Need help finding graduate classes

[tb81]

I'm currently in the Doctor of Public Administration program at Valdosta State. Apart from the 30 9000-level credits that are part of the core curriculum, there are 24 credits at the Master's level which make up your concentration (15 hours) and electives (6 hours). VSU's DPA has no set list of concentrations (i.e. X classes in a given subject = concentration). Instead they take a mix & match approach as long as you can relate the subject matter in a reasonable way to Public Administration & get approval from the program director.

My dilemma is this: Despite being in a PA program, I'm not looking forward to several more years of enthralling courses such as Intergovernmental Management and Public Sector Planning, which are my choices for concentration/electives if I stay only within classes that are offered by the PA program. We have been told that a graduate certificate in another topic from VSU or elsewhere could count as our concentration (again, given approval), but I've had a hard time finding one that would be both applicable and affordable. I live in GA, most of my tuition for the DPA program is paid for as I'm a state employee, and right now I'm on track to complete the DPA in a 5 year period (2021). I'm not finding anything in-state that my tuition assistance would cover that would be of any use in my situation.

My background is in emergency management & public health/toxicology. I'd like to find something in or related to those areas. PA is a very dry subject field and a DPA isn't exactly something one pursues for the sake of personal enrichment, so I'm looking for something that would either 1) add some interesting subject matter or 2) speed up my graduation timetable. VSU has a Healthcare Administration grad certificate, but I'm not sold on that as a possibility at the moment. I'm in an out of the way part of the state, so any options would need to be online.

So my question is: Are there any online grad certificates or self-paced grad classes that could possibly fit this criteria? I'm not opposed to paying out of pocket, but it would either have to be something relatively cheap in an interesting subject or something self-paced that would speed up my timeline for graduation. I've been working full time and in college continuously since January 2008, so I'm ready to be done with it all. (Yet couldn't walk away from a relatively-free doctorate.) At this point anything that would even shave 1 semester off my graduation date would be welcome.

[KayV]

These are the cheapest/ easiest graduate courses I know about (VESi through Southern Utah), but I'm not sure they would work for you.
https://www.virtualeduc.com/direct_accou....php?uid=5

[AJ_Atlanta]

You would be hard pressed to put any of those into public administration.

My personal opinion, and knowing a little about public sector, I would go for something like a graduate certificate from Harvard extension. They have a few that could work and public sector loves the ivy. There are also some less expensive options like UMass - really broad selections of choices.

Just my .02 as I know this wasn't exactly what you asked for

[KayV]

I know, but you could probably tie some of them (like Substance Abuse) into public health.

[videogamesrock]

UCLA extension has graduate level courses at $750 a course.

Any. UCLA course numbered 400 and above is considered graduate level.

[videogamesrock]

University of Colorado, Colorado Springs has a Graduate Certificate in Diversity and Inclusion. $550 a course.

Graduate Certificate Program in Diversity, Social Justice and Inclusion - LAS Extended Studies | University of Colorado Colorado Springs

[videogamesrock]

UC irvine Extension has many certificates where courses run around $650.

[dfrecore]

UC irvine Extension has many certificates where courses run around $650.

How can you tell which ones are graduate-level certificates? And how many graduate credits you can get for them?

[videogamesrock]

You can take as many as you want to pay for. Majority are at the graduate level which are courses 200 and above. They are ok the quarter system and have different course numberings. 1-99 is LL, 100-199 is UL, 200+ is graduate.

[dfrecore]

You can take as many as you want to pay for. Majority are at the graduate level which are courses 200 and above. They are ok the quarter system and have different course numberings. 1-99 is LL, 100-199 is UL, 200+ is graduate.

I still didn't see how many credits each course was.

When I look for UC Irvine Extension, it takes me to the Division of Continuing Education, which doesn't seem right.