The Master of Public Administration degree requires the student to successfully complete a minimum of 36 credit hours. MPA students are classified as in-service or pre-service based on experience in the public or nonprofit sector. Pre-service students are usually recent graduates who lack sufficient managerial or administrative experience. In-service students are currently employed and usually have several years of relevant work experience in the public or non-profit sectors in a job requiring a minimum of a bachelor’s degree for entry.
The program is flexible enough to accommodate full-time (9-12 hours per semester) or part-time students (3-6 hours per semester). Accordingly, the length of time required to complete the program will vary. All students must successfully complete the core curriculum of 24 semester hours, 9-12 hours of electives, and 3-6 hours of internship, depending upon classification as in-service or pre-service.