Healthcare Management Programs at the University of St. Thomas
The University of St. Thomas appears in our ranking of the Top 35 Healthcare Management Master’s Degrees at Small Colleges.
The Opus College of Business at the University of St. Thomas offers a Master of Business Administration for executives with several emphasis areas that include healthcare management option. Also called the Health Care MBA, it looks at the healthcare industry through a business lens and shows students how they can use business practices and principles in the field. As a cohort program, it requires that students work in small groups and that they use collaborative learning in all of their classes.
Though the MBA program includes online learning, it also includes several traditional learning sessions. The university expects students to spend nine weekends working on its campus over the course of the program. Each session requires that they spend three days on the campus. Students spend 21 years in the program and take courses over three semesters each year. Those classes include Management of Organizational Behavior, Financial and Managerial Accounting for Executives, Health Law, Health Care Policy and Business Ethics.
The Master of Science in Health Care Communication can also help students with an interest in healthcare management. Though this program includes the same number of credits and is as long as the MBA program, it focuses more on the communications methods that professionals use. The university expects students to take classes in the fall, spring and summer semesters and during the short January term. They can take both traditional and online classes that include Health Care Policy, Overview of Health Care Systems, Strategic Management in Health Care and Health Care Language and Writing.
To go along with any of these degrees, the university offers a healthcare analytics certificate. This program is available through its School of Engineering and includes four classes. Students will take Foundations of Data Analysis, Healthcare Analytics and Data Analysis and Visualization. They can then select an elective that applies to healthcare analytics. The university allows students with less business experience to enroll in the certificate program.
About the University of St. Thomas
The University of St. Thomas is a Roman Catholic university in Minnesota. Though it has an affiliation with that church, it also offers a liberal arts curriculum that encourages students to think about topics from various angles. Established in 1885 as the College of St. Thomas, it was originally a seminary that trained young men to take on different roles within the Roman Catholic Church. A donation from a railroad investor led to the school separating into both a seminary and a liberal arts college. This college had help during its early years from the same group of men working at the University of Notre Dame.
Often called St. Thomas today, it has a campus in St. Paul that serves as its flagship institution. A small campus in Minneapolis is home to the Opus School of Business, which offers MBA programs for professionals and executives and some options for undergrads. The university also has an affiliation with a university in Italy, which allows students to study abroad in Rome. U.S. News and World Report now ranks St. Thomas as the 124th best university in the United States.
The University of St. Thomas Accreditation Details
The Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Management Education (CAHME) granted accreditation to the University of St. Thomas and all its health care management programs such as the MBA program. As the university also has accreditation from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), students can learn about their financial aid options and get financial aid while at the university. This type of accreditation also applies to the transfer students who want to bring credits with them because it lets the university accept those credits.
The University of St. Thomas Application Requirements
The Healthcare MBA that St. Thomas offers is a program designed for executives who already have some healthcare experience. To enroll in the program, students must have a minimum of five years of experience. They will submit a resume that shows the employers they worked for and some of the skills they utilized in each position to show the university their overall experiences. St. Thomas also asks for transcripts because it wants to make sure that students have the foundations they need in the program. Their transcripts should show their cumulative grade point averages and when they earned their degrees. It should also show the type of degree awarded and the name of the college or university.
St. Thomas will accept any student that it thinks will be a good fit for the program. A team of professors will serve as a review committee and look at each application that comes through. Students must submit the application and answer the three essay questions listed on it as well as pay a $75 application fee. The university allows students time to work on their essays and lets them create accounts to submit the entire application when they’re done. They will also need to provide their transcripts and two letters of recommendation. Prior to accepting students into any of its healthcare management programs, the university asks that they complete an interview too.
Tuition and Financial Aid
Instead of charging a per class rate, St. Thomas charges a per term rate. Students in the Health Care MBA program pay $14,600 each semester, though the university may reduce the rate for each of the following semesters. This discount allows students to save money for continuing their education at the university. Students in the communication program pay $16,750 per semester. A technology fee of $115 and a $200 activity fee is due at the beginning of each term too.
A childcare grant is available from the Minnesota government that helps students pay for the cost of daycare. This grant only goes to parents who want to pursue their graduate degrees and have children at home. Students who submit the FAFSA by August 1 and write a short essay qualify for the diversity grant, which goes to women and other minority students. The FAFSA will also help students qualify for the loans available from the federal government. Students can also search for external funding and use reimbursement programs available from their employers. The University of St. Thomas encourages students who need financial aid to submit the FAFSA at the same time that they apply to a healthcare management degree program.