Columbia College appears in our ranking of the Top 15 Most Affordable Accelerated Master’s in Military History Online.
Located in Missouri, Columbia College offers five online master’s degree programs that accept students from across the nation. This includes a general Master of Business Administration (MBA). MBA students must take four prerequisites or submit transcripts that show they already took those courses. They’ll then take 24 semester hours of required classes, including Information Systems for Management, Organizational Theory and Practice, Business Communication Theory and Practice, and Human Resource Management and Theory. Students will take a capstone course in their last semesters and complete a final project that shows the knowledge they gained in the MBA program.
Online Master’s Degree Programs Available at Columbia College
Though Columbia College offers several emphasis areas for on-campus MBA majors, it allows online students to enroll in the general program or pick a human resource management emphasis. In addition to the prerequisites they may need to take, they’ll take five required business courses and nine hours of electives. The college requires that they take Employment Law, which is a course that looks at the federal laws that managers must use when hiring and training employees. They can then choose from electives that include Organizational Training and Development, Management of Compensation and Benefits Plans and Recruitment, Selection and Placement Strategies.
Through the college’s Master of Science (M.S.) in Criminal Justice program, students can develop the skills needed to work in government and law enforcement agencies. The program has a criminal justice core that features Research Design, Current Issues and Future Directions in Criminal Justice, Legal Aspects of Criminal Justice Administration and Legal and Ethical Issues in Criminal Justice. Columbia College offers emphasis areas in law enforcement administration and correction administration. students need to take three courses from either emphasis area. Those who choose the general track will take Development of Standard Operating Procedures and Readings in Criminal Justice Administration among other classes.
Also available online are two education master’s degree programs. In the Master of Arts in Teaching (MAT) program, students look at the current trends in teaching and learn about new practices. The college offers this online or the Columbia campus. Some of the classes in the MAT core include Development, Gender and Cultural Differences, Theories of Learning, Research Design and Curriculum Design and Evaluation. At the end of the program, students need to submit a portfolio that includes graded assignments from their classes. Two faculty members will evaluate their work and determine if they should graduate.
A Master of Education (MED) in Educational Leadership is also available online from Columbia College. This program includes emphasis areas for students who want to work as principals and those who want to work with gifted students. Students will take Foundations and Psychology of Educational Leadership and either Classroom Management or Behavior Management Techniques. Their remaining credits will come from the emphasis area they pick. This lets them take courses such as School Law for Education Leaders, Theory and Philosophy of Instructional Coaching and Survey of the Gifted and Talented. Some of the emphasis areas include a practicum.
About Columbia College
Columbia College is a private college in Columbia, Missouri. Also known as the Columbia College of Missouri, it was founded in 1851 as the Christian Female College. At the time, there were no other colleges for women beyond the Mississippi River that had help from the state. The college required students to work on-campus, attend Bible study sessions, and visit the chapel every day. Stephens College opened on the same campus in 1833 and later split to become a separate institution for women. Columbia now accepts men on its main campus and all affiliated study centers. It has campuses in Arizona, Florida, New York, Washington, and other states. U.S. News and World Report ranked the college 51st on its list of the best graduate schools in the Midwest in 2009.
Columbia College Accreditation Details
All of the education programs available at Columbia College have approval from the Missouri State Department of Elementary and Secondary Education. Those programs prepare students to work as new teachers and give them advanced training. The primary accreditation held by the college comes from the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). This acts as the regional accreditation that students need if they want to use the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA). Once they complete this form, they can get financial aid to pay some of their online costs.
Columbia College Application Requirements
As Columbia does not have an application deadline, graduate students can apply to the college’s online programs at any time. The college recommends that they apply no later than two weeks before the beginning of the term to make sure that all their information arrives on time. Students only receive full acceptance if they have an undergraduate grade point average of 3.0 or higher. Those with a lower GPA who meet all other admissions requirements receive conditional acceptance. The college’s application includes an identity authorization section where students will need to upload a photo ID or other proof of who they are. They also need to add a resume and an essay of 300 to 500 words that outlines their career goals and objectives.
Those applying to the MED program need a valid teaching license and an essay that demonstrates the professional experiences that they have. The college encourages students to only apply for the principal track if they have two years of experience or more. MAT students need to write an essay on how their ideas and teaching methods fit with the design of the program. MBA students need to provide transcripts that show they took all the required business prerequisites when they apply.
Tuition and Financial Aid
All of the online graduate students attending Columbia pay $490 per credit hour. If students are in the military, they pay $325 after the college applies the military discount. Those who do practicums and other fieldwork pay $100 per credit hour to get credit for their work. Columbia offers deferred payment plans that will extend the due date that students have to pay their balances in full. There are also installment plans that let students make multiple payments each semester. The online master’s degree programs available at Columbia College allow students to use the loans they get when they complete the FAFSA or work with alternative lenders too.
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