If you want to go into the healthcare industry in the Northeast, you might consider earning a Master’s degree in Public Health. There are some great online MPH programs in this region. Although it might seem counter-intuitive to take an online program in a specific region, there are benefits that include lower tuition rates for in-state students, local networking and the school’s recognition in the region. All of these can be valuable tools for getting hired or building fruitful relationships in public health.
The following four New England schools offer the coursework for an MPH degree entirely online: University of Massachusetts, Southern New Hampshire University, University of New England, and Simmons College. UNE and UMass feature prominently on our ranking of the Top 25 Online MPH degrees, placing 17th and 14th according to our criteria.
The University of Massachusetts offers two separate specialized MPH degrees, in Public Health Practice, and Nutrition. For both degrees they charge $617 per credit, and require 42 credits for for the Public Health Practice degree and 44 credits to complete the Nutrition degree. There are five core classes that both programs share (Intro to Biostatistics, Environmental Health Practice, Intro to the US Healthcare System, Principles of Epidemiology, and Application of Social and Behavioral Theories in Public Health Interventions), plus classes for the specific degree as well as electives.
At the University of New England, based in Maine, the program requires 46 credits and is possible to complete in just 18 months. They make themselves accessible by not requiring a GRE, placing an emphasis on work ethic rather than ability to take tests. There are 8 core courses, plus a required 7 out of 21 offered electives, giving students a strong amount of autonomy in determining the focus of their degree. UNE charges $690 per credit, and students take one course at a time for eight weeks sessions. They also offer a unique partnership to help students get first hand experience working with the Ghana Health Partnership, a program that has been in place since 2008.
Southern New Hampshire University’s MPH degree has the potential to be finished incredibly swiftly- as few as 15 months of hard work can earn the degree, taking two courses in every ten week term. Resting at $627 per credit, SNHU’s degree is reasonably priced and allows aggressive students to blitz through their degree and improve their standing in the job market much sooner. The whole curriculum was designed in alignment with the competencies defined by the Association of Schools and Programs of Public Health (ASPPH) and incorporated the core functions of the World Health Organization (WHO) in order to help students transition into the professional sphere.
Simmons College has a growing MPH program, with a 15:1 student:faculty ratio, requiring 45 credits and taking 21 months to complete. There is a strong focus on improving and advancing health equity, approaching public health from a social justice lens and seeking to contextualize differences and disadvantages in social, economic, and environmental features in some populations compared to others. For their unique perspective and training in Public Health, Simmons charges $1400 per credit.
All four of these New England online MPH options should be carefully considered, especially UNE and UMass.
