Which program would you folks choose?

Hey guys, I gotta run something by you folks. I'm in the NG and I collateral as the career/education counselor. I have a young guardsmen interested in a MPA. He has it narrowed it down to two: AMU and Wayland Baptist.

AMU: $275 per credit, 15 hrs of transferrable credit and a variety of courework to choose from, courses are 8 wks long

WBU: $300 per credit, 12 hrs of transferrable credit, name recognition (somewhat), courses are 16 wks long.

I've suggested AMU because he can transfer in more credits and finish faster however I could not overlook Wayland. What would you folks recommend?

 

I had that same exact dilemma. I chose AMU to finish up faster.

 

I would choose AMU, simply cheaper and faster. If you're looking for name rec should choose some school that is MPA accredited.

 

I would also pick AMU.

I believe some employers will be put of by a religious based school (This would make an excellent research project).

The other factor to be considered is the course length - can the student handle an eight week course?

 

Hi - If I had to choose between the two cited programs I'd choose AMU, for the reasons others have already mentioned. However, your friend may want to take a peek at the program offered by Cal State-Northridge. At $290. per credit it may also be a contender.

 

I would choose whichever one had the content I wanted to learn via the method I wanted to pursue.

 

Rich I agree with you on the content. My guy is interested in security management and intel, I figured AMU would be the right match. However, I guess he's concerned that it may not be received highly therefore he's hooked on name recognition.

 

With the wide range of choices that are close to that price range for MPAs, how did he narrow it down to these two?

 

For an online MPA with name recognition and a homeland security focus, I would recommend investigating University of Colorado at Denver:

http://www.cudenver.edu/Academics/Colleges/SPA/Academics/programs/PublicAffairsAdmin/MasterPublicAdmin/Pages/MPAOnlineOption.aspx

The homeland security specialization coursework is offered through the Colorado Springs campus, the website of which has been unavailable for some time...

 

Airtorn, military TA pays up to $250 per credit. We've looked at Troy but its around $350 per credit. All other programs were around the mid to upper $300 range and up.

 

I currently like the University of Alaska - Southeast MPA - http://www.uas.alaska.edu/academics/graduate/mpa.html. It is $301 per credit if the student is willing to stretch the program out and take four credits or less per semester.

I am active duty - 14 years in.

 

We'll take a closer look at this program as well.

 

If it were me, I'd go with AMU as well.

 

same here.


Abner