National website AffordableColleges.com has ranked four University of Houston-Victoria graduate degrees in computer science, counseling, marketing and special education in its lists of the most affordable degrees in the nation.
The rankings are:
- No. 5 – Affordable Online Master’s in Marketing Degrees
- No. 6 – Affordable Online Master’s Degrees in Counseling
- No. 11 – Affordable Online Master’s Degrees in Computer Science
- No. 17 – Affordable Online Master’s Degrees in Special Education
The website evaluated colleges by creating a score based on several factors, including graduation rate, tuition cost, availability of financial aid, loan default rate, enrollment, full-time student retention, admission and student-to-faculty ratio.
The UHV School of Business Administration’s Master of Business Administration in marketing was singled out for its affordability, small class sizes and reputation for excellence. Those qualities are just a few of the elements that make the program high quality, said Farhang Niroomand, dean of the school.
“The business school places a high value on training students to be effective managers,” Niroomand said. “We want to empower our students to become competent leaders, and the affordability of our program allows students from all walks of life to pursue that goal.”
The UHV School of Arts & Sciences’ Master of Arts in counseling psychology received praise for its high-quality program, which includes a clinical component that allows students to gain firsthand experience dealing with clinical interviewing, behavioral classification, client evaluation, crisis intervention and crisis consultation.
The program requires 60 hours of study, so affordability is a key part of helping students reach their goal of becoming Licensed Professional Counselors, said Rick Harrington, UHV professor of psychology and chair of the school’s Social & Behavioral Sciences Division.
“It takes a lot of dedication and effort to complete this program,” Harrington said. “Students spend years learning the skills they will need to practice, and UHV wants to serve its students. We want them to have access to the education they need without worrying about accumulating debt.”
The Master of Science in computer information systems was cited for its diverse international faculty, online accessibility and the UHV School of Arts & Sciences’ membership in the Microsoft Academic Alliance and the Oracle Academic Initiative programs.
The Master of Education in special education program was applauded for its emphasis on assessment tools with broad applications inside and outside of the classroom, as well as intervention, pedagogy and transition techniques. The program also received praise for allowing students to pursue concentrations in applied behavior analysis or autism spectrum disorders as well as the ability to receive a certification as an educational diagnostician.