A Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) degree is one of the most versatile and accepted graduate-level degrees. Prized in a wide variety of fields, MBAs are particularly well regarded in large organizations. With this in mind, it’s no surprise that health care settings find great value in MBA recipients. With the grown of the breadth of concentrations available in MBA programs, healthcare-specific MBA programs have expanded in number. For our ranking below, we were able to survey over 60 programs. And that’s only online programs. We focus on online programs as they are often the most suited to currently working professionals looking to get ahead. The blend of flexibility and unique online-specific support services are often best for those trying to balance work and life expectations with schooling. MBAs have a long history of online education, as they were one of the first degree types to be widely offered online. Today, many of the nation’s top schools (some included below) offer online MBAs. Check out the ten best health care MBAs today below!
Methodology
- Affordability (1/2):
- Tuition Per Credit Hour for Out-of-State Students (where applicable)
- Average percent of aid met by financial aid
- Percentage of students offered financial aid packages
- Academic Support Measures (1/2):
- Graduation Rate
- Retention Rate
- Student-Faculty Ratio
- Acceptance Rate
- Percentage of Tenure Track Faculty
1.) Mount Vernon Nazarene University
Mount Vernon Nazarene University is a private liberal arts college and graduate university with a main campus located in Mount Vernon, Ohio. The University is home to slightly over 2,200 students at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Degrees are offered in a wide range of disciplines at the bachelor’s and master’s levels. The University’s Graduate and Professional Studies (GPS) programs cater to nontraditional learners, offering degrees for adults at under and postgraduate levels. Over half of the student body of Mount Vernon are currently enrolled in the GPS program, which offers five undergraduate BBA concentrations and a Social Work. At a graduate level, the GPS offers degrees in business, education, and ministry. A number of degree programs at both degree levels are available fully online.
The fully online MBA in health care administration offered by Mount Vernon Nazarene University places highly in our ranking due to high academic quality and support measures as well as affordability. This 36 credit hour program holds admissions standards requiring students to have acquired at least a 2.8 GPA from a regionally accredited undergraduate institution. For students with some graduate business credits already to their name, up to 6 credit hours may be transferred into the program. Besides being accessible and affordable, academic quality measures for Mount Vernon as a whole are quite high quality as well. Graduation rate within 150% of program length is high, as well as a retention rate (over 70%). The student-to-faculty ratio at the university is currently 12 to 1.
- Tuition Per Credit Hour: $498
- Homepage
2.) Ball State University
Ball State University (BSU) is a public, coeducational research university with a main campus located in Muncie, Indiana. Satellite campuses are also available in Fishers, and Indianapolis, as well as a wide range of online academic offerings. Currently, over 22,000 students attend the university at bachelor’s through doctoral levels. The university offers a wide range of research opportunities and is rated a doctoral university, higher research level for such. Currently, 190 undergraduate majors and 130 master’s, specialist, professional, and doctoral degrees are available. BSU has been ranked nationally for a number of its programs. Most notable are the following programs: architecture, entrepreneurial management, and education.
The online MBA in Health Economics, Policy, and Administration from Ball State University ranks highly in both affordability and academic support and quality measures. The degree program is one of the more flexible surveyed, offering multiple start dates a year, the ability to take courses part of full-time, and the ability to take courses online, in person, or a blend of both. Students who already have an undergraduate degree in business can accelerate their time-until-degree and lowering the number of credit hours required for graduation from 51 to 30-33. Ball State’s health-related concentration titled “Health Economics, Policy, and Administration” is a particularly unique offering. This concentration provides coursework in economic analysis for health care settings, health economic policy, human resources management, and/or risk management and assurance.
- Tuition Per Credit Hour: $500
- Homepage
3.) Maryville University
Maryville University (MU) is a private, coeducational university with a main campus located in Town and Country, Missouri (a suburb of Saint Louis). MU is home to over 7,000 students at undergraduate through doctoral levels of study. Currently, there are over 90 degree programs across six colleges of the university. A unique school of adult and online education provides courses at a number of satellite campuses around the Saint Louis area as well as online courses, particularly for non-traditional students. A central focus at the university is on undergraduate education and teaching, with low student-to-faculty ratios of 14 to 1. As with comparable prestigious, private universities outcome measures such as retention rates and graduation rates are both high.
The fully online MBA in Health Administration offered by Maryville University places highly in our ranking due to academic quality measures, and around average tuition price (of all schools surveyed). Additionally, the program is quite flexible. This makes it a particularly suitable program for those with family or work priorities that may compete with going to school. Flexibility-granting elements of the program include no entrance exam requirement, the choice of a number of start dates, and a generous transfer policy. Students of the program will study a variety of advanced topics related to health administration, including medical law and ethics, population health management, health care practice operations, and health care industry management. For students looking for a flexible, student-centered, and highly regarded online health MBA, Maryville’s program is second to none.
- Tuition Per Credit Hour: $714
- Homepage
4.) College of St. Scholastica
The College of St. Scholastica is a small private college with a main campus located in Duluth, Minnesota. The College was founded by Benedictine Nuns and still retains its affiliation with Benedictine Catholicism. Home to over 4,000 students, the university provides academic programming to students close to equally split between the undergraduate and graduate levels. In recent years, a number of satellite campuses have been opened, including St. Paul, St. Cloud, Rochester, Brainerd, Inner Grove Heights, Cloquet, and Austin. A range of online degrees, particularly in business and health care disciplines are also available. The college is one of the top-ranked institutions of higher education in its region.
The College of St. Scholastica offers a particularly unique MBA in health care, in that it focuses on rural health care. This degree program, offered entirely online, places highly in our ranking due to its high-quality academic support and affordability measures. Academic support measures that place highly for the degree include high graduation and retention rates for the program as well as a low student-to-faculty ratio. Flexible program components including accelerated 8-week courses as well as the ability to finish the program in 2 years with part-time study make this program great for already working students. Additionally, despite the high quality of the program, it’s also one of the most affordable we surveyed for our ranking.
- Tuition Per Credit Hour: $549
- Homepage
5.) University of Sioux Falls
The University of Sioux Falls is a four-year private university with a main campus located in Sioux Falls, South Dakota. The University is a liberal arts college with some graduate degrees and is associated with the American Baptist Churches USA conference. Around 1,400 students attend the University, with 1,200 of these students attending at the undergraduate level. Class sizes are small, and student outcome measures such as graduation and retention rates are high quality. The University is regionally accredited (the highest form of accreditation) by the Higher Learning Commission. Academic offerings currently include over 40 undergraduate programs, 9 pre-professional programs, as well as adult and graduate programs. Online offerings are also available at the university.
The MBA and health care concentration offered by the University of Sioux Falls places highly in our ranking due to affordability as well as student success measures including retention rate, graduation rate, and student-to-faculty ratio. Students in the program first complete the 24 semester hour core MBA program and then proceed to the 12-hour concentration in health care. While regional accreditation is the highest form of accreditation for entire universities, specialized accreditation elevates the university’s standing in a particular subject matter. In the case of Sioux Falls, the University holds specialized accreditation through the International Assembly for Collegiate Business Education.
- Tuition Per Credit Hour: $385
- Homepage
6.) Endicott College
Endicott College is a private, four-year college with a main campus located in Beverly, Massachusetts. Home to close to 5,000 students at the undergraduate and graduate levels, Endicott College offers associates through doctoral level degrees. A wide range of degree programs are available through the college, with a majority available fully online. Student-to-faculty ratios at the college are low, and academic outcome-predicting measures such as graduation and retention rates are high (a mark of student satisfaction). Academic offerings are largely practical, with the College noting that 90% of graduates end up in positions relating to their major or academic course of study.
The fully online MBA offered by the Van Loan Business School at Endicott College offers a number of concentrations in health care. Concentrations in health informatics, health care, and non-profit management (among 11 other concentrations) are potential courses of study suitable for health care careers. Additional flexibility-enhancing components include the lack of standardized test submissions to enter the program, an accelerated format, as well as customizable coursework. Students may graduate the program in all of the fourteen total concentrations in as little as 18 months. We placed this program highly in our ranking due to quality student support measures. Additionally, for a private program, the program is not overly expensive, falling in the middle of the pack among all programs surveyed.
- Tuition Per Credit Hour: $739
- Homepage
7.) University of South Dakota
The University of South Dakota is a public research university with a main campus located in Vermillion, South Dakota. As the flagship university of the state, a wide variety of degree programs are available from the bachelor’s through doctoral levels. Close to 10,000 students call the university home, with about 7,500 at the undergraduate level. For a flagship university, class sizes are relatively small, with an average student-to-faculty ratio of 16 to 1. Student outcome information including retention and 6-year graduation rates are strong, indicating a quality student pool and the proper support to see those students through to academic success.
The fully online MBA in Health Services Administration offered by the University of South Dakota places highly in our ranking due to affordability as well as academic support measures. The degree is technically a degree-completion program, in that 19 credit hours of undergraduate coursework are required. Students may elect to finish their undergraduate degree with these credits, or students who have already completed the required undergraduate business coursework may enter the MBA with “advanced standing.” Advance standing students need to only complete 39 credit hours to obtain their MBA. All courses — undergraduate and graduate — are available online. An additional selling point may be seen through the fact that the program was the 6th most affordable of all programs surveyed for our ranking. This makes the University of South Dakota’s program a significant value.
- Tuition Per Credit Hour: $450
- Homepage
8.) University of Central Arkansas
The University of Central Arkansas is a public research university located in Conway, Arkansas. Historically, the school has been the leading producer of educators in Arkansas. The University is also the oldest university in the state. Today, academic offerings are more diverse and include well-regarded programs in nursing, physical therapy, education, business, the performing arts, and psychology. Close to 12,000 students call the university home, with over 9,000 of those students at the undergraduate level. The University is also home to an honors college that was one of the first in the United States. This offers a rigorous liberal arts-based curriculum to qualifying undergraduates. A wide range of online degree offerings are also available at the University.
The fully online MBA with a concentration in health care administration offered by the University of Central Arkansas places highly in our ranking due to affordability as well as academic quality measures. On the affordability front, the program is the most affordable of those surveyed for our ranking. The per credit hour cost of the program is just $325, less than half of the average for competing schools. The health care administration concentration requires 24 credit hours of core MBA courses as well as 6 credit hours from health care administration courses. Health care administration courses include topics such as nutritional health, environmental services, health promotion, multicultural health, health science research, and contemporary health programs. Students pursuing a health care MBA can rest assured in the value of the MBA at the University of Central Arkansas. The low tuition rate, up-to-date curriculum, and quality student outcomes make it one of the best deals surveyed in this year’s ranking.
- Tuition Per Credit Hour: $325
- Homepage
9.) Marist College
Marist College is a private liberal arts college located in Poughkeepsie, New York. The main campus overlooks the Hudson River and is known for its beautiful campus. Originally founded by the religious order of the Marist Brothers, Marist College now offers a wide range of academic offerings including 44 bachelor’s degrees, 12 master’s degrees, and a number of professional certificates. Over, 7,000 students call the college home, with over 6,500 of those students at the undergraduate level. The student-faculty-ratio of the college reflects this focus on undergraduate education and teaching and is currently 17 to 1. Retention and graduation rates are of high quality, measures that often point to quality academic and social support measures. Marist College is regularly named one of the best regional colleges in the Northeast by US News.
The fully online healthcare administration MBA offered by Marist College places highly in our ranking due to affordability and quality of academic offerings. While regional accreditation is the highest form of accreditation for a university as a whole, programmatic accreditation is the highest form of accreditation for an individual program. Marist’s MBA program is programmatically accredited by the AACSB. Coursework includes a core MBA curriculum as well as four healthcare administration-centered courses. Courses focused on healthcare administration include managing organizational change, US health care systems and policies, ethical/legal issues in health care, and critical issues in health care. While the program is more expensive than some public offerings, Marist Collge is on the affordable end for private offerings.
- Tuition Per Credit Hour: $800
- Homepage
10.) Southeast Missouri State University
Southeast Missouri State University (SMSU) is a public university with a main campus located in Cape Girardeau, Missouri. Originally a Normal School, SMSU has a long lineage of educating regional educators. Today the university has more varied offerings, including over 200 courses of study at the undergraduate and master’s level. SMSU also offers a doctorate of education jointly with the University of Missouri. Currently, over 11,500 students call the university home, with over 10,000 of those students at the undergraduate level. A wide range of programs are also available online.
The fully online MBA in Health Administration offered by Southeast Missouri State University places highly in our ranking due to affordability as well as the quality of academic support measures. The program is currently the second most affordable, and less than half the average cost per credit hour of programs surveyed. The current per credit hour price of the program is $347. Full-time retention and graduation rates at the university are also of high quality. Student-to-faculty ratios at the university average out to 21 to 1. This program is doubly accredited by the AACSB and the NIBS, making it one of the few surveyed to hold such accolades. With up-to-date and accredited coursework, quality support measures, and affordable tuition, it’s hard for health care MBA students to go wrong at SEMO.
- Tuition Per Credit Hour: $347
- Homepage