Degrees Offered at the University of Kentucky
The University of Kentucky appears in our ranking of the Top 50 Affordable Accelerated MBA Programs Online.
The University of Kentucky is made up of 16 colleges, as well as a graduate school. Students may enroll in more than 90 undergraduate programs, almost 100 graduate programs, more than 65 doctoral programs, and four professional programs. The university’s most popular programs include those in business, education, journalism, health professions, and engineering.
Around 36 percent of the university’s classes have fewer than 20 students, and the overall student-to-faculty ratio is 16:1 with a freshman retention rate of 83 percent. Departments and colleges include the College of Agriculture, Food and Environment, the College of Arts and Sciences, the College of Communication & Information, and the College of Dentistry.
Other programs include those housed within the College of Nursing, the College of Pharmacy, the College of Social Work, and the College of Public Health. For students interested in studying online, the University of Kentucky Online offers more than 30 programs in areas like statistics and nutrition, as well as options for degree completion for students who already have some college credits.
Program options include undergraduate certificates, minors, bachelor’s degrees, graduate certificates, master’s degrees, and doctoral programs. Areas of study available in online programs include the arts, agriculture, business, education, health, statistics, writing, the social sciences, and more. Some available bachelor’s degrees include the Bachelor of Liberal Studies, the Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in Communication, and the Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in General Business.
The university’s Bachelor of Liberal Studies is meant for students who want to complete their bachelor’s degree online while maintaining life, family, and work commitments. Meanwhile, at the graduate level, students can earn a Master of Arts in Arts Administration, a Master of Science in Digital Mapping, or a Master of Education in Educational Leadership Studies.
Other topics available for graduate study in degree and certificate form include entomology, information communication technology, instructional systems design, public health, manufacturing systems engineering, and business administration. Doctoral degrees include a Doctor of Nursing Practice, a Ph.D. in Education Sciences – Educational Leadership, and an Ed.D. in Educational Leadership Studies.
Students who want to enroll in distance learning studies should be comfortable communicating over the internet, able to work without getting distracted, and self-motivated to finish assignments. According to the university, good time management skills and a comfortable working relationship with technology also help during online degree enrollment.
About the University of Kentucky
Located in Lexington, Kentucky, the University of Kentucky was founded in 1865 and was once known as the Agricultural and Mechanical College of Kentucky. The university is the largest institution of higher learning in the entire state and has more than 30,000 students attending. Its urban campus in Lexington covers 784 acres, and the university’s official colors are blue and white. Varsity teams at the university play as the Wildcats.
The university has invested significant funds in recent years into research, and there are a total of fifteen libraries on the university’s main campus. In the late 1990s, the university’s administrators created a plan to expand enrollment, increase graduation rates, and hire more than 600 additional faculty members. The university began an intensive fundraising campaign in 2000 to help it reach its goals and increased its endowment from $195 million to $538 million by 2005.
The University of Kentucky Accreditation Details
The University of Kentucky is regionally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools. Regional accreditation allows the university to award degrees from the associate’s through the doctoral level. Attending a regionally accredited institution ensures students can continue their studies into post-graduate work at other, similarly accredited institutions. Accreditation has been earned from the Accreditation Council for Pharmacy Education and the American Psychological Association.
Additional accreditations for programs at the University of Kentucky include those from the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, the Joint Review Committee on Education in Radiologic Technology, and the Council on Education for Public Health. Other approvals come from the American Dental Association, the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, and the American Bar Association.
The University of Kentucky Application Requirements
All students who want to attend the University of Kentucky as first-year students must submit the official application, test scores, transcripts, and a non-refundable application fee of $50. An academic letter of recommendation is optional and should come from a high school counselor or teacher. Some programs may require additional items like additional applications, interviews, portfolios, and test scores or class rank details.
Students who want to apply to graduate programs at the university should inquire with the program administrators for complete details on application standards. The university does have some minimum requirements that all applicants must meet, including having a bachelor’s degree, achieving a GPA of at least 2.75 on undergraduate work, and submitting standardized test scores from the Graduate Record Examination (GRE).
Tuition and Financial Aid
Residents of Kentucky will pay $6,180 for tuition each semester when they enroll in an undergraduate program at the University of Kentucky. Non-residents will pay $15,340 per semester. The online learning rate is charged by the credit and is $601 per credit hour for students who also enroll in at least one on-campus course. Students who take only online classes will pay $570 per credit.
For graduate students, the rate for most programs is $6,702 per semester for residents and $16,282 for non-residents. Some programs are billed at a different rate. For example, the MBA program is $7,752 for residents and $19,456 for non-residents. Similarly, the Master of Science in Finance is $914 per credit for residents and $1,269 for non-residents. Rates for programs in the College of Law and other professional areas are usually charged at an annual rate.
Students who require financial aid at the University of Kentucky will need to submit a FAFSA form, as well as supply prior-year income and tax information when they apply. One of the important facets of financial aid at the university is that some aid is offered based on when the student applied and is delivered on a first-come, first-served basis. Students can submit their FAFSA form as early as October 1.
The university offers several scholarships to students of high academic achievement. Available scholarships include the Kentucky Governor’s Scholar Presidential Scholarship and the Otis A. Singletary Scholarship. Awards are administered by the Office of Academic Scholarships at the University of Kentucky.