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Education Questions Answered by Peers: February 2022

Updated | Julie Provost

Education Questions Answered by Peers: February 2022

At CollegeRecon, we meet lots of people every week who have questions about their benefits. Sometimes they ask on our website, and at other times we field questions from social media groups.

This month’s question comes from a Facebook group, and we intend to highlight some of the best responses, along with our own.

The Question

Does anyone have or are seeking an MPH (Masters in Public Health)? I am looking for a good school that’s not very expensive. – A military spouse

Peer Submitted Answers

“I don’t have advice on schools…but make sure they are CEPH accredited. That’s the gold standard in PH [public health] and it’s hard to get the good jobs coming from a non-CEPH accredited school.”

So, what is a CEPH accreditation? According to the Association of Schools & Programs of Public Health (ASPPH), the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH) is the nationally recognized accrediting body for both schools of public health and public health programs.

“If you get an MPH, definitely look at Industrial Hygienist – GS jobs. They’re always hiring and always a need on bases.”

The “GS” in this answer refers to a federal “General Schedule” job. Someone with a GS job is an employee of the federal government and they can serve in various locations around the world. This answer also indicates that there is a consistent need for Industrial Hygienists in GS positions to work on military installations.

“I’m currently working on my MPH in Health Promotion, Education and Behavior at University of South Carolina. They have online options and offer various concentrations within their program.”

This peer answer offered a great insight: do not rule out online programs. Online programs are just as rigorous and must meet the same accreditation requirements as in-person courses. The only difference is, it takes a motivated and strong-willed student to succeed in an online learning environment.

SEE ALSO: Getting Your Master’s Degree Online

Other schools that received honorable mentions by your peers for their MPH programs were:

  • Liberty University
  • George Washington University
  • University of West Florida
  • Eastern Virginia Medical School
  • Louisiana State University – Shreveport
  • Bloomberg School of Public Health at Johns Hopkins
  • University of South Florida

Our Answer

The Master’s in Public Health degree continues to grow in popularity, in no small part because of the pandemic. 

It is not known if the one who asked the question is using any GI Bill benefits, but there is a great tool that I recommend to find college programs.

The College Recon School Finder tool can help you narrow down a list of schools that may have the degree you’re looking for. In this case, the degree is an MPH.

For this search, I opened the tool and immediately went to the Filters column. Under the Educational Goals section, I selected a “Master’s Degree”. Then, I selected “Public Administration” for the Area of Study. This gave me 301 results.

Next, under the Type of School section, I selected “Public” because the question indicated that they were looking for a less expensive school. This reduced the results down to 210 schools.

Then, under the Veteran & Military Programs section, I selected both “Yellow Ribbon” and “Reduced Tuition”. The search resulted in 52 colleges that matched my selections.  You can customize your results and reduce them further.

From this point, I just sift through the results and determine which schools have the MPH program I’m seeking. The first one I found on the list is the University of Utah’s Master of Public Health program.

Here are a few others:

  1. University of North Dakota MPH
  2. Florida State University MPH
  3. Old Dominion University MPH
  4. Indiana State University MPH

After searching through 11 of the 52 results, these were the first five that had an MPH program. This process can be replicated any number of times based on your educational plans.

Final Thoughts

Keep in mind that even though there may not be a college or university in your backyard that offers the program you’re looking for, many institutes of higher learning do offer online programs. In fact, a few of the examples above had online options for the Master of Public Health programs.

So, if you, like the one who asked the question above, know exactly what you’re looking for, use the CollegeRecon School Search tool to find schools that suit your needs.

 

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About the author

Julie Provost
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Julie Provost is a freelance writer, and blogger. She lives in Tennessee with her National Guard husband and three boys.

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