Metropolitan State University Saint Paul
Master of Public Administration MPA
Saint Paul, USA
Master degree
DURATION
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
APPLICATION DEADLINE
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2026
STUDY FORMAT
Key Summary
About: Metropolitan State University's Master of Public Administration (MPA) prepares you for leadership across public, nonprofit, and private sectors. The NASPAA-aligned curriculum covers program fundamentals, strategic skills, focus areas in public policy analysis and public budgeting and finance, electives, and a capstone seminar. You can study fully on campus, fully online, or hybrid. Students must complete 40 graduate credits and can choose the completely online option.
Career Outcomes: Graduates move into roles such as policy analyst, budget analyst, city manager, nonprofit manager, program evaluator. Core skills include governance, public policy, budgeting, public finance, program design, ethics, leadership, and stakeholder engagement.
College of Community Studies and Public Affairs
Graduate degree
Program accreditation
The MPA program curriculum is consistent with the guidelines of the National Association of Schools of Public Affairs and Administration (NASPAA).
A completely online option is available. You can complete your master’s degree in public administration without ever setting foot on our campuses by taking online classes.
Metropolitan State University's Master of Public Administration (MPA) program prepares you for a wide range of career and leadership opportunities in the field of public administration. The state-of-the-art curriculum addresses the most critical challenges that public administrators and their respective councils or boards face at all levels of government.
The MPA program offers:
- a broadly based professional degree that demonstrates your ability to lead and manage a broad range of public organizations and programs;
- a practical education that equips you to design and manage new ways to address pressing social problems;
- preparation to provide ethical leadership within your organization and in the public arena;
- a learning environment that is enriched by a highly diverse student body and outstanding practitioner scholars;
- preparation for work and careers that increasingly cross organizational and sector boundaries; and
- the choice to complete your degree completely on campus, completely online, or in a combination of online and on-campus courses.
In a world where professionals are increasingly expected to make multiple job changes during their careers and work across the sectors, this degree is a very practical choice that integrates study of public administration and issues with non-profit and for-profit perspectives. Students begin by studying program fundamentals, then take courses in public policy analysis and public budgeting and finance, supported by a set of strategic skills courses, electives, and a capstone seminar that all students complete.
Program Fundamentals: Fundamental concepts and skills that undergird the entire MPA program.
Strategic Skills and Knowledge: Core competencies for all public and nonprofit professionals.
Focus Areas: Public Policy Analysis and Public Budgeting and Finance courses, plus electives in specific areas of practice.
Capstone seminar: Final project and MPA program integration.
All MPA students must complete 40 graduate credits.
