Healthcare Management at the State College of Florida
State College of Florida appears in our ranking of the 25 Most Affordable Online Bachelor’s in Health Management.
There are two healthcare management programs offered at the State College of Florida. Options include the Associate in Science in Health Services Management and the Bachelor of Applied Science in Health Services Administration. The associate degree requires that students complete a total of 60 credits, and the bachelor’s degree requires that students complete at least 120 credits to graduate.
For students who pursue the associate degree program, class requirements include general education courses, healthcare management courses, and core specialization courses. Classes in the program’s core specialization include Introduction to Health Informatics, Quality and Performance Improvement, Introduction to Coding and Reimbursement Systems.
Further classes required include Health Law Concepts and Practices, Electronic Health/Medical Records Systems, Healthcare Delivery Systems, and Inter-professional Team-Based Health Care. Other program courses include Human Development: Life Span, Microbiology, Computer Information Systems, and Principles of Sociology.
After earning an associate degree, students may find work as health services managers or find employment as instructors for training future health services managers. Students may also choose to continue their studies in a bachelor’s degree program or in a program in an adjacent subject like nursing, radiography, dental hygiene, or occupational therapy.
For the bachelor’s degree program, students will gain further skills beyond what they would learn in the associate degree program. Those advanced skills may allow graduates to enter careers in health financial management, human services, or health information systems. In addition to submitting an application to the State College of Florida, students will also submit a separate application to enter the health services administration program.
There are several prerequisites required for students interested in the bachelor’s degree program that include Elementary Statistics, Written Communication, Principles of Microeconomics, and Principles of Financial Accounting.
To graduate, students will take a variety of general education and health services administration classes like Health Care Management, Quality Management in Health Care, and Health Care Finance. Other classes include Contemporary Issues in Health Care, Health Care Delivery in the United States, Health Care Risk Management, and Introduction to Evidence-Based Research Methods.
About the State College of Florida
The State College of Florida is an institution of higher learning with campuses throughout the Florida counties of Sarasota and Manatee. The college was founded in the late 1950s and was first known as Manatee Junior College. The school has more than 11,200 students enrolled for classes. Its official motto is “The Truth is Freedom.” The college’s official colors are blue and green, and the sports teams at the school are nicknamed The Manatees.
The institution has won awards for its efforts at sustainability and was given the Campus Sustainability Award by the Association of Florida Colleges. The Medical Technology & Simulation Center was awarded gold certification as a Leadership in Energy and Efficient Design (LEED) building. The college recently purchased land in Parrish and plans to add a campus, as well as introduce new programs for students to pursue.
State College of Florida Accreditation Details
The Commission on Colleges of the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools has accredited the college on an institutional basis, and this accreditation has allowed the college to award bachelor’s and associate degrees. Institutional accreditation was last reaffirmed in 2015. In addition to pursuing accredited degrees at the State College of Florida, students may also enroll in non-credit education classes within the Corporate & Community Development program.
Some of the agencies that have programmatically accredited programs at the State College of Florida include the Accreditation Commission for Education in Nursing, Inc, the American Dental Association, and the American Occupational Therapy Association. Other approvals have come from the American Physical Therapy Association and the Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology.
State College of Florida Application Requirements
There are four overall steps required for applying to the State College of Florida. Those steps include completing a residency document for students who want to receive in-state tuition rates and having final high school transcripts or GED transcripts sent to the college in advance of official enrollment. Students should also have transcripts from all college work forwarded to the college. There are some additional requirements for international students.
The cost to apply to the State College of Florida is $20, and students will submit this fee when they send in the official application. Those who successfully apply and enroll in courses will have their application fee refunded. Students should also complete a college readiness curriculum while in high school and be prepared to submit SAT or ACT scores to the colleges for the purposes of advising and placement.
Tuition and Financial Aid
Lower-division courses at the State College of Florida are $102.48 per credit hour for in-state residents and $386.52 per credit hour for out-of-state residents. Upper-division courses are $112.08 for in-state residents and $442.08 for out-of-state residents. The tuition rates include fees for tuition, as well as mandatory fees. For example, the lower division in-state tuition rate of $102.48 is made up of $78.84 per credit hour in tuition with mandatory fees of $23.64 per credit hour.
For graduate students, the estimated total cost of attendance for students living on campus is $29,060 per year. That cost includes $12,740 for tuition and fees, as well as additional costs for books, supplies, housing, food, and other costs associated with attending the college. Students can expect to pay marginally more for their college experience if they live off-campus rather than on campus.
To qualify for federal student aid, students must submit a FAFSA form and enroll in a degree-granting program at a minimum of half-time status. Students who take 12 or more credits in a semester can qualify for the federal Pell Grant program, which awards funds to students based on their demonstrated financial need. Pell Grant funds are offered until the available number of grants has been extinguished.
In addition to Pell Grants from the federal government, students may also qualify for the Florida Student Assistance Grant, the First Generation Matching Grant, or the Access to Better Learning and Education Grant Program. Students who attend the State College of Florida may also receive financial assistance through the Florida Public Student Assistance Grant program and may need to submit a Florida Financial Aid application to receive state grants.