New Master of Public Health at ACE $9225

[newdegree]

Public health is one of those degrees it matters where you graduate from. Top flight schools provide direct access to good public health related jobs like consulting or data analytics straight out of school. Lesser brand name MPH schools still are valid if the are CEPH accredited. I am all for affordable but this seems like it would be a true waste of time and money.....I would advise caution on this one.

I always thought MPH degree needed a clinical base to be worth it. I think something like data analytics would take more training than a MPH would provide, no?

MPH programs have different concentrations. Many good programs have an emphasis in industrial hygiene or more commonly biostats/epidemiology. These concentrations provide a direct path to a career compared to a MPH that is more what they call a generalist. It really depends on the career path you would want. I know programs that are heavily concentrated in biostats have great job outlooks as biostats is a great quantitative skill that can be applied in many sectors not just healthcare. Biostats and epidemiology training provide skills like graduate level statistics and R/SAS/Python/Linux skills that can lead to direct placement into great paying careers. Also, not being CEPH accredited may limit access to future certifications which may or may not be important to some.

The ACE program doesn't provides a brand name (odd name really) or robust training in the above skills at a quick glance but I could be wrong. I would recommend the Eastern Washington U MPH program as it is just a few thousand ($16,000) more but checks the above boxes. Not trying to bag on the ACE program but it still costs money and time with unclear outcomes for graduates is my concern. ACE seems like a good option to get checkbox degrees to aid in advancement in education and BSN degrees to which any accredited degree will aid in career advancement.....but I just don't see the value/purpose of their MPH. That said....at least they follow a good model to make education affordable. 

TLDR; Education masters that are cheap like ACE provides is great as teachers are criminally underpaid and it will aid them in their career without the burden of debt but their MPH value proposition is not great if a robust career in public health is the goal.

I appreciate the advice, I am planning to use my MPH as padding when applying for administration jobs since I already have a doctorate in healthcare administration. In the future I may take a Doctorate in public health from a school that is CEPH, generally, I found a few really good programs that do not require the MPH degree to be from a CEPH-accredited college as they just want a general MPH degree as a requirement for admissions. Again every school is different in its admissions requirements. 

Also since I am transferring in credits I'm only paying about $6500 or less to do the degree so it's a great value. It is a fast degree with classes 5 weeks long each and if you get permission you can double up on classes as well. Only downside is no financial aid is accepted only private loans or self-pay courses as you go.

Interesting.....so this may be of value for you. Just curious....what is the ultimate goal as you already have a doctorate from a good medical school? I am thinking of a second masters and I feel physically tired even contemplating that endeavor let alone a second Dr.  Best wishes.

my doctorate in healthcare administration is not from a medical school its from Virginia University of Lynchburg. I was working on a doctor of health science at Eastern Virginia Medical School but I am taking a break as the work is too much.

---

I also found CEPH seems to only be required for government jobs. My local public health offices have officials from non CEPH schools, etc.

Your local public health offices are not owned by the government? 

I haven't seen that CEPH is required for many government jobs. It's mostly required for academic jobs. USPHS is the one government employer I can recall that requires CEPH accreditation. If you search CEPH at USAJobs.gov, which lists the majority of federal openings, only nine results come up, and they're all for the VA. CEPH is not even required for those openings. CEPH was just one of several programmatic accreditations listed as "preferred." 

If you search CEPH at GovernmentJobs.com, which lists over 50,000 state/local/federal jobs, there are currently only three results. Do a search on Indeed, and almost all of the results are for academia. 

Of course, just because CEPH isn't mentioned on a job ad doesn't mean that it isn't secretly preferred. However, outside of the VA and USPHS, the federal government is not all that picky about programmatic accreditation, and they definitely don't care about the prestige of your school.

Sorry I should've distingushed better.

I mean they're really more used for federal government jobs. Local governments don't really enforce the CEPH. I've seen the requirement for very few public health jobs. Many of the descriptions state a Department of Education Master's is needed. I could be wrong, but that was my experience.

There's another certification for public health, I forgot what the name was, for people who didn't go to a CEPH school.

These are the payment options I was sent by the school. 
At American College of Education, we know that paying for a graduate education is hard on your finances. We also understand how important it is to strengthen your skills and stay up-to-date in your profession—and that’s why we work hard to make sure cost doesn’t become a barrier. 
We offer a variety of payment options to help you pay for your program. Invest in yourself and your career by choosing one of our flexible payment and financing options.  
Pay Out of Pocket:  

• Payment in Full 
  

• Make one payment covering the entire program tuition and fees.  
  

• Course-by-Course 
  

• Pay program tuition and fees one course at a time. 
  

• Monthly Payment 
  

• Pay program tuition and fees on a monthly basis. 
  

Pay With Financing 

• Climb Credit
  
• Sallie Mae 
  
• Tuition Flex 
  

School District Partnership Agreements 

• Under a partnership agreement between American College of Education and a participating school district, full-time employees of the participating district who pursue a degree at ACE are eligible for reduced tuition rates. Please see your district administrator for more information and to find out if your district has a partnership with ACE. 
  

[size=undefined]
 
In-School Deferment of Prior Federal Loans [/size]

• Existing federal loans from previous educational intuitions may be deferred while actively enrolled at ACE.* You can contact an enrollment counselor at 1-800-280-0307, option 2 for more information about in-school loan deferment of existing federal loans while attending ACE. Please visit the tuition page for more information. 
  

[ashkir]

I always thought MPH degree needed a clinical base to be worth it. I think something like data analytics would take more training than a MPH would provide, no?

MPH programs have different concentrations. Many good programs have an emphasis in industrial hygiene or more commonly biostats/epidemiology. These concentrations provide a direct path to a career compared to a MPH that is more what they call a generalist. It really depends on the career path you would want. I know programs that are heavily concentrated in biostats have great job outlooks as biostats is a great quantitative skill that can be applied in many sectors not just healthcare. Biostats and epidemiology training provide skills like graduate level statistics and R/SAS/Python/Linux skills that can lead to direct placement into great paying careers. Also, not being CEPH accredited may limit access to future certifications which may or may not be important to some.

The ACE program doesn't provides a brand name (odd name really) or robust training in the above skills at a quick glance but I could be wrong. I would recommend the Eastern Washington U MPH program as it is just a few thousand ($16,000) more but checks the above boxes. Not trying to bag on the ACE program but it still costs money and time with unclear outcomes for graduates is my concern. ACE seems like a good option to get checkbox degrees to aid in advancement in education and BSN degrees to which any accredited degree will aid in career advancement.....but I just don't see the value/purpose of their MPH. That said....at least they follow a good model to make education affordable. 

TLDR; Education masters that are cheap like ACE provides is great as teachers are criminally underpaid and it will aid them in their career without the burden of debt but their MPH value proposition is not great if a robust career in public health is the goal.

I appreciate the advice, I am planning to use my MPH as padding when applying for administration jobs since I already have a doctorate in healthcare administration. In the future I may take a Doctorate in public health from a school that is CEPH, generally, I found a few really good programs that do not require the MPH degree to be from a CEPH-accredited college as they just want a general MPH degree as a requirement for admissions. Again every school is different in its admissions requirements. 

Also since I am transferring in credits I'm only paying about $6500 or less to do the degree so it's a great value. It is a fast degree with classes 5 weeks long each and if you get permission you can double up on classes as well. Only downside is no financial aid is accepted only private loans or self-pay courses as you go.

Interesting.....so this may be of value for you. Just curious....what is the ultimate goal as you already have a doctorate from a good medical school? I am thinking of a second masters and I feel physically tired even contemplating that endeavor let alone a second Dr.  Best wishes.

my doctorate in healthcare administration is not from a medical school its from Virginia University of Lynchburg. I was working on a doctor of health science at Eastern Virginia Medical School but I am taking a break as the work is too much.

---

I also found CEPH seems to only be required for government jobs. My local public health offices have officials from non CEPH schools, etc.

Your local public health offices are not owned by the government? 

I haven't seen that CEPH is required for many government jobs. It's mostly required for academic jobs. USPHS is the one government employer I can recall that requires CEPH accreditation. If you search CEPH at USAJobs.gov, which lists the majority of federal openings, only nine results come up, and they're all for the VA. CEPH is not even required for those openings. CEPH was just one of several programmatic accreditations listed as "preferred." 

If you search CEPH at GovernmentJobs.com, which lists over 50,000 state/local/federal jobs, there are currently only three results. Do a search on Indeed, and almost all of the results are for academia. 

Of course, just because CEPH isn't mentioned on a job ad doesn't mean that it isn't secretly preferred. However, outside of the VA and USPHS, the federal government is not all that picky about programmatic accreditation, and they definitely don't care about the prestige of your school.

Sorry I should've distingushed better.

I mean they're really more used for federal government jobs. Local governments don't really enforce the CEPH. I've seen the requirement for very few public health jobs. Many of the descriptions state a Department of Education Master's is needed. I could be wrong, but that was my experience.

There's another certification for public health, I forgot what the name was, for people who didn't go to a CEPH school.

These are the payment options I was sent by the school. 
At American College of Education, we know that paying for a graduate education is hard on your finances. We also understand how important it is to strengthen your skills and stay up-to-date in your profession—and that’s why we work hard to make sure cost doesn’t become a barrier. 
We offer a variety of payment options to help you pay for your program. Invest in yourself and your career by choosing one of our flexible payment and financing options.  
Pay Out of Pocket:  

• Payment in Full 
  

• Make one payment covering the entire program tuition and fees.  
  

• Course-by-Course 
  

• Pay program tuition and fees one course at a time. 
  

• Monthly Payment 
  

• Pay program tuition and fees on a monthly basis. 
  

Pay With Financing 

• Climb Credit
  
• Sallie Mae 
  
• Tuition Flex 
  

School District Partnership Agreements 

• Under a partnership agreement between American College of Education and a participating school district, full-time employees of the participating district who pursue a degree at ACE are eligible for reduced tuition rates. Please see your district administrator for more information and to find out if your district has a partnership with ACE. 
  

[size=undefined]
 
In-School Deferment of Prior Federal Loans [/size]

• Existing federal loans from previous educational intuitions may be deferred while actively enrolled at ACE.* You can contact an enrollment counselor at 1-800-280-0307, option 2 for more information about in-school loan deferment of existing federal loans while attending ACE. Please visit the tuition page for more information. 
  

Their Climb Credit and Tuition Flex links are broken. I can only pay like $100ish a month for a little while so I'm hoping they can respond back with financing options. I'll defer my student loans longer.

[newdegree]

Could always contact a private lender, discover gives some decent rates. Just an option if you really want to fund this program

[ashkir]

Could always contact a private lender, discover gives some decent rates. Just an option if you really want to fund this program

Yeah! I might do that for like 3-4k and pay the rest myself. Unfortunately Discover only allows affiliated colleges to do it, ACE isn't list ed.

[ashkir]

While I want to do this program, I think ultimately I'm going to end up declining it. I cannot afford another $6k+ expense right now. Most I can afford to add to my current bills, etc is $100 a month. I live in California, my rent already is in the thousands for a small place. It's a shame they don't participate in FAFSA. I did qualify for loans through Credit Climb, etc. But, only for about a third of the program, since they're not partner with any bigger student loan services. Their "partners" require you to pay while in school. So, basically I'd be paying the full cost anyways if I did the month to month... The financing sucks.

Their Sallie Mae financing is a vicious, daily compounded, private loan, that has terms that will raise your interest rate to 30% after 1 year, you only get deferral for 1 year, but, you're still required to make payments while in school.

Their tuition flex is no longer available.

[newdegree]

That sucks but I understand. That’s the only downside to this program is having to pay out of pocket because they are a for profit college. The tuition is cheap and Affordable but now might not be the right time for you. Maybe in the future you can do it or find another program that takes financial aid.

[sanantone]

That sucks but I understand. That’s the only downside to this program is having to pay out of pocket because they are a for profit college. The tuition is cheap and Affordable but now might not be the right time for you. Maybe in the future you can do it or find another program that takes financial aid.

Many for-profit colleges participate in Title IV financial aid programs, which is the reason why their existence and predatory recruiting practices are so controversial. A few decades ago, the courts determined that prohibiting for-profit colleges from receiving federal financial aid was unconstitutional, and that's when the popularity of schools like Devry, Kaplan, ITT Tech, and University of Phoenix exploded. There are for-profit and not-for-profit schools that choose not to participate in Title IV for three reasons:

1. It keeps administrative costs low, so it's supposed to help them keep tuition low. 
2. Some conservative universities want as little to do with the federal government as possible. 
3. Schools believe that this will keep students out of debt or excessive debt since they will only be able to obtain private loans that require income and credit worthiness. Although they pretend that their in-house payment plans are not debt, they are.

[ashkir]

I still likely won't proceed but the results of transferring the 3 classes @newdegree stated:


Request - 1 Information
ACE Course Name Research Methods and Applied Statistics
Transfer Course Number DHA 808
Transfer Course Name Research Practicum
Credit Hours 4
Type Of Credit Semester
Transfer Course Start/End Date 09-05-2022/12-25-2022
Transfer Course Grade B
School Name Virginia University of Lynchburg
Decision Approved


Request - 2 Information
ACE Course Name Public Health Literacy and Communication
Transfer Course Number DHA 802
Transfer Course Name Organizational Communication
Credit Hours 4
Type Of Credit Semester
Transfer Course Start/End Date 01-04-2022/04-25-2022
Transfer Course Grade A
School Name Virginia University of Lynchburg
Decision Approved


Request - 3 Information
ACE Course Name Health Policy Evaluation and Development
Transfer Course Number DHA 806
Transfer Course Name Global Healthcare Strategy
Credit Hours 4
Type Of Credit Semester
Transfer Course Start/End Date 05-02-2022/08-22-2022
Transfer Course Grade A
School Name Virginia University of Lynchburg
Decision Approved

[newdegree]

I still likely won't proceed but the results of transferring the 3 classes @newdegree stated:


Request - 1 Information
ACE Course Name Research Methods and Applied Statistics
Transfer Course Number DHA 808
Transfer Course Name Research Practicum
Credit Hours 4
Type Of Credit Semester
Transfer Course Start/End Date 09-05-2022/12-25-2022
Transfer Course Grade B
School Name Virginia University of Lynchburg
Decision Approved


Request - 2 Information
ACE Course Name Public Health Literacy and Communication
Transfer Course Number DHA 802
Transfer Course Name Organizational Communication
Credit Hours 4
Type Of Credit Semester
Transfer Course Start/End Date 01-04-2022/04-25-2022
Transfer Course Grade A
School Name Virginia University of Lynchburg
Decision Approved


Request - 3 Information
ACE Course Name Health Policy Evaluation and Development
Transfer Course Number DHA 806
Transfer Course Name Global Healthcare Strategy
Credit Hours 4
Type Of Credit Semester
Transfer Course Start/End Date 05-02-2022/08-22-2022
Transfer Course Grade A
School Name Virginia University of Lynchburg
Decision Approved

glad to see they approved the same three courses.

[newdegree]

Just slowly waiting for the end of May to come