Program Tracks Overview
| Program | Est. Tuition | Est. Duration | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSN | $24.2K | About 2 years (26 months) | 47.5 |
| Post-Master’s Certificate | $14.0K | 1.5 years (18 months) | 27.5 |
Arkansas State charges one rate regardless of residency, and its published totals include all fees. Certificate students who need gap courses add up to 9 credits.
Arkansas State’s defining advantage is price certainty: one fees-included total with no campus visits. Both tracks are built for Arkansas and Tennessee nurses, the only two states where the school says the program meets licensure requirements.
Quick Facts
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Program Types | MSN; Post-Master’s Certificate |
| Format | Online. No campus visits named for either track. |
| Clinical Hours | 750 across three practicums (240 + 240 + 270) |
| Clinical Placement | Student recommends preceptors; clinical coordinator contracts the site |
| Population | Lifespan: child/adolescent, adult, older adult |
| Distinctive Coursework | Dedicated trauma and substance use disorders seminar and practicum |
| RN License Requirements | Unencumbered RN license active in the state where clinicals take place |
| Licensure States | Program meets APRN licensure requirements in Arkansas and Tennessee only |
| Tuition | $24,225 (MSN); $14,025 (certificate); fees included |
| Accreditation | ACEN (master’s and post-master’s certificate) |
Master of Science in Nursing, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
The estimated tuition for the MSN Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner at Arkansas State University is approximately $24,225 (47.5 credits, all fees included). The program can generally be completed in about 26 months, with courses delivered in accelerated sessions and several start dates each year.
MSN Curriculum
The 47.5-credit MSN has three blocks: 11 credits of graduate nursing core, 9 credits of advanced physiology, pharmacology, and assessment, and a 27.5-credit specialty sequence.
How the specialty sequence is built: After psychotherapy and psychopharmacology, students move through three paired blocks. Each pairs a 3-credit seminar with a 4- to 4.5-credit practicum on the same population: child and adolescent, then adult, then trauma and substance use disorders. Classroom content and clinical work on a population happen together, not in separate years.
What stands out: Trauma and substance use get their own seminar and the largest practicum (270 hours), rather than being spread across general adult coursework. That suits nurses heading into addiction, crisis, or community mental health settings. Arkansas State replaced an earlier six-seminar, six-practicum design with this three-block structure; older descriptions of the program still show the prior version.
- NURS 66063 Psychotherapy for Clinical Practice (3)
- NURS 66073 Advanced Psychopharmacology (3)
- NURS 60313 PMHNP Seminar I: Child/Adolescent (3)
- NURS 60334 PMHNP Practicum I: Child/Adolescent (4)
- NURS 61133 PMHNP Seminar II: Adult (3)
- NURS 61134 PMHNP Practicum II: Adult (4)
- NURS 64433 PMHNP Seminar III: Trauma and Substance Use Disorders (3)
- NURS 6013V PMHNP Practicum III: Trauma/Substance Use (4.5)
More curriculum details are available here.
MSN Clinical Requirements
- Total hours: 750, per the PMHNP Preceptor Handbook (rev. March 2025): Practicum I 240 + Practicum II 240 + Practicum III 270.
- Required mix: 120 hours each in child/adolescent medication management, older adult medication management, psychotherapy or group therapy, and substance use disorder management, plus 240 in adult medication management. These allocations total 720; the handbook does not assign the remaining 30.
- Setting caps: No more than 400 hours by telehealth and no more than 400 inpatient.
- Placement model: After acceptance, students submit a short list of potential preceptors. The clinical coordinator verifies the site and arranges the university contract.
- Start rule: Clinical hours cannot begin until the site accepts in writing and the contract is confirmed.
- Preceptors: Certified PMHNPs with prescriptive authority, board-certified psychiatrists, or licensed master’s- or doctoral-level psychotherapists, each with at least 12 months in the role.
- Location: Clinicals must take place in a state where Arkansas State holds State Operating Authority.
At 750 hours, Arkansas State clears the 500-hour certification floor by a wide margin and matches the 750 direct care hours set by the 2022 NTF Standards. The fixed population allocations matter in practice: every graduate logs substance use and older-adult hours, not just whatever a single outpatient site happens to see. The placement model is shared work. The school contracts the site, but the student supplies the leads, so start networking with local psychiatric prescribers before the first practicum term.
MSN Admissions
The MSN is open only to residents of Arkansas and Tennessee, and it requires documented RN practice hours before admission.
- BSN from an accredited nursing program
- Undergraduate cumulative GPA of 3.25 or higher
- Current, unencumbered RN license
- Documentation of 1,500 RN practice hours before admission
- Official transcripts from all colleges attended
- Background check through Verified Credentials; CPR, immunizations, TB screening, and professional liability insurance before clinical courses
- Minimum grade of B in every course; a written comprehensive exam, possibly followed by an oral exam, in the final term
You Should Know
- No transfer credit. Arkansas State does not accept transfer credit toward MSN requirements, so prior graduate coursework will not shorten the program.
- Moving mid-program matters. The school asks students to talk with their advisor before relocating, because a move outside Arkansas or Tennessee can affect licensure eligibility.
- Two-strike progression rule. A grade below B twice in the same course, or in nursing courses in two separate terms, leads to dismissal.
Post-Master’s Certificate, Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioner
The estimated tuition for the PMHNP Post-Master’s Certificate at Arkansas State University is approximately $14,025 (27.5 credits at $510/credit, fees included). The program can generally be completed in about 18 months.
Certificate Curriculum
The certificate is the MSN’s 27.5-credit specialty sequence, taken without the graduate core. Certificate and MSN students complete the same three seminar-and-practicum blocks, so the psychiatric training is identical.
Gap analysis: Applicants whose master’s lacks advanced physiology, pharmacology, or assessment complete a gap analysis before admission. Missing courses add up to 9 credits:
- NURS 66003 Advanced Pathophysiology (3)
- NURS 66033 Advanced Clinical Pharmacology (3)
- NURS 66043 Advanced Assessment and Diagnostic Evaluation (3)
More curriculum details are available here.
Certificate Clinical Requirements
- Same three practicums and 750 hours as the MSN, with the same population allocations and telehealth and inpatient caps.
- Same placement model: student-recommended preceptors, site contracted by the clinical coordinator.
A certificate carrying the full 750 hours is useful for APRNs adding a specialty. It supplies the psychiatric hours a certification board looks for without discounting prior NP clinical time.
Certificate Admissions
Admission is on a space-available basis, and the certificate is not eligible for federal financial aid.
- MSN from an ACEN-, CCNE-, or CNEA-accredited program at a regionally accredited institution
- Minimum 3.25 GPA in MSN coursework
- Current, unencumbered RN license
- Background check through Verified Credentials
- Official transcripts from all institutions attended
- $30 nonrefundable application fee
The certificate page describes enrollment as open to all U.S. residents. ⚠️ Arkansas State’s own licensure disclosure lists the PMHNP MSN and post-master’s certificate as meeting licensure requirements only in Arkansas and Tennessee, and as not meeting them in every other state. Nurses outside those two states should get written confirmation from admissions before applying.
Tuition
Arkansas State publishes $500 per credit for the MSN and $510 per credit for the certificate, with all fees included. All totals below are estimates built from the school’s published rates, not a quote from the university.
| Track | Credits | Published Rate | Published Total |
|---|---|---|---|
| MSN | 47.5 | $500 | $24,225 |
| Certificate | 27.5 | $510 | $14,025 |
| Certificate + 9 gap credits | 36.5 | $510 | $18,615 |
- MSN: $24,225 as published. ⚠️ The published $500 rate does not reproduce that total: 47.5 × $500 = $23,750, a $475 gap. The total matches 47.5 × $510, the certificate rate. This page uses the published $24,225 total because it is the higher, fee-inclusive figure.
- Certificate: 27.5 × $510 = $14,025.
- Certificate with full gap load: 36.5 × $510 = $18,615.
Billing is a straight per-credit charge. There is no separate program fee, clinical fee, or out-of-state differential, so the credit count determines the bill.
Be aware that:
- Rates can change yearly. Arkansas State notes that tuition is subject to change and publishes no cohort lock.
- Certificate costs are out of pocket. The certificate is not eligible for federal financial aid, so plan on private loans, employer support, or cash.
- Clinical costs sit outside tuition. Background checks, immunizations, liability insurance, and travel to clinical sites are not part of the published total.
Official rates are listed on the MSN program page and the certificate program page.
Because fees are included, the published figure is close to the real bill. The main lever a certificate student controls is the gap analysis: each missing core course adds $1,530.
Why Choose This PMHNP Program?
Best suited for Arkansas and Tennessee nurses who want a known, all-in price, no trips to Jonesboro, and training weighted toward substance use and trauma.
A fees-included price you can budget from day one. The MSN’s $24,225 already covers fees. At UAMS, the resident MNSc runs about $26,880 before institutional fees are added. For an Arkansas nurse choosing between the state’s two master’s options, Arkansas State is the lower and more predictable number.
No campus travel at any point. Neither the program pages nor the graduate guide names an orientation, intensive, or on-campus exam. For nurses in the Delta or East Tennessee, that removes lodging and lost shifts from the equation.
Clinical hours assigned by population, not left to chance. All 750 hours come with a required mix, including 120 in substance use disorder management and 120 with older adults. Graduates reach boards with documented breadth, whatever their primary site sees.
Several entry points and a shorter certificate route. Arkansas State lists fall, January, and March starts, so a missed deadline costs weeks rather than a year. APRNs can skip the core entirely and finish the certificate in 18 months, adding only the gap courses a transcript review requires.
Where another program may fit you better. Nurses outside Arkansas and Tennessee should look elsewhere, since the school says the program meets licensure requirements only in those two states. Newer RNs without 1,500 practice hours, applicants below a 3.25 GPA, and nurses hoping to transfer graduate credit into the MSN will also hit hard limits. Students who want the school to find preceptors outright may prefer a program with arranged placements. For an experienced Arkansas or Tennessee RN who can supply a few preceptor leads, this is a lower-cost, zero-travel route to a full 750-hour PMHNP credential.
Accreditation
The master’s and post-master’s certificate nursing programs at Arkansas State University are accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN). ACEN’s listing names the Psychiatric/Mental Health option among the accredited APRN tracks and shows no conditions. Its most recent action was April 2024, with the next scheduled visit in fall 2026.
Arkansas State University is institutionally accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Institutional accreditation supports federal financial aid eligibility for the MSN and the transfer of graduate credit to other universities.
Arkansas State states that the program prepares graduates for the psychiatric-mental health certification exam administered by the American Nurses Credentialing Center (ANCC).
Compare More Psychiatric NP Programs
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