Master of Public Policy (MPP) Programs

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Dustin, Sep 19, 2020.

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  1. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    Hi everyone,

    I'm interested in doing an MPP online. I know a number of great MPA programs, but not too much about MPP programs. The one that I'm most interested in right now is the MPP from the University of Northern Iowa (UNI). It's a 2-year cohort-style program that only has one admission at a time (so the next cohort won't start until Fall 2021 and they haven't announced application dates, etc.)

    Tuition is pretty good, $509 per credit hour plus $38 tech fee per course ($1565 per course, $18,780 in total for the 12 courses/36 credits.) I live in Iowa and my previous education is from Canada so it's ideal to get a degree from this state, but I'd love to find out if maybe there are other options out there.

    My hope is to eventually do a doctorate in Public Policy, but I really need to work on my quantitative skills. I actually just enrolled in a Straighterline Intro Algebra course to brush up. I plan to do Intro to Algebra, College Algebra, Stats, Precalc, Calc I and Calc II through Straighterline. Not for college credit but just to get myself in better shape for quantitative public policy analysis.

    Anyway, are there other online MPP programs out there people would recommend?

    A search of the Board turns up Liberty University's MA in Public Policy, $565 per credit hour.
     
  2. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Is your goal academia, to do policy analysis at a think tank, or some other thing? And normally I wouldn't ask this, but which way do you lean ideologically? (It's relevant because Liberty is a better choice if you're interested in conservative think tanks, for example.)
     
  3. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    I'm definitely interested in think tanks over academia, though I wouldn't mind adjuncting or DL teaching. My entire educational journey has been non-traditional so I would not make a strong candidate for a professorship even if I were interested in one.

    Good point on the ideology, I knew Liberty was a Christian school but hadn't considered that might make things more difficult for a left-leaning individual (which I am.) My Bachelor's degree was online from a school in Alberta (known for their conservatism relative to the rest of Canada) and it was not lost on me that the readings for the one public policy course I took strongly took the position that "free-market", privatized and volunteer-based programs were preferred over government-run programs.
     
  4. not4profit

    not4profit Active Member

    I am pretty much middle of the road politically, although, if recent events continue here in the US, I will be a card carrying Republican before long. I digress...

    I am finishing up a degree at Liberty in the School of Govt, where the public policy programs reside, and did another degree at Northeastern in Boston, which is exceedingly liberal (Michael Dukakis taught in my program). Anyway, I would not worry about Liberty forcing a conservative agenda down your throat. I worried about that myself. You do bring up a good point though about liberals in acadamia or think tanks seeing a degree from Liberty as a negative. That is a very real possibility IMO.
     
  5. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    It's less about the tone of the program and more about the networking opportunities it would provide and, as you suggest, how it would be perceived in the labor market afterwards.

    Dustin, are you planning to stay in Canada or end up in the U.S.?
     
  6. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    I'm actually already in the US (and staying), which is driving my choice of a US program. Sounds like Liberty would not be a good fit for me.
     
  7. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

    Since you narrow down the twos, I think it is better for you to go with the University of Northern Iowa.
    - Co-hort program, so you have the opportunities to interact with other students
    - You are living in Iowa, local present works better than regional schools.
    - It seems you are not that conservative and religious; Liberty University requires some christian views in studies.
     
  8. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    I don't think those two were his finalists, on the contrary I think he was asking us what else is out there that he might want to consider.
     
    Dustin likes this.
  9. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    Yes, sorry for the confusion TEKMAN. I'm aware of UNI and Liberty, but I wondered if there were other programs out there. On the MPA side (which I'm far less interested in, but as an example), no amount of Googling would have helped me find the Arkansas State NASPAA MPA that clocks in at $11,412, but there's a detailed thread here on the Board.

    Just wanted to see what else was out there that others might have come across.
     
  10. TEKMAN

    TEKMAN Semper Fi!

  11. SteveFoerster

    SteveFoerster Resident Gadfly Staff Member

    Probably not, although again that's not a criticism of it per se.

    Next question: in that case, are you in (or do you plant to come to) the D.C. area? If so, you'd honestly be better off doing an MPP at Georgetown, GW, or Johns Hopkins on campus, but if that's not an option for you then you might consider that Johns Hopkins has a functionally similar online MA in Public Management: https://advanced.jhu.edu/academics/graduate/ma-public-management/
     
  12. felderga

    felderga Active Member

    My daugther got accepted into University of Chicago (Harris) MPP program 3 years ago. Nice campus and impressive program except the price tag is around $120K now for tuition and its not online (glad she choose to goto Univ of Washington instead as she got a free ride for her MPH). UW (Evans) has a great MPA program in Seattle as well and I would be remiss not to mention my alma mater University of Minnesota (Humphrey) as they too have a MPP program if you desire to study on campus in the midwest.

    If you do want online and want to venture out to the west coast eventually I would look to University of Southern Califronia (Price) and Arizona State (McCain) for their online MPA programs. USC has great recognition and a strong alumni network on the west coast. Other to consider are University of San Francisco and Cal State University Northridge (its in Los Angeles suburbs and again has decent rep in Southern California and most importanly more affordable). Also Long Beach State and San Diego State are also other reasonable Cal State programs with online MPA offerings.
     
    Last edited: Sep 23, 2020
  13. Dustin

    Dustin Well-Known Member

    Staying online, or at least in-person inside Iowa but that Johns Hopkins program looks very cool, thanks!

    Thanks for the tips! I've got some reading to do.
     

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