APU's school nurse programs: four paths to the credential

The four SNSC paths side by side

The California Commission on Teacher Credentialing (CTC) approves APU's credential program, and APU lists every SNSC option at the Azusa campus. Coursework mixes on-campus meetings, synchronous and asynchronous online classes and supervised direct clinical practice.

Every path also requires a California-approved audiometry course. APU's course list includes GNRS 559 Audiometry for School Nurses, which carries eight hours of on-site practicum; those hours sit outside the totals in the table. The credential courses page covers GNRS 550A, GNRS 590C and audiometry in depth.

Which SNSC path fits your plans

The MSN with SNSC fits a nurse who wants the credential and a master's degree without becoming an NP. Beside the two clinical courses it adds GNRS 589 Adolescent Health Care, a 2-unit course with no clinical hours, and a health assessment course with lab, GNRS 511 or GNRS 612.

If an NP certificate might follow, the catalog leaves a door open. Once GNRS 513 and GNRS 610 are done, along with GNRS 611 and a health assessment lab (GNRS 511 or GNRS 612), you may take GNRS 590A in place of GNRS 590C, trading the credential's version of the young-family course for the one that opens the PNP-PC sequence.

The SNSC only path is a 24-unit nondegree credential for RNs who already hold a bachelor's degree: GNRS 504, GNRS 511 or GNRS 612, EDUC 537 Curriculum Design, GNRS 550A, GNRS 589 and GNRS 590C. APU says its admission rules match the MSN's.

The two NP combinations stack a full NP clinical load on top of the credential. FNP + SNSC reaches 56 units, including EDUC 537 and the 6-unit GNRS 550A; PNP-PC + SNSC runs 53 to 55. The FNP page and the PNP-PC page cover the NP side of each.

Where your first clinical hours fall

On the MSN with SNSC and the SNSC only path, your first clinical course is GNRS 550A Theory and Practice in School Nursing or GNRS 590C Primary Health Care of the Young Family for the School Nurse Services Credential. Both require the health assessment course first. Each is 6 units, 3 class and 3 clinical, which works out to 135 hours apiece.

GNRS 550A is the school-setting course: its hours are field experience in schools. GNRS 590C takes its name from young-family primary care, and your syllabus names the settings where its hours count.

On the NP combinations, your first precepted hours follow the NP track instead: GNRS 600 for FNP + SNSC, and GNRS 590A for PNP-PC + SNSC. GNRS 550A then adds its school hours in the term your program plan sets. APU publishes no sample plan for these paths, so that plan is the document to build around.

APU's 2023-24 guidelines note that the SNSC schedule is built around a working school nurse's day, which matters if you already work for a district and need clinical time that fits the school calendar.

Preceptors and school sites

No public APU source says who arranges the school site for GNRS 550A, and APU's current preceptor request forms do not list the SNSC courses by number. Ask your clinical faculty early how the school placement works for your cohort, and whether your own district can serve as a site.

If you work for a district, APU's employer rules for NP clinicals are a useful guide to the questions to ask. Under those rules, your employer signs off on a written split between your job and your clinical role, clinical hours are never paid work hours, and your own unit is off limits. Ask faculty how each of those applies to a school campus you already serve.

For the NP courses inside the combined paths, APU's NP rules apply in full: physicians, NPs, and PAs working with an on-site physician may precept; one semester or more has to be with an NP; and a family practice counts toward pediatric hours only when it sees at least six children a day. The preceptor requirements page lists every rule.

Admission rules, transfer units and deadlines

For the two NP combinations, APU's APRN admission rules apply directly: applicants live in Southern California and have at least a year of nursing work behind them. The SNSC only credential is open to RNs with a bachelor's degree under admission rules APU says match the MSN; confirm with admissions how the residence and experience rules apply to the paths that stop short of NP.

Two details on APU's SNSC page differ from its other graduate materials. The SNSC page allows 12 transfer units plus 6 more by petition, while the catalog allows 9 for the MSN. And the SNSC page says the background check cost is included in lab fees for the first clinical course, while the catalog and most program pages say the student pays. Ask admissions which applies to your path.

Deadlines differ too. The SNSC only credential lists a fall priority date of April 1 (final June 15) and a spring priority date of July 15 (final September 30); the FNP + SNSC path uses the NP calendar, with a spring priority date of October 20. The license and residence page covers the residence rule.

Credential, NP certification and what comes next

Every path ends with California's School Nurse Services Credential. The NP combinations add BRN NP certification and a national exam, FNP for FNP + SNSC and PNP for PNP-PC + SNSC. Both run through GNRS 611 Advanced Pharmacology, the course APU says meets the BRN furnishing-number requirement. The BRN certification page explains the NP side.

Graduates of the MSN with SNSC who later want to practice as NPs can look at APU's post-master's certificates, which use the same clinical courses as the MSN tracks; taking GNRS 590A in place of GNRS 590C is the swap the catalog offers for exactly that plan.

APU's professional licensure disclosures rate the FNP + SNSC and PNP + SNSC programs as meeting California's requirements, while every other state is listed as Not Determined. If a move out of California is possible, read the disclosure for your path before you enroll.

Why school nurse students choose us

If you already work as a school nurse, your clinical terms have to fit around the school year. We plan placements with that calendar in mind.

• For the NP combinations, we find primary care or pediatric preceptors near home for GNRS 600 or the pediatric sequence, with the pediatric volume APU's form asks for.
• For GNRS 590C or GNRS 590A, we match you with young-family primary care preceptors whose clinic hours can work beside a school job.
• We prepare the preceptor and site details APU's placement team needs, one request per preceptor, so review starts complete.
• If a preceptor drops, we move straight to a replacement near you.

APU's faculty and placement staff decide on every site. What we deliver is a request that is complete and matched to your SNSC path. Share your path and the term you start, and we begin there.

Questions APU students ask