New Hybrid-DL Doctor of Public Administration

Hello, for those of you interested in public administration (as an academic discipline), you may or may not know that there is no public university west of the Mississippi that offers a Ph.D. in Public Administration or a Doctor of Public Administration (D.P.A.). In California, three schools offer the doctorates - University of Southern California (USC), University of Laverne, and Golden Gate University. The latter's graduates tend to find it hard to secure faculty positions in accredited programs since their program is not NASPAA accredited.

Well, up until now, both USC and Laverne offered their program by residential means only. This week, I was informed by the Laverne folks that as of Fall 2003, they are offering a "hybrid" cluster where a D.P.A. student will do most of the work online and only visit the campus in Southern California three weekends per semester. While it would be nice to have a fully non-residential doctoral program available, this is a step in the right direction. It now allows me to consider applying for the program.

If interested, visit the University of Laverne here. Be warned that like most private schools, the program is not cheap - and scholarships are limited. Currently the program is close to $800 per semester credit, making it almost $2,500 per three-credit course. Anyway, I think since most of it can be done by distance makes it worth a "look see." By the way, a number of Laverne grads hold faculty positions across the United States.