Higher Education, M.A.

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Mission

The Master’s degree in Higher Education Administration (with an emphasis on College Student Personnel Administration) is designed to prepare students for a variety of careers in the field of higher and postsecondary education. The program requires thirty-six (36) semester hours of graduate work beyond the bachelor’s degree. The Master’s in Higher Education Administration prepares students primarily for positions in higher and postsecondary institutions, especially in student affairs positions. The program at Morgan State University is unique because it has an emphasis on student affairs practice at both urban and historically Black colleges and universities.

Objectives

To provide a focused master’s program that offers advanced preparation and enhance career opportunities for qualified persons.
To assist in creating a greater diversity of learning experiences and expanding opportunities for scholarship and research.
To allow for greater economy of scale in program administration.

Program Overview

Admission to the Program

Undergraduate and/or graduate grade point averages (2.5 minimum; 3.0 preferred),
Scores on either the GRE (Graduate Record Examination: Quantitative and Verbal parts), GMAT (Graduate Management Aptitude Test) or MAT (Miller Analogies Test) as appropriate,
Letters of recommendation,
A current resume,
A statement of career goals and interests, work and academic experiences, and
Availability of faculty to supervise the student’s work in specific academic area of interest.

General Degree Requirements

To be awarded the MA in Higher Education Administration, a student must have completed 36 credit hours of coursework inclusive of the Comprehensive Examination. The department will transfer a maximum of nine semester hours of graduate work taken transferred from another accredited institution prior to admission.
All students are expected to maintain high standards of scholarship throughout the duration of the programs. Students whose cumulative grade point average falls below 2.6 at the end of any semester will be placed on academic probation. A grade point average of 3.0 or above must be maintained in order for a student to continue to receive financial aid. Grades of “C” may not count for more than 20 percent of total credit hours applied towards degree requirements.
The course work component of the program is designed to be completed in five semesters inclusive of one summer. Students are expected to complete a minimum of six credits hours in the summer.
All candidates are expected to complete and pass the comprehensive examination. (Details of the comprehensive examination are provided in a subsequent section of this handbook).
All degree requirements must be completed within a maximum of six years of admission to the program.

Residency Requirements

A student is admitted to the School of Graduate Studies upon satisfying minimum academic criteria and any additional requirements (e.g. tests, portfolio, interview, etc.) established by the faculty in the graduate degree program in which the student seeks to matriculate. Following admission to the School of Graduate Studies, a student must complete a minimum number of credits at Morgan State University while matriculating in a graduate degree program. Upon completion of the minimum credits required to be taken at Morgan State University, the residency requirement has been met. Residency requirements apply to students matriculating in masters and/or doctoral programs.

The minimum requirement for residency in either master’s or doctoral degree programs at Morgan State University (MSU ) is 18 credits of graduate course work completed at MSU. Transfer credit, internship, thesis, and dissertation seminar or guidance courses may not be used to satisfy residency requirements.

Program of Study Advisor

Each Master’s degree student will be guided through his or her program by an advisor assigned from the full-time resident faculty or affiliated faculty within the School of Education and Urban Studies.

Course Requirements for Master of Arts in Higher Education

Required Core Specialization Courses: 9 Credits

RDHE 725 - The American College Student 3 Credits
RDHE 735 - Student Affairs Administration in Higher Education 3 Credits
RDHE 745 - Student Development Theory and Research 3 Credits

Urban Student Personnel Administration Concentration: 18 Credits

ASLF 601 - Educational Economics and Finance 3 Credits
RDHE 699 - Supervised Practicum in Student Services 3 credits.
RDHE 727 - Legal Aspects of Higher Education 3 credits.
RDHE 731 - Governance and Coordination in Higher Education 3 Credits
RDHE 755 - Issues and Problems at Urban and Special Mission Institutions 3 credits.
RDHE 765 - Counseling and Student Affairs 3 credits.

Required Research Core: 6 Credits

*if a student has had a descriptive quantitative course within the 2-year period prior to enrollment , a faculty committee may waive EDSR 630 and the student will replace it with EDSR 631

EDSR 504 - Introduction to Educational Research 3 Credits
or
EDSR 604 - Introduction to Educational Research 3 Credits
EDSR 630 - Educational Statistics I (Descriptive) 3 Credits *

Electives (Select 1): 3 Credits

Additional elective courses may be approved by advisor.

RDHE 705 - Quality Assurance and Accountability in Higher Education 3 Credits
RDHE 720 - Contemporary Issues and Concepts in Higher Education 3 Credits
RDHE 733 - Curriculum, Instruction and Assessment in Higher Education 3 credits.
RDHE 738 - Institutional Research and Planning in Higher Education 3 Credits
RDHE 744 - Politics of Higher and Postsecondary Education 3 credits.

Total Credit Hours Required: 36

(1) EDHE 604 and RDHE 736 involve essentially the same subject matter.

Comprehensive Examination

As a part of the graduation requirements, each student must successfully complete a written examination at or near the completion of all coursework. The comprehensive examination will be taken within a time period to be published and announced annually by the Department of Advanced Studies, Leadership and Policy. Students will have a three-week period of time to respond to questions in the following areas: (A) General Knowledge of Higher and Postsecondary Education and (B) Specialized Knowledge of Degree Concentration or Approved Areas of Emphasis. Following the examination, each student will schedule an oral defense.

The pools of questions for both parts of the written examination will be developed by the faculty of the program, which will be published and distributed to students in both hard copy and electronic formats for easy access by potential examinees. The comprehensive exams will be reviewed and rated by at least two members of the faculty. For those cases in which there are major differences in the ratings, a third faculty member and/or the Chair of the Department of Advanced Studies, Leadership and Policy will also review the results before a final determination is made regarding pass with special merit, pass, or fail. A student who fails the comprehensive examination will be allowed one retake to be scheduled no sooner than three months and no later than 12 months from the date of the first attempt.