Studying Healthcare Management at Utica College
Utica College appears in our ranking of the Top 30 Best Online RN to BSN Programs.
Utica College offers a Master of Healthcare Administration (MHA) for students with a medical or healthcare background who want to work in this rapidly growing industry. It includes a core of continuum of care classes that are worth 21 credits. That core includes Health Care Systems: A Continuum of Care, Health Care Ethical and Legal Issues, Human Resources Management and Leadership in Marketing and Strategic Planning. Students will also take 12 credits of electives from one of three fields: hospital, service organizations or nursing home. The program ends with a capstone that is worth three credits.
Though the healthcare administration program is available online, Utica College asks students to complete three residencies. Each residency will go along with one of the required courses that all majors take. The college expects students to complete work during these sessions for credit. It will arrange each session to work around the schedules of students and to ensure that they have time to complete their work. They can also use this time to do projects with others in those classes.
Healthcare administration students can choose from one of three specializations too: acute care, service organizations or long term care. The acute care specialization focuses on work in facilities that provide emergency care for patients. It includes courses such as Clinical Research and Health Care Financial Management. Organization Development and Change and Grant Writing, Program Planning and Evaluation are two of the classes available in the service organizations specialization, which looks at the operations of nonprofit healthcare organizations. Students in the long term care program learn more about working in nursing homes and treatment centers that help patients over an extended period of time. That program includes classes such as Nursing Home Administration and Public Health Care Policies of Aging.
For aspiring nurse leaders, Utica also offers an online MS in Nursing and an online Bachelor of Science in Nursing (RN to BSN).
About Utica College
Utica College is a private university formerly affiliated with Syracuse University. Syracuse established a small extension campus in Utica, New York in the 1930s that offered a small number of courses and programs. As more students enrolled in those programs, Syracuse decided to designate the campus as a full college with a four-year curriculum. It grew from one building near downtown to a large campus with more than 120 acres of land. Syracuse continued handling the operations of the school after it became Utica College, but the two campuses separated in 1995 as Utica became a standalone college.
As a full college, Utica looked for ways to reach more students. This led to it establishing a campus in Florida for nursing students and adding graduate programs to its curriculum. The popularity of those graduate programs led to the college introducing online programs for graduate students. There are now more than 20 degree programs available for grad students and more than 60 majors and minors for undergrads. The Utica campus is home to the Edith Langley Barrett Art Gallery, which holds up to four shows a year and displays pieces from artists across New York and exhibits dedicated to the history of Utica and the state.
Utica College Accreditation Details
Students in the MHA program may interact with those in the occupational therapy or physical therapy programs offered by the college. Those programs have accreditation from the American Occupational Therapy Association (AOTA) and the American Physical Therapy Association (APTA). Both the nursing and education programs offered by Utica College have accreditation, and the college has institutional accreditation from the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE). Any student who wants to transfer credits or get financial aid will benefit from that accreditation.
Utica College Application Requirements
Utica will only accept students who meet its general graduate school admissions requirements and the requirements of the MHA program. The basic requirements for graduate students include a grade point average of 3.0 in all classes taken and a bachelor’s degree. That degree must come from a university or college that has accreditation from a regional organization too. Students should have a background and some experience in medicine or the healthcare industry. The college will sometimes accept those who have lower grades if they have more experience. They can show their experience on the resume that they provide as part of the application process.
The other two main requirements for acceptance to Utica College include letters of recommendation and an essay. Utica asks students to write a personal essay of no more than one page that details how the college and the MHA program will assist them in reaching their goals as well as what their goals are. The essay can also go into detail about the professional experiences that they have. They can provide letters of recommendation that come from their former professors and/or any professional references willing to speak for them. Utica also requires official transcripts from any college or university that the student attended.
Tuition and Financial Aid
Utica considers any graduate student who takes at least six credits of courses in a semester as a full-time student. Those in the healthcare administration program pay $690 per credit hour. They also pay a $70 distance education fee per class and a $500 residency fee when they do any residencies. Students accepted into the program must put down a $500 deposit, which shows the college that they will start the program and that they can afford to pay their tuition. Utica will waive this fee for students applying for financial aid via the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) and those who qualify for the GI Bill and other military benefits.
The two types of financial aid awarded to graduate students include grants and loans. Grants come from the college and often go to students who make less money than their peers and those who have higher grades in their undergraduate programs. The college offers grants based on both need and merit. Students can get unsubsidized direct loans that have a low interest rate attached and terms that do not require students to repay those loans until they graduate. There are also federal PLUS loans that students and their parents can get as well as some alternative loan programs. The health care management program at Utica College can help students save money because it charges a lower tuition rate than traditional healthcare administration programs do.