Undergraduate Degrees in Health Science at University of the People

[sanantone]

Kizmet posted about this on the other forum. University of the People has started offering an associate's and bachelor's in health science. I'm glad they're offering something different from the typical business administration degrees, but I wish they had a better name and accepted transfer credits.

Overview - Computer Science Degrees
http://www.uopeople.edu/wp-content/uploa...3-2016.pdf

[jsd]

Cool, wish they could shake their NA and swap it with RA though. Still an interesting concept none the less. I was always intrigued by the idea of the school.

[cookderosa]

Cool, wish they could shake their NA and swap it with RA though. Still an interesting concept none the less. I was always intrigued by the idea of the school.

I think if they sought regional accreditation, they'd be unable to offer the degrees for free. I also think business is the perfect place for NA degrees, not high octane business seekers obviously, but for the other 99% it's awesome. Health sciences and NA don't go together in my brain....maybe I'm missing something. As far as I know, there are no licensed health occupations that allow you to practice with only an NA degree.

[sanantone]

There are licensed healthcare occupations that allow you to practice with an NA degree. In my state, the board of nursing approves NA programs. However, health science programs are not designed to lead to licensed occupations. If you look at the curriculum, it is basically a public health program. Public health is not a licensed profession. In general, health science is like animal science, except the focus is humans.

[SuzanneD]

It would be cool if it was an accredited college that's approved by an accrediting association recognized by the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board. (cut and pasted from my careers education requirements)

[SuzanneD]

UoPeople is recognized by the DEAC as an accredited online University. That makes it recognized by THECB, I am going to check this out. I would still want to finish my TESU degree because I am close. If I could finish this now with already accumulated credits I could move forward faster. Okay momentary excitement over.. they do nit accept transfer credits,

[jsd]

Also, even though it's tuition free, keep in mind that it still costs about $4,000 for a Bachelors and, like you pointed out, doesn't take transferred credit. It's also not a self paced program so it'll take a few years to graduate since you start from scratch. And in the end, it's still only NA accredited.

[cookderosa]

There are licensed healthcare occupations that allow you to practice with an NA degree. In my state, the board of nursing approves NA programs. However, health science programs are not designed to lead to licensed occupations. If you look at the curriculum, it is basically a public health program. Public health is not a licensed profession. In general, health science is like animal science, except the focus is humans.

I didn't think of it as a degree leading into a profession, rather it might be the cherry on top for some of the health occupations associate or diploma holders. Still, NA graduates can be nurses in Texas? Wow, learn something new everyday

[sanantone]

I didn't think of it as a degree leading into a profession, rather it might be the cherry on top for some of the health occupations associate or diploma holders. Still, NA graduates can be nurses in Texas? Wow, learn something new everyday

If it's just a resume booster or something done for a raise, then I would assume that NA vs. RA wouldn't matter since most private employers don't know the difference.

The NA school I used to work for has its LVN and RN programs approved by the Texas BON, and it does not have programmatic accreditation for nursing. Many of the other health professions require a specific programmatic accreditor that can either act as a programmatic accreditor of a program at an NA or RA school or as a national accreditor for specialty schools. For example, some schools are nationally accredited by CAAHEP or ABHE. Penn Foster is an NA school that holds AVMA accreditation, so it will meet licensing requirements for veterinary technicians.

[bjcheung77]

Speaking on Penn Foster, they also have a Medical Assistant Associates Degree that's ABHES accredited, meaning they can sit for the CMA and RMA examinations.
At the end of the day, if it's your goal, NA/RA would work fine for some professional certifications as long as that program has specialty accreditation. If you're on the DEAC website, there are several schools that offer degrees for Health Sciences.