Health Administration Degree Programs at Weber State University
Weber State University appears in our ranking of the Top 20 Master’s in Healthcare Management Online / Online MBA Healthcare Administration.
At Weber State University, students with a passion for health administration and management can choose between two different programs. The one designed for undergrads is a Bachelor of Science in Health Administrative Services. Suitable for those who have no experience in health care management, it includes three concentrations: health administration, health information management, and long-term care administration. The long-term care administration concentration focuses on working in centers and facilities that care for patients over an extended period of time. Those in the health information management program focus more on the ethics and laws surrounding the sharing of that information.
The health administration concentration is the best option for students who want to work in administrative positions. This program includes classes such as The Health Care System, Health Care Marketing, Health Care Administrative and Supervisory Theory, and Legal and Ethical Aspects of Health Administration. The university also offers health care administration electives, including Health Care Financial Administration, Computer Applications in Health Care and Health Care Economics and Policy. Weber State University allows students to minor in health care administration too.
A Master of Health Administration (MHA) is available from Weber State University for graduate students. This program includes 39 credits of required courses and two electives from courses such as Long-Term Care Administration, Medical Group Management, Health Care Entrepreneurship and Executive Leadership Seminar in Health Care. The required courses include a fieldwork component and courses, including Health Systems and the Health Care Economy, Leading and Managing People in Health Care, Decision Making for Health Care Leaders and Strategic Health Planning and Marketing.
Weber State University offers some alternatives to the traditional MHA program too. One is an executive MHA program, which is only available online. The online courses give busy professionals a convenient way to work on and finish their degrees. Another alternative is the joint MHA and MBA program, which awards students an MHA and a Master of Business Administration degree. The joint program is only available on the university’s campus and asks students to pick which of the two degrees they want to focus on as their primary degree.
About Weber State University
Weber State University is one of the only comprehensive colleges in Utah that offers both associate and bachelor programs as well as doctoral and master degree programs. Established as Weber State Academy, it opened in Ogden in 1889. The academy went through major changes over the coming years and used different names, including Weber Academy and Weber Normal College. It dropped “Normal” from its name in 1933 to become a junior college called Weber College. After adding bachelor’s programs, the school became Weber State College in the 1960s. The name Weber State University came about in 1991 after it gained regional accreditation and became a large university that offered degrees at all levels.
Now called both Weber State and WSU, it is a public university. The affiliation it had with the Jesus Christ Church of the Latter-Day Saints ended in the early 1930s when the Church gave the campus to the state. Weber State established WSU Downtown in 2013, which is a large building with a store, cafe and other resources open for centers. It also established six regional campuses in cities such as Morgan and Roy, which helped its enrollment grow to more than 26,000 students.
Weber State University Accreditation Details
WSU has regional accreditation from the NWCCU, which is why it can accept the credits that students earned from other schools and transfer those credits into a health care management program. With NWCCU accreditation, Weber State can also create financial aid packages and let students apply for any type of government aid.
Weber State University Application Requirements
Students applying to the traditional or executive MHA program must have a bachelor’s degree and GPA of at least 3.0 on a standard 4.0 scale. They will submit their applications online, but they can send their transcripts through the mail. Students who do not have a bachelor’s degree in a health field may need to take statistics, accounting and economics courses as prerequisites before starting the program. The university also asks for a GRE or GMAT score but will waive this requirement for students who are licensed doctors and those who have at least two years of supervisory experience.
The application process for undergrads is much shorter. They need to use the online application and create an account to submit the application as well as pay a $30 fee. If the student cannot afford the fee, he or she can contact the university and ask for a fee waiver. They will then submit an official SAT/ACT score and a high school transcript. If the student does not have a high school diploma, the university asks for a GED transcript and/or score. Students will also need to submit transcripts from colleges if they want to transfer their credits into the university.
Tuition and Financial Aid
Utah residents qualify for the university’s resident tuition rate, which starts at $569 per credit hour. This includes a student fee and a student support fee. Students taking between 11 and 18 credit hours pay a flat rate of $2,929 per semester. Nonresidents include all students from outside of Utah. They pay $7,823 per semester to take 11 to 18 credit hours of classes. All MHA students in the traditional program pay $23,000 to earn their degrees, while those in the executive program pay $35,000 to finish their MHA degrees online. Joint degree students pay the same rate that MHA students do. The university charges $1,818 per credit hour for traditional students and does not charge grad students a nonresident rate.
WSU aid is available for both residents and nonresidents and undergrads and graduate students. The university asks that students submit the FAFSA to see if they qualify for any of the more than $90 million in aid awarded each year. Students will go online and verify the financial aid accounts created for them by the university. They can then access the specialized application, which lets them apply for scholarships. Students can qualify for merit-based and need-based aid, including student loans and grants. Any student who wants to study health care management or administration at Weber State University can get at least one type of financial aid.