Masters in less than 30 credit hours?

[sanantone]

I'm shocked that their accreditor approved this. Other than an LLM, which is a post-professional degree, I've never seen a master's degree that is less than 30 credits. I've seen graduate certificates ranging from 9 credits to 24 credits.

I was shocked by this as well. I figured there had to be some sort of PLA, prior experience credit, or similar that would get this degree to 30 credits, but didn’t see it. 

The course sequence is bizarre:

https://www.marywood.edu/public-administ...ers-degree

There is no indication that you start in the spring. If you are expected to start in the fall, you take the capstone before you take the research methodologies course.  Surely they expect you to start in the spring, right?

Yes, it is a bizarre sequence. They say the program takes a year, so maybe people are supposed to start in spring. If they start in fall, then the program will only be 8 months. I wonder if they offer summer courses.

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From my point of view I will say that 30 is the bare minimum and the desired is 60 hours. You have to learn something during the degree.
Let me clarify that if you have experience in the field or prior knowledge in the field 30 credits can be perfectly acceptable, but if you go from a non related field to another that is completely different for many experience you have (your commented 12 credits) then you will do only 18 hours, which seems a little short to be called anything in a subject you never had formal instruction before.

60 credits for a master's degree? Those aren't super common. Most are 30-36. Few 48 which are usually MBAs. Who would want a 60 credit master's?

The only 60+ master's programs I've seen have been in the healthcare field (counseling, social work, and physician assistant studies), divinity, and architecture.

[ss20ts]

The only 60+ master's programs I've seen have been in the healthcare field (counseling, social work, and physician assistant studies), divinity, and architecture.

One's undergrad degree will have an impact on master's in these fields as these are fields which require state licensing except divinity. The 60 credit architecture master's is typically for those without the required undergrad degree in architecture or engineering. Same with social work and sometimes counseling. Medical degrees such as physician assistant are usually more work because who wants someone who don't know a bone from a blood vessel working on them? I'm definitely seeing way more NPs and PAs that MDs at my doctor's offices these days. 

I have seen 1 or 2 MBAs that were 60 credits and I was like WHY? A bachelor's degree is twice as many credits and half of your credits aren't business courses so why so many credits for an MBA? That just seemed like a money grab.

[MrPanda]

For comparison, the Master of Economics in Peru is composed of 23 courses, and it takes 2 years (after a 5 years bachelors).

23 courses would seem excessive for a US program, I think?

However, I understand that maybe economics and business are very different, and maybe those programs could be longer.

[teejayb]

I got a response from the assistant director of admissions. You must have a bachelor's degree from at least 5 years ago. What an odd thing to require. My 8 years in public service and local government means nothing if I didn't get a degree before 2018 and then got experience.

[cc95]

I got a response from the assistant director of admissions. You must have a bachelor's degree from at least 5 years ago. What an odd thing to require. My 8 years in public service and local government means nothing if I didn't get a degree before 2018 and then got experience.

odd - I'm going to apply and see what happens anyway, have an MBA from WGU earned in 2015 and 10 years of public service plus 8 military.. seems like some mega donor's kids needs some papers to check off a box for an inheritance or something.. odd indeed

[ss20ts]

For comparison, the Master of Economics in Peru is composed of 23 courses, and it takes 2 years (after a 5 years bachelors).

23 courses would seem excessive for a US program, I think?

However, I understand that maybe economics and business are very different, and maybe those programs could be longer.

Yes that would be very excessive in the US. I've looked at MS in Econ here in the US and they were 36 credits. 23 grad courses in 2 years would be a lot of work. Are they 3 credit courses? That's a 69 credit master's which is odd.

[MrPanda]

For comparison, the Master of Economics in Peru is composed of 23 courses, and it takes 2 years (after a 5 years bachelors).

23 courses would seem excessive for a US program, I think?

However, I understand that maybe economics and business are very different, and maybe those programs could be longer.

Yes that would be very excessive in the US. I've looked at MS in Econ here in the US and they were 36 credits. 23 grad courses in 2 years would be a lot of work. Are they 3 credit courses? That's a 69 credit master's which is odd.

PRIMER SEMESTRE
CRÉDITOS
Teoría Microeconómica 4.0
Teoría Macroeconómica 3.0
Contabilidad Gerencial y Financiera 3.0
Planeación y Gestión Financiera 3.0
Legislación Bancaria y Financiera 3.0


SEGUNDO SEMESTRE
 
Métodos de Investigación Cuantitativa 4.0
Matemática Financiera 3.0
Técnicas Financieras Avanzadas 3.0
Técnicas Financieras en los mercados Internacionales de Capital 3.0
Métodos Financieros aplicados en la industria financiera y de seguros 3.0
Métodos de investigación Cualitativa 4.0


TERCER SEMESTRE
 
Instrumentos para la administración del Riesgo Financiero 3.0
Evaluación Financiera de los proyectos de Inversión 3.0
Técnicas de Financiamiento Corporativas 3.0
Instrumentos de Valoración Financiero Empresarial 3.0
Plan de Tesis I 4.0
Re-Ingeniería Financiera 2.0


CUARTO SEMESTRE
 
Instrumentos de Política Monetaria 3.0
Instrumentos de Financiamiento en el Mercado de Valores y la Banca de Inversión 3.0
Métodos de Intermediación Financiera y Mercados de Capital Internacional 3.0
Instrumentos de Derivados Financieros 3.0
Plan de Tesis II 4.0
Gestión Financiera de las Pequeñas y Medianas Empresas 2.0


TOTAL DE CRÉDITOS
72.0

[sanantone]

I got a response from the assistant director of admissions. You must have a bachelor's degree from at least 5 years ago. What an odd thing to require. My 8 years in public service and local government means nothing if I didn't get a degree before 2018 and then got experience.

It's not unheard of for an academic program or a job to require a minimum number of years of experience after earning a bachelor's or master's degree. I guess the rationale is that they want the candidate to have a certain number of years applying what they learned in college, typically in jobs that require a degree.

[DeanLewis]

From my point of view I will say that 30 is the bare minimum and the desired is 60 hours. You have to learn something during the degree.
Let me clarify that if you have experience in the field or prior knowledge in the field 30 credits can be perfectly acceptable, but if you go from a non related field to another that is completely different for many experience you have (your commented 12 credits) then you will do only 18 hours, which seems a little short to be called anything in a subject you never had formal instruction before.

60 credits for a master's degree? Those aren't super common. Most are 30-36. Few 48 which are usually MBAs. Who would want a 60 credit master's?

I've got a couple, they are the standard for counseling and social work (where 60 semester hours is the generally accepted minimum required for licensure), and seminary degrees built around the MDiv are classically a minimum of 72-75 hours, with many institutions offering a 90 credit hour program. The funny part is a DMin, the terminal seminary degree, is usually 30-36 credits on top of that and most places stretch it out over three years.

[Maniac Craniac]

Too bad tuition is $824 per credit  

With fees, it winds up being a bit over $15,602. So, not bad overall for an MPA, but only because there are so few credits.

Compared to a few programs out there for ~$13,000 for 36 credit programs, you're basically paying an extra $2,600 to skip half the degree.