Transferring clinical hours into a Spring Arbor certificate

01The transfer rules, certificate by certificate

The 2023-24 catalog's certificate rules set a floor somewhere from 250 to 625 direct-care hours, varying by track, along with the transfer limits below. Course codes and credits come from that catalog too. Later catalogs cannot be read publicly, so confirm the current rule with admissions or your advisor and check the course list in Brightspace once enrolled.

02Reading the FNP range

SAU's live PMC-FNP page gives 250 to 625 clinical hours and ties the figure to the certification you already hold. When SAU launched its certificates in 2020, the FNP came in two versions, one for nurses who were already NPs and one for nurses who were not. The live page's range reflects that split.

The published numbers fit together. The full FNP track is 625 hours, and 625 less the 375-hour AGNP allowance is 250, the bottom of the range. SAU does not set out that arithmetic itself, so treat it as a reading of the figures and get your own number in writing.

A nurse without NP certification should expect to sit at or near the top of the range. For other NPs moving to FNP, the 2023-24 wording allows up to 125 hours, but SAU does not say which earlier hours qualify. The PMC-FNP page and the NUR 680 page cover the practicum itself.

03Certificates listed at a flat 500

The live AGPCNP, PMHNP and PNP-PC certificate pages each list 500 clinical hours and say nothing about transfer. The 2023-24 catalog, meanwhile, allowed up to 125 earlier hours for every certificate except the Nurse Educator. Both can be true, but you should not assume a reduction until SAU confirms one for you.

Fit matters too. An FNP adding the PMHNP brings primary care hours, not psychiatric ones, and SAU does not say whether hours from a different population count at all. The same question applies to an FNP moving into pediatric primary care.

Credit ranges on the tuition page hint at how individual these plans are: 21 to 30 credits for the AGPCNP and 24 to 33 for the PMHNP and PNP-PC, and SAU notes that certificate start dates depend on prerequisites. For the practicums themselves, read NUR 780M or NUR 780K.

04Where nothing transfers: the Nurse Educator certificate

The 2023-24 catalog is plain on this one: the Nurse Educator certificate calls for 150 hours in total (a 50/100 split between direct care and an academic setting) and allows no transfer. The live certificate page still lists 150 internship hours.

Teaching experience, a prior practicum or years of precepting do not reduce that figure under the published rule. What changes is how easily you can find a site. The same live page also lists NUR 780B, the 125-hour direct-care practicum, without explaining how it relates to the 150 internship hours. Ask the program before you plan, and if you are told NUR 780B applies to you, budget a direct-care preceptor as well as an education setting. The internship is covered on the NUR 660 page.

05What to gather before you enroll

1. Request your earlier clinical recordsAsk your previous school for your practicum hours by course, setting and population. SAU does not publish what proof it accepts, so ask admissions which form it wants.
2. Get a written hour targetAsk admissions or your advisor for the number of hours you will complete, and keep the email.
3. Check your prerequisitesBefore clinicals, the 2023-24 catalog expects statistics, health promotion, the two advanced science courses (NUR 612, NUR 618) and health assessment with its residency (NUR 602, NUR 602R), or a head-to-toe video in NUR 610 if you were excused from the residency. See the prerequisites page.
4. Note the deadlinesThe same section sets two clocks: paperwork (clinical agreement, affiliation, preceptor verification) due four weeks or more before each clinical course, and three years to finish the certificate.

06Planning the hours that remain

Once you know your number, the preceptor search can be sized to it. A certificate student needing 250 hours may manage with one preceptor; one needing 625 across three semesters will likely need a plan for more. The PMC-FNP and PMC-PMHNP pages carry SAU's 2026 line about a clinical partner network; the other three certificate pages do not.

A placement advisor searches for preceptors near you who fit the new population you are adding, and pulls together what faculty will check. Every preceptor, including one who supervised you in an earlier program, still needs SAU faculty approval. The certificates overview compares all five, and you can send us your certificate and target hours to start.