithmetic semester by semester, including where the handbooks disagree on NUR 703 credits.

Mentor limits and hours at your own job

A DNP mentor has to show experience and expertise in the field and be employed at the practicum site. Three relationships rule a person out: a relative, domestic partner or significant other; your direct or immediate supervisor; and a fellow DNP student. For direct patient care, the mentor also needs the license, experience and certification set Arizona applies to NP preceptors. The full list, set beside the FNP rules, is on who cannot precept you.

Your employer can host the practicum on two conditions from the 2022-23 handbook. The mentor there cannot be your immediate supervisor or someone who reports to you, and the hours must fall outside your normal working hours. The workplace practicum guide shows how that looks in a real work schedule.

Where our placement desk fits

DNP students choose us because we take on the slowest part of the program: finding an agency and a mentor who clear NAU's rules on the first pass. We search near where you live and work, screen each candidate against the employment, relationship and supervisor limits before you make contact, and confirm the agency is willing to host practicum hours and, if you want, the project and its Letter of Cooperation.

Next we assemble everything the request form needs: the mentor's CV or resume, license and certification, the agency's details and the administrative contact who routes affiliation agreements. When the site is your employer, we build the schedule around your normal shifts. And we map your remaining hours against your NUR 703 units, so each semester's 60-hour blocks already have a mentor behind them.

Tell us your remaining hours and your project idea through the form below, or read how it works first.