MPA in Public & Nonprofit Management & Policy
New York, USA
DURATION
2 up to 4 Years
LANGUAGES
English
PACE
Full time, Part time
APPLICATION DEADLINE
12 May 2025*
EARLIEST START DATE
Sep 2025
TUITION FEES
USD 2,162 / per credit
STUDY FORMAT
On-Campus
* Final Fall 2025 Deadline
Key Summary
Introduction
How will you be making your impact in public service in five or ten years? It's almost impossible to say. The boundaries between roles and sectors are blurring—to be effective, you'll need a broad education and a firm grasp of how skills and ideas translate in different real-world contexts. With NYU Wagner's interdisciplinary MPA-PNP coursework in finance, policy, and management, and NYC as your urban laboratory, you'll be prepared to address the most pressing issues of our time in the many fields, sectors, and policy arenas that your career will span.
Program Highlights
- Engaged and influential faculty members who encourage you to test the skills and ideas you develop in the classroom against your real-world professional experiences—and vice versa.
- Critical analytic skills and frameworks in management, finance, and policy that you'll need to successfully make an impact across sectors, fields, and policy arenas.
- A powerful community whose members can connect you to key organizations, contacts, and career opportunities worldwide.
- The option to pick electives by issue, as well as by specialization.
- Flexibility for full- or part-time students, with options to switch between the two. Earn your degree in two years full-time, or 3-4 years part-time.
Admissions
Curriculum
The Master of Public Administration in Public and Nonprofit Management and Policy (MPA-PNP) is a 45-credit degree program made up of core courses, a required specialization, electives, a capstone, and the Professional Experience Requirement (PER).
Total Credits Required: 45
I. Degree Core (15 Credits)
Statistical Methods || Microeconomics || Management and Leadership
Financial Management || Introduction to Public Policy
II. Specialization Requirements (9 Credits)
Each of the six specializations requires three courses (9 credits) to give students an introduction to key concepts and skills.
| Advocacy and Political Action | Finance | International Development |
| Community Organizing | Public Economics | Institutions, Governance, and International Development |
| Advocacy Lab: How to Make Change Happen | Financial Management II | Politics of International Development |
| Policy Formation and Policy Analysis | Corporate Finance and Public Policy; or Multiple Regression and Introduction to Econometrics | Economics of International Development |
| Management and Leadership | Public Policy | Social Innovation |
| Strategic Management and Leadership | Public Economics | Social Entrepreneurship and Innovation by Design |
| Human Resources: Leading Talent Development | Evaluating Programs and Policies | Design Thinking: A Creative Approach to Problem Solving and Creating Impact |
| Performance Measurement and Management | Multiple Regression and Introduction to Econometrics; or Policy Formation | Social Impact Investment |
III. Electives: Specialization-Recommended and School-Wide Focus Areas (18 Credits)
You may choose courses across Wagner for your electives. To assist you, we've grouped courses by recommended Focus Areas.
You can go deeper in your specialization by choosing elective courses within specialization-recommended focus areas that help you develop more advanced skills.
If you wish to gain a breadth of knowledge and skills or sharpen your career focus, you may also choose electives within and across the school-wide focus areas.
- Advocacy and Political Action
- Finance
- International Development
- Management and Leadership
- Public Policy
- Social Innovation
- School-wide
IV. Capstone (3 Credits)
The Capstone Program, a year-long consulting or research project that's required for all MPA students, puts you out in the world, resolving a problem or conducting an analysis for a client organization.
V. Professional Experience Requirement
NYU Wagner is deeply committed to education outside of the classroom. First-hand work experience in your field of choice can be a pivotal experience, and our New York City location offers countless opportunities for career exploration. To this end, NYU Wagner requires all MPA and MUP students to graduate with professional experience that is directly related to their degree program and field of interest.
Students can fulfill this requirement in one of two ways:
- Enter NYU Wagner with at least two years of full-time, degree-relevant, professional experience; or
- Complete the Professional Experience Requirement (PER), which means working in a degree-relevant job or internship while attending NYU Wagner and before enrolling in Capstone. Students typically fulfill the PER via a relevant work experience over one semester (i.e. 15-20 hours per week during a semester, or 35-40 hours per week in the summer).
Once you begin classes, NYU Wagner’s Office of Career Services staff is available to advise you on strategies and resources for identifying degree relevant positions, submitting strong application materials, conducting successful interviews, or seeking a PER waiver for previous experience.