Public Health Programs at WKU
Western Kentucky University appears in our ranking of the Top 20 Cheapest MPH Degrees Online.
The Department of Public Health at Western Kentucky University offers a number of programs for both graduate students and undergrads. Undergrads can enroll in the university’s Bachelor of Science in Public Health and pick a concentration that interests them. Health education focuses on how professionals can teach others about public health topics, while the environmental health concentration deals more with the effect of the environment on population health. Students will take at least 40 credits of public health classes and an additional 30 hours to complete the health education concentration or 25 hours to complete an environmental health concentration.
Though students will take different courses based on their public health concentrations, they will take some foundation courses as well. The university requires students to take Introduction to Epidemiology, Comprehensive School Health Program, and Administration of Health Programs, among others. WKU also offers Bachelor of Science degrees in related subjects, including health care administration, health sciences, and environmental health sciences.
Not only does WKU offer a Master of Public Health program, but this was the first program of its type established in the state and the first to receive accreditation. Students have the option of enrolling in an online MPH program or taking classes on the WKU campus. Both programs feature the same classes, including Introduction to Public Health, Biostatistics, Public Health Administration and Principles of Environmental Health. Students will also take 12 credits of electives, but the university allows them to take classes that count towards a public health certificate as their electives.
A related program available from the university is its Executive Master of Health Administration. Designed for healthcare leaders, this program helps students develop strong decision-making skills and gain the knowledge necessary to work as leaders in the industry. Western Kentucky University offers several Worksite Health Promotion certificate programs for its graduate public health students too.
About Western Kentucky University
Officially founded in 1906, Western Kentucky University is an older school that took over the campus and operations of several older schools. The oldest of those campuses was the Glasgow Normal School and Business College, which offered both business classes and teacher training programs. This school later moved to a new campus, which led to the opening of Potter College. WKU, as many call it, opened in 1906 as the Western Kentucky State Normal School. It took over Potter College and gave the students on this female-only campus the option to enroll in its own degree programs. After serving as a normal school for many years, the school added degree programs and became a teachers college and a state college before formally becoming WKU.
WKU has six colleges on its campus that offer around 80 degree programs for undergrads. Students can also earn an associate degree from the university or enroll in a certificate program. The WKU Graduate School offers more than ten degrees for graduate students too. While U.S. News & World Report ranks WKU as one of the top colleges in the south, Forbes ranks the university on a national level. Washington Monthly ranks WKU as one of the nation’s best graduate schools too. More than 20,000 students now attend Western Kentucky University every year.
Western Kentucky University Accreditation Details
WKU is one of the only schools in Kentucky with accreditation from the Council on Education for Public Health (CEPH). As the main accrediting agency for public health programs, the CEPH is quite selective with who receives accreditation. It ensures that the professors in the program have experience and that the students who graduated from the program are satisfied with their experiences. In addition to the accreditation that it has for some of its other degree programs, WKU has regional accreditation from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCC). Students can use SASCC accreditation to apply for financial and transfer college credits into a university program.
Western Kentucky University Application Requirements
Students can only enroll in the WKU undergrad public health program after completing at least 30 credits of work. They will also need to maintain a grade point average of 2.3 or higher. This program and other similar ones require that students take math and statistics classes too. Students can apply to the university and then apply to the public health program later. Those who already took college classes can apply to the university directly and list public health as their majors on the application. WKU now offers an online version of its application.
Graduate students must have a bachelor’s degree and a GPA of at least 3.2. The university will accept those with a GPA of 2.0 who scored 145 on the verbal section, 148 on the quantitative and 3.5 on the writing sections of the GRE. Students can contact the testing board and have it send their official scores to WKU. Students can also apply to the program while taking classes in medical school or after completing a medical program. MPH students will write an essay that includes the format they want to use, why they want to study public health at Western Kentucky and what they hope to do with their degrees. The university requires two letters of recommendation and a resume also.
Tuition and Financial Aid
The cost of attending WKU starts at $5,301 per semester. Both Kentucky residents and military students qualify for this same tuition rate. Students who do not live in Kentucky will pay $13,248 per semester. Part-time residents pay $442 per credit hour, while nonresidents pay $1,104 per credit hour. The university charges both military and resident graduate students a rate of $607 per credit hour. Nonresidents who want to take graduate classes at WKU will pay $899 per credit hour.
Though WKU is a public university with affordable tuition rates, many students will still want to file the FAFSA and apply for financial aid. More than 80% of those enrolled in the university receive financial aid. The amount they get as well as the type of aid they receive depends on their family contributions and the number of credits they take each semester and year. Students can get grants and loans from the state and/or federal government and take part in the work-study program. Western Kentucky University also offers a few scholarships for qualifying students.
