770 or 630: how many clinical hours FIU's MSN requires
Both numbers come from Florida International University (FIU). The MSN Clinical Education page and the plan of study give 770 clinical hours for every nurse practitioner track, while the Graduate Nursing Student Handbook 2025-2026, as revised on April 30, 2026, puts a 630-hour floor under every track but Family NP. Until your course faculty tell you otherwise in writing, the safer plan is to build your preceptor time around 770.
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Tell us your FIU program and where you live. A placement advisor replies with the preceptor and site options that fit your FIU course.
Which FIU documents say 770 and which say 630
The split follows documents, not tracks. FIU's web pages and its catalog use 770, and the handbook uses 630 for four tracks. The table lists each source with its version, so you can cite the exact document when you ask for a ruling.
| FIU source | Version | What it says |
|---|---|---|
| MSN Clinical Education page | Current web page | 770 clinical hours for AGPCNP, PNP, FNP, PMHNP and AGACNP |
| MSN plan of study | Revised 5-2026, effective Spring 2027 | 770 total clinical hours |
| 2026-2027 catalog, PMHNP program | 2026-2027 | 770 direct patient care clinical hours |
| Graduate Nursing Student Handbook | 2025-2026, Rev. April 30, 2026 | A minimum of 630 for Adult-Gerontology (primary and acute care), Pediatric and PMHNP; 770 for FNP |
| DNP plan of study, Fall start | Current web page | 1,170 total for AG, Child and Psych; 1,310 for Family |
| DNP Clinical Education page and Spring-start plan | Current web pages | 1,310 for all four post-BSN tracks |
Neither side is plainly the later word. The handbook revision is dated April 30, 2026, and the plan of study was revised in May 2026, yet the plan still prints 770 while the handbook keeps 630. FIU has published no note reconciling them.
Which tracks the conflict touches
Family NP is the one MSN track on which FIU's sources agree: 770 on the web and 770 in the handbook. For the other four, the figures part ways.
- Adult-Gerontology Primary Care NP (online): 770 on the web, a 630 minimum in the handbook, spread across
NGR 6201L,NGR 6202LandNGR 6203L. - Pediatric Primary Care NP (online): the identical split, across
NGR 6301L,NGR 6302LandNGR 6303L. - Psychiatric-Mental Health NP (hybrid): 770 on the web and in the 2026-2027 catalog, a 630 minimum in the handbook.
- Adult-Gerontology Acute Care NP: 770 on the web, a 630 minimum in the handbook, and a third figure on the post-graduate certificate plan, which gives 280 hours in each of three practicums.
Post-graduate AGPCNP and PNP certificate students take the same practicum courses, but the certificate pages state no primary care total at all, so the syllabus is the working source for them. The MSN AGPCNP guide and the MSN PNP guide show where the practicums sit in each plan.
The same gap in the post-BSN DNP: 1,310 vs 1,170
The DNP pages repeat the conflict one level up. The DNP Clinical Education page lists 1,310 hours across all four post-BSN to DNP tracks, and so does the plan for students who begin in Spring. Only the plan for Fall starters, printed on that same page, drops to 1,170 for Adult-Gerontology, Child and Psych, with Family left at 1,310.
The arithmetic shows where the difference comes from. The Fall-start plan's DNP courses add 540 hours: 40 in NGR 7892L Health Policy Practicum, then 170, 165 and 165 across NGR 7940C, NGR 7941C and NGR 7942C. Put 540 on top of 770 and you reach 1,310; put it on top of 630 and you reach 1,170. The Fall-start totals therefore rest on the handbook's MSN minimum, and the Clinical Education page rests on the web figure.
So a Fall-start AG, Child or Psych student faces the same 140-hour question as an MSN student, just inside a longer program. The post-BSN DNP guide covers the rest of that plan.
Why 140 hours matters for your preceptor search
A 140-hour difference is not a rounding error. Primary care rotations at FIU run on weekdays, nine to five in the handbook's description, so at eight clock hours a day the gap comes to roughly 17 or 18 full clinic days across your practicums. A preceptor who can host you two days a week in one semester covers a very different share of 770 than of 630.
That is why the target has to be settled before you ask anyone to precept. The Preceptor Request Form records your term, start and end dates, and clinical days and times, and a preceptor agrees to those days rather than to an hour total. If the total you must reach turns out higher than you planned, the extra days have to come from the same preceptor's calendar or from a second site, and a second site means another request, another approval and, if the site is new to FIU, another contract.
Planning for 630 and learning in your final semester that your cohort needs 770 is the costly mistake. Plan to the higher figure until your course faculty confirm the lower one in writing.
How to get a clear answer from FIU
- Check which plan and handbook you follow.The 5-2026 plan takes effect starting Spring 2027. If you began earlier, ask the Graduate Nursing Advisor which plan and which handbook edition govern your cohort.
- Read the syllabus for your next practicum.MSN and DNP syllabi are posted on FIU SharePoint. Look for the hours the course expects, not only its credits.
- Ask your course faculty in writing.Cite both sources, the Clinical Education page at 770 and the handbook's 630 minimum, and ask which total your cohort must reach by graduation and how it divides across your practicums.
- Copy your clinical coordinator.The Office of Clinical Education and the graduate nursing clinical coordinator see your site and schedule, so they should work from the same number. FIU routes all program email through your FIU account, which also keeps a record.
- Build the schedule to the answer.Give the confirmed total to your preceptor before day one and keep Typhon NPST current so your running count stays true. The Typhon guide explains the 7-day rule.
Planning your hours with us
FIU students choose us because we plan around the number that actually decides graduation. Once your faculty confirm your total, we find adult-gerontology or pediatric primary care preceptors close to home whose weekday schedules can carry it through the semester, and we confirm the days with them before anything goes on the Preceptor Request Form.
We start the semester before, as FIU does, find out early which practices FIU has already signed agreements with, and send the Office of Clinical Education a complete picture of each preceptor. If a preceptor steps away, we line up a replacement fast, so a lost month never becomes a short total. The hours hub sets out every program's figures, how it works explains our process, and the form at the end of this page takes your program and target.
Questions FIU students ask
Is 630 the real requirement since the handbook was revised in 2026?
Not necessarily. The handbook revision is dated April 30, 2026, but the plan of study was revised in May 2026 and still states 770, so neither is clearly the newer word. FIU has not published a correction either way. Treat both as live until someone with authority over your course, your faculty or the clinical education office, puts your cohort's total in writing.
Does the 770 vs 630 question affect Family NP students?
No. The handbook keeps 770 for the Family NP track, which matches the Clinical Education page, so FNP students have a single figure. The FNP practicums are NGR 6601L, NGR 6602L and NGR 6604L. The conflict covers the Adult-Gerontology primary and acute care, Pediatric and Psychiatric-Mental Health tracks.
Will my certification exam require a specific number of FIU hours?
FIU tells graduates they may sit for national certification in their specialty and seek Florida APRN certification, yet it never names the board for each track or that board's hour rule. Check the current eligibility rules of the board you plan to use, and ask your track program leader how FIU's total maps onto them.
What if I finish my practicums short of the hours my faculty require?
Any clinical hours you miss have to be made up. If a course ends with work outstanding, an Incomplete requires that you are passing with at least half the work done, the rest is due within two consecutive terms, and an open IN blocks graduation. If you are falling short, see our page on being behind on clinical hours and talk to your clinical faculty early.
Do DNP students on the Spring-start plan face the same conflict?
On paper, no. The Spring-start plan lists 1,310 for all tracks, matching the DNP Clinical Education page. The lower figure appears only on the Fall-start plan, at 1,170 for AG, Child and Psych. If you started in a Fall term on one of those tracks, confirm your total with the DNP Program Director or your course faculty.
Related pages
Last checked 2026-09-26
We check these pages against FIU's own graduate handbook, preceptor manual, plans of study, catalog and licensure pages. Your plan of study, your course faculty, your clinical faculty and FIU's Office of Clinical Education have the final word.
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Tell us your FIU track, where you live and which semester your next practicum starts. We find preceptors whose patients fit the course, check early whether the site already holds an FIU contract, and prepare everything the Preceptor Request Form asks for.
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NGR 6201L, pediatric primary care forNGR 6301L, an organizational mentor forNGR 7940C - Preceptor, facility, license and schedule details ready for the Preceptor Request Form, weeks ahead of the contract clock
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