The 750-hour rule at Graceland University: who it covers and how to plan for it
Graceland University moved its nurse practitioner tracks to 750 practicum hours for anyone who matriculated on or after August 1, 2023, up from 600 in the FNP track and 540 in the AGACNP and PMHNP tracks. Once Fall 2026 begins, every new and returning student is on 750 too. The extra hours translate into more clinic days in every practicum, which changes which preceptors can realistically carry you.
Get your placement plan
Tell us your Graceland program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your course.
Which total applies to you
Three facts decide your number: the date you matriculated, whether you have withdrawn and come back, and when you return. The current handbook sorts students this way.
| Your situation | FNP | AGACNP | PMHNP |
|---|---|---|---|
| Matriculated on or after August 1, 2023 | 750 (225, 225, 300) | 750 (225, 225, 300) | 750 (225, 225, 300) |
| Matriculated before July 31, 2023 and still progressing | 600 (180, 180, 240) | 540 (180 × 3) | 540 (180 × 3) |
| Came back after a withdrawal, August 2026 or later | 750 | 750 | 750 |
| New or returning once the Fall 2026 term starts | 750 | 750 | 750 |
The second row is the one to check. The handbook states the older totals for early matriculants and moves returning students to the newer catalog, but it gives no end date for students who have stayed continuously enrolled since before July 31, 2023. If that describes you, confirm your total with Program Advising (programadvising@graceland.edu) and keep the reply.
Post-graduate certificate students follow the same totals as the matching MSN track. The BSN-to-DNP, first listed in the 2025-26 catalog, carries the 750-hour plan plus 500 DNP practice hours.
Why Graceland raised the total
The handbook explains the change in a single sentence: “As of August 2023, CCNE required 750 practicum hours.” CCNE accredits Graceland's master's degree, its DNP and its post-graduate APRN certificates, so the practicum totals followed that requirement.
The FNP total has moved before. The 2017 handbook asked for 720 hours, 240 each in Pediatrics, Adult and Family. Handbooks from 2020 through 2023 described 600, with 180 in each of the first two practicums and 240 in Family, and the FNP program page in July 2022 still spoke of “600 hours of practicum work.” AGACNP and PMHNP ran three 180-hour practicums, 540 in all.
The tracks changed on different schedules. AGACNP course descriptions switched to 225, 225 and 300 hours in the 2023-24 catalog. PMHNP passed through an in-between version, 150 hours in NURS5430 plus 200 in each practicum, before the 2026-27 credit values matched the 225, 225 and 300 split. The FNP's Family practicum became a 5-credit course in 2023-24.
The returning-student rule
Withdraw from Graceland and come back later, and you come back on the newer catalog. The handbook's note is blunt: from August 2026, “any student coming back from a withdrawal from Graceland University is considered a returning student and will be on a new catalog with the higher practicum hours.”
For a pre-2023 FNP student, that turns a 600-hour plan into 750, an extra 150 hours, or roughly nine more weeks of clinic at the handbook's 16-hour weekly minimum. For AGACNP and PMHNP students the jump is 210 hours, about 13 more weeks at that pace.
A stop-out is a different step. The graduate catalog lets a student stop out for one trimester “without being officially withdrawn from the University.” The handbook does not say whether a stop-out keeps your original catalog year, so ask Program Advising before you step away. Sitting out also costs time: the handbook estimates about four months of graduation delay for every term missed. See incompletes and delays for the related rules.
What 750 hours asks of each week
The higher total mostly shows up as extra days in clinic. A 225-hour course finished by week 14, as Graceland's faculty request, averages a little over 16 hours a week, the bottom of the handbook's 16-to-24-hour range. The 300-hour final practicum averages about 21.5 hours a week over the same 14 weeks.
Compare the older plan. A 180-hour course over 14 weeks is under 13 hours a week, and the October 2023 handbook told AGACNP students to expect 12 to 16 weekly hours when their total was 540. A preceptor who could host you one long day a week under the old numbers now needs to offer two, and three in the final term.
Patient targets climbed with the hours. FNP students now need 750 patient encounters, one per hour on average, and every track expects one to two patients an hour. If a preceptor's schedule runs light, you can finish the hours and still fall short on patients.
Before Appendix A goes in, ask each preceptor how many clinic days a week they can give you that term, not just whether they will precept.
Old numbers you will still see
Some Graceland documents were written before the change and have not caught up. Treat these as history rather than as your requirement.
- The graduate catalog and the FNP program page still describe
NURS6740as 180 clinical hours with at least 180 pediatric patients. The handbook's figure on the 750-hour plan is 225. - The PMHNP program page's certificate list shows 150 hours in
NURS5430and 200 in each practicum. - Graceland's fee table labels the PMHNP practicum courses at 200 hours each.
- The Version 2023-09-13 handbook still described the FNP at 600 hours, although the current handbook dates the CCNE requirement to August 2023.
Where sources disagree, the current Graduate Student Handbook and your track coordinator settle it. The clinical hours overview lists every program's total side by side.
Planning preceptors for the higher total
More hours per course means fewer preceptors can carry a whole practicum alone. Graceland allows up to two preceptors in a practicum, requires at least two different preceptors across the three practicums, and lets one preceptor cover up to two of the three terms. Those limits leave room to split a 300-hour final between a primary preceptor and a second one.
Timing matters for that second name. Requests to add a second preceptor close two weeks before the term begins, so build both names into the original paperwork when you can. The two-preceptor rule page covers the limits in full.
This is where Graceland students choose us. We look for preceptors who can commit the clinic days a 225- or 300-hour course demands, confirm patient volume before you commit, and line up the second preceptor so the whole plan reaches the contract coordinators by June 15, October 15 or February 15. Tell us which total you are on and we will plan around it.
Questions Graceland students ask
I matriculated in spring 2023. Am I on 600 or 750 hours?
The handbook places students who matriculated before July 31, 2023 on the older totals, 600 for FNP and 540 for AGACNP and PMHNP. That changes if you withdraw and later return, because returning students move to the newer catalog. Your student record is what counts, so confirm your total with Program Advising before you contact preceptors.
Do post-graduate certificate students follow the 750-hour rule?
Yes. The FNP, AGACNP and PMHNP certificates share the three practicum courses of the matching MSN track, and the handbook's matriculation dates apply the same way. A certificate student who started after August 1, 2023 plans for 225, 225 and 300 hours, with the same patient targets as MSN students.
Does the 750-hour rule change how many preceptors I need?
The minimum stays at two different preceptors across the three practicums, with no more than two in any one practicum. What changes is how useful a second preceptor becomes in the 300-hour final, where one clinic may not offer enough days or patients. Name that second preceptor early, since late additions close two weeks before the term.
Why does the catalog still say 180 hours for NURS6740?
The catalog's course description was written for the older 600-hour FNP plan and has not been revised. The 2026 Graduate Student Handbook gives the pediatric practicum 225 hours on the 750-hour plan. Plan to 225 unless your track coordinator confirms in writing that your catalog year keeps you at 180.
Do DNP practice hours count toward the 750 practicum hours?
No, they are counted separately. The 750 hours are NP practicum hours in the three practicum courses. BSN-to-DNP students add 500 DNP practice hours on top, and post-master's DNP students work toward 1,000 post-BSN supervised practice hours, which can include verified hours from their master's program.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-25
We check these pages against Graceland's own catalog, program pages and Graduate Student Handbook. Your handbook, your track coordinator and the contract coordinators have the final word.
Graceland's practicums are arranged by you, with Graceland's help. We do the searching.
Tell us your Graceland track, your city and your next practicum. We find preceptors who fit the course, line up what Appendix A and Appendix B ask for, and aim everything at Graceland's paperwork deadline for your term.
- Preceptors matched to the course: primary care for FNP, hospital and ICU clinicians for AGACNP, psychiatrists and PMHNPs for PMHNP
- Site address, contract contact and preceptor details ready before the June 15, October 15 or February 15 deadline
- Close to home in your approved state, with a second preceptor planned for Graceland's two-preceptor rule
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