With its low tuition and “high-quality” programs, UTRGV’s online master’s program has received national recognition for its affordability by bestmastersprograms.org.
The independent website relies on three different sets of data to rank universities nationwide: cost, reputation and alumni salary.
Niche, a company in Pittsburgh that runs a ranking and review site, considers the university to be “above-average” and graded the institution a B+. The average net price is less than half the price of other universities, according to Integrated Postsecondary Education Data.
The UTRGV Graduate College has been ranked No. 1 in net price nationally by Washington Monthly and No. 4 best college in Texas by bestcolleges.com, among other top national rankings.
The college has 55 master’s programs, 33 certificate programs and five doctoral programs. Twenty-two of the master’s and certificate programs are accelerated online.
The college plans to continue expanding their degree programs.
Parwinder Grewal, UTRGV executive vice president for Research, Graduate Studies and New Program Development, told The Rider the university plans to expand its degree programs, including bioethics in the School of Medicine and business analytics in the College of Business, both of which will start in the fall.
All online graduate degrees are certified by Quality Matters, Grewal said.
Quality Matters is a non-profit organization that reviews and certifies the quality of online learning, according to its website.
He said the number of students enrolling in graduate school has increased by 20 percent over the last two years.
Last semester, the online Master of Science in health sciences had the highest enrollment, with 156 students, Marcelo Paredes, a UTRGV senior institutional research analyst, told The Rider.
The first-year median salary for a master’s degree in health sciences is $48,268, according to seekUT, a website that presents data on the earnings and educational graduate outcomes from University of Texas System Institutions.
“This year, we have created several new scholarships,” Grewal said. “One I am very proud of is the Presidential Graduate Research Assistantship.”
The assistantship provides students with a $12,000 yearly stipend and up to $6,890 to cover tuition and fees for up to 18 credit hours, according to the UTRGV Graduate College website. The program is available to students across the world and is “highly competitive to big universities,” Grewal said.
Asked what makes UTRGV online programs unique, Grewal replied it is the ability of professors to offer courses to students in English and Spanish.
“We have not ruled out a master’s program that would be 100 percent taught in Spanish, yet,” Grewal said. “For example, our MBA, we have all our courses ready that we can offer a fully Spanish online program.”
Cynthia Nevarez is pursuing an online master’s degree in special education. Nevarez, who works full time and has a 10-month-old son, recommends the online program to anyone who has an overwhelming schedule.
“It’s affordable, it’s flexible, it’s not easy, but as long as you put in the time and the work, it’s a great program,” she said in a phone interview with The Rider.
Grewal encourages anyone who received an undergraduate degree and is considering attending graduate school to take advantage now.
“This is the time,” he said. “We want you to be the best in the country.”
