Florida A&M University School of Nursing

What FAMU Nursing actually is

Florida A&M University's School of Nursing has been operating continuously since 1904, which makes it the oldest baccalaureate nursing program at any historically Black college or university in the United States. It became Florida's first baccalaureate nursing program in 1936, was approved by the Florida Board of Nursing in 1941, and earned its first national accreditation (through what is now ACEN) in 1951. The graduate program followed much later: the MSN with an Adult/Gerontology Nurse Practitioner specialization was approved by the State University System Board of Regents in 1997 and admitted its first class in 1998.

The school sits on FAMU's Tallahassee campus in the Ware-Rhaney Building at 334 W. Palmer Avenue. The current dean is Shannon Smith, DNP, RN.

Accreditation, in plain language

Both the BSN and the MSN are accredited by the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing (ACEN). FAMU is historically ACEN-accredited rather than CCNE-accredited, which is the relevant distinction if you are comparing programs. According to the school's accreditation page, the baccalaureate program is currently accredited with no stipulations, with the next ACEN site visit scheduled for Spring 2026. The master's and post-master's certificate programs are also accredited with no stipulations, with the next site visit scheduled for Spring 2031. The program is separately approved by the Florida Board of Nursing.

The pass-rate trajectory, honestly

The program was placed on a two-year probation by the Florida Board of Nursing in 2021 after a stretch of weak first-time NCLEX-RN pass rates. It came off probation in 2024. In February 2025, FAMU announced that its first-time NCLEX-RN pass rate for the most recent reporting period had reached 93%, an 11-point jump from the prior year's 82%, putting FAMU above the national first-time pass rate. Dean Smith has publicly set a goal of holding the first-time rate at 90% or better going forward.

If you are evaluating the program, this is the most important number to track. Ask the School of Nursing for the most recent quarterly Florida Board of Nursing report when you apply, and ask what specific changes (test-prep partnerships, faculty hiring, NCLEX-style integration in coursework) drove the improvement and are being sustained.

Programs offered

• Traditional (Generic) BSN on the Tallahassee campus. The program is structured as a pre-professional phase (general education, sciences, prerequisites) followed by a limited-access professional phase. Total 120 credit hours.
• RN-to-BSN Fast Track, fully online, for currently licensed registered nurses who already hold an Associate of Science in nursing. Admits in fall and spring.
• MSN, Adult-Gerontology Primary Care Nurse Practitioner (AGPCNP). Hybrid format: online coursework with an on-campus clinical-skills intensive in Tallahassee, plus local practicum placement. 42 credits, 675 clinical hours, roughly 5 semesters full-time or 8 part-time.
• MSN, Women's Health Nurse Practitioner (WHNP). Same hybrid format and credit/clinical structure as AGPCNP. FAMU is one of a small number of programs in Florida offering a WHNP track, which matters for Black maternal-health workforce pipelines.
• Post-Master's Certificates in AGPCNP and WHNP for nurses who already hold an MSN.

FAMU does not currently advertise a 12-to-18-month accelerated second-degree BSN; the traditional BSN is the on-campus pre-licensure pathway.

Getting into the professional phase

This is the part most applicants underestimate. Admission to FAMU as a pre-nursing student is not the same as admission to the professional nursing phase. The professional phase is limited-access and competitive. According to FAMU's published checklist, you need:

• An overall GPA of 3.1 or higher, with a science-and-math GPA of 3.0 or higher and no repeats in math, science, or nutrition.
• A grade of B or better in every prerequisite course. Only one prerequisite may be repeated, and only once.
• Level 2 proficiency on every section of the TEAS (Test of Essential Academic Skills), taken in person, not online.
• Three references: two from college instructors and one from a recent employer or mentor.
• Two years of one foreign language in high school or eight sequential semester hours at the college level.
• Completed health requirements (annual medical exam, PPD, immunization documentation) once admitted.

Applications for the professional phase are accepted only May 1-15 for Fall admission and October 1-15 for Spring admission. Everything must be received by 5:00 p.m. on the deadline date. FAMU's own materials are blunt: meeting every requirement does not guarantee admission.

RN-to-BSN applicants have a different timeline: July 1 for Fall, December 1 for Spring.

What it costs

FAMU's 2024-2025 undergraduate tuition was $5,785 per year for Florida residents and $17,725 per year for out-of-state students, based on FAMU's Office of Financial Aid figures. The published estimated total cost of attendance for an on-campus in-state undergraduate is $25,045, and approximately $36,985 for an on-campus out-of-state student, with books, fees, and living costs included. FAMU's base undergraduate tuition has not increased since 2021; a tuition increase is proposed to take effect Fall 2026, so verify the current year's numbers with FAMU Student Financial Services before you commit. The MSN tracks are priced at a flat $732 per credit hour for the online/hybrid format (no in-state discount on the online MSN), for an estimated $30,744 total at 42 credits.

Clinical placements

BSN clinical rotations happen in Tallahassee-area hospitals and clinics. FAMU has a long-standing partnership with Tallahassee Memorial HealthCare (TMH), the area's largest hospital, and the FAMU Board of Trustees has approved an expanded nursing-education partnership with HCA Florida Healthcare, which operates HCA Florida Capital Hospital in Tallahassee. MSN practicum placements for AGPCNP and WHNP students are arranged locally to where the student lives, which is what makes the hybrid format work for working nurses outside of Tallahassee. FAMU does not publish a full current site list publicly, so ask for one in writing during admissions interviews.

The Black-student fit question

FAMU is an HBCU where Black students are the majority and the program has been teaching Black nurses for over 120 years. Faculty are predominantly Black. Classmates are predominantly Black. The cultural context of caring for Black patients (skin-tone differences in dermatologic and cardiopulmonary assessment, blood-pressure measurement protocols, pain-bias literature, sickle-cell trait considerations, maternal-mortality data) is built into how the program teaches rather than treated as an add-on lecture. For students who have spent K-12 and a community-college pre-nursing year as one of a few Black students in the room, that shift is real. The trade-off is the same one every HBCU pre-nursing student faces: the professional-phase bar is high, the program is small, and the school is honest that meeting every requirement still does not guarantee a seat. Plan accordingly.

Contact

School of Nursing, Florida A&M University. Ware-Rhaney Building, 334 W. Palmer Avenue, Suite 103, Tallahassee, FL 32307. Phone (850) 599-3017. Email schoolofnursing@famu.edu. Program website nursing.famu.edu.