Healthcare Administration Degrees

Healthcare administration degrees by award level

Associates Degree in Healthcare Administration: The 25 Best Programs (2026)

Programs in the data IPEDS

115

across 29 states

Median public tuition IPEDS

$3,119

against $16,450 at a for-profit

Degrees a year IPEDS

2,331

conferred across the field

Entry-level median BLS

$51,140

medical records specialists

An associates degree in healthcare administration is the cheapest and quickest way into this field, and the decision that matters most is not which program you pick but who runs it. There are 115 programs in the federal data across 29 states. At a public college the median price is $3,119 a year. At a for-profit it is $16,450, about 5.3 times as much, for a credential the federal record classifies identically. The 25 programs ranked below are scored on completion and cost in equal measure, for that reason.

115
Associate programs
55
Taught online
29
States with a program
$3,119
Median public tuition
Six students spread thinly across the tiered wooden benches of a lecture theatre, most of the rows behind them empty, facing a grey-haired instructor seen from behind

What an Associates Degree in Healthcare Administration Actually Costs

Across the 97 programs that publish a tuition figure, the price of this degree runs from $576 a year to $46,175. That is a spread of roughly eighty to one, for a credential IPEDS files under one award level and one set of subject codes. The spread is not really about the programs. It is about who owns the college.

The median public college charges $3,119 a year. The median for-profit charges $16,450, about 5.3 times as much. There is no corresponding gap in what the two produce: across the ranked field the median graduation rate is 35%, and the for-profits sit modestly above the public colleges on that measure rather than five times above them. Nor is there a gap in what graduates earn, because the occupations below hire on the credential and the credential is the same.

This is worth stating flatly because the search results around this degree are largely advertising, and the advertising is bought by the expensive end of that range. If you are choosing between a community college and a private college with a good website, the website is the thing you are paying the difference for.

What an Associates Degree in Healthcare Administration Pays

Every other page on this site quotes Medical and Health Services Managers at a median of $123,860. That figure does not belong on this page, and the reason matters more than the number: that occupation is typically entered with a bachelor's degree or more. Quoting it beside a two-year credential would misstate the return on this degree by about $72,720 a year.

The occupations an associate actually enters are these, and they are real jobs in large numbers rather than a consolation prize:

So the honest arithmetic is a credential costing about $3,119 a year at a public college, opening jobs that pay a median between $45,930 and $51,140. That is a sound trade. At $16,450 a year it is a considerably worse one, and the jobs at the end of it are identical. The route to the management salary runs through the bachelor's degree and then the accredited master's, and an associate is a legitimate first step along it.

All wage figures are BLS OEWS, May 2025, from the Bureau of Labor Statistics. SOC 11-9111 for the management figure and the three occupation codes above for the rest.

How These Associates Degree Programs Are Scored

Graduation rate carries 45% of the score, in-state tuition 45% and delivery format 10%. A program has to report both a graduation rate and a tuition figure to be ranked at all, which is why 97 of the 115 are scored and 18 are listed further down instead. Weights are never renormalized around a missing factor, because that turns non-disclosure into an advantage. The full model is in the ranking methodology (version 1.0).

Two departures from the bachelor's model, both deliberate. Admission selectivity is not scored, because community colleges are open-admission and only 19 of the 115 report a rate at all; scoring it would rank the colleges that happen to publish. And delivery is worth 10 rather than 20, which is the lowest weight it carries anywhere on this site.

That second one was a correction. An earlier version weighted delivery at 25, and it returned a top 25 containing every online program and not one of the 60 campus programs in the field. The check that caught it was to score completion and cost alone: on those two factors the leading group splits about evenly between the formats, because online and campus programs at this level have the same median graduation rate, 35%, and near-identical median tuition. A heavy delivery weight was not finding better programs, it was paying a bonus for a format. It is still worth something, because flexibility is real for a reader who cannot commute, but it is the smallest factor here and it should be.

The 25 Best Associates Degree in Healthcare Administration Programs

Scored on graduation rate and in-state tuition in equal measure, with a small allowance for online delivery. 17 are online and 8 are taught on campus.

1

Associate of Applied Science in Healthcare Administration

Bryan

Fully online

Springfield, MO

$14,580 in-state tuition90% graduation rate4 graduates81.7 score

Bryan University in Missouri combines medical office training with business coursework in its Associate of Applied Science in Healthcare Administration.

The program prepares students for administrative work in healthcare facilities, including office communication, human resources, project management and medical records. Its medical office coursework covers scheduling, filing, reception and financial administration. Written and oral communication assignments focus on the correspondence and presentations used in a medical office.

Medical records coursework uses a simulated medical setting to practice administrative skills with electronic health records. Students examine the billing process from patient preregistration through collection, along with information technology and HIPAA. Computer application courses and case-based leadership instruction support that office training.

  • Associate of Applied Science
  • Medical office and business coursework
  • Simulated electronic health record practice
  • Medical billing and office communication
2

Healthcare Administrative Specialist

Alexandria Technical & Community College

Fully online

Alexandria, MN

$5,478 in-state tuition60% graduation rate4 graduates77.2 score

The 60-credit associate splits into two named emphases, management or medical coding, so the degree can point at an office-leadership job or a coding one without changing program.

Alexandria runs this as a ladder rather than a single award. The 45-credit diploma trains office specialists for the day-to-day of a medical office: appointment scheduling, telephone communications, medical record maintenance, healthcare data analysis and patient billing. The 60-credit associate builds on that toward a leadership position, and it is the associate that carries the Management and Coding emphases. A separate Medical Coding Specialist diploma and certificate, and a Patient Access Specialist certificate, sit alongside them.

What distinguishes the associate from the diploma is the general education behind it. The degree requires college-level coursework in technical writing, ethics, intercultural communication and psychology, which is the part that transfers and the part a diploma does not carry. Alexandria asks students from outside Minnesota who intend to take the program online to confirm it is recognized in their own state before enrolling.

  • 60-credit AAS with management or coding emphasis
  • 45-credit diploma covering medical office operations
  • General education in technical writing and ethics
  • Out-of-state online students advised to check recognition
3

Health Services Management

Saint Johns River State College

Fully online

Palatka, FL

$1,892 in-state tuition49% graduation rate2 graduates75.8 score

Every class is available online, and the capstone is the exception: HSC 2930 carries a required number of internship hours set against the credit hours taken.

Saint Johns River runs the Health Services Management A.S. as program 0133, with intakes in fall, spring and summer, and a full-time student finishes in about two years. The college also publishes a four-year route through its own institution: the associate feeds its Bachelor of Applied Science in Organizational Management with a specialization in Health Care Administration, so the second half of the degree does not require moving to a university.

A one-year College Credit Certificate, Health Care Services Specialist, sits below the associate as an intermediate award. It is built from program-specific courses for direct entry to the workforce and stacks toward the A.S. rather than sitting beside it, which makes it a real exit point for someone who cannot commit two years at the outset.

  • All classes available online
  • HSC 2930 capstone with required internship hours
  • Feeds the college’s own B.A.S. in Organizational Management
  • One-year certificate stacks toward the degree
4

Business Healthcare Technology BHT3

Coastal Pines Technical College

Fully online

Waycross, GA

$2,568 in-state tuition48% graduation rate10 graduates74.6 score

Coastal Pines' Business Healthcare Technology AAS offers specializations in compliance and reimbursement or business healthcare.

The 63-credit degree focuses on administrative work in healthcare offices. Core study includes medical terminology, reimbursement, electronic health records, healthcare coding and administrative procedures, alongside general education and accounting.

The compliance and reimbursement specialization adds procedural coding, ICD coding, advanced coding, healthcare compliance and health-record auditing. The business healthcare option uses guided electives. The catalog lists the degree online and at Baxley, Camden, Golden Isles, Jesup and Waycross, Georgia.

  • 63-credit AAS
  • Two specializations
  • Electronic health records
5

Healthcare Manager

Richmond Community College

Fully online

Hamlet, NC

$1,824 in-state tuition46% graduation rate12 graduates74.5 score

Richmond publishes a separate program completion guide for the online version of the degree, so the distance route is documented course by course rather than assumed to match the campus one.

The Healthcare Management Technology curriculum, coded A25200, prepares students for healthcare business and financial operations, and the college names three destinations for it: general healthcare management, entrepreneurship and long-term care. Coursework runs through medical office management, financial management, the legal aspects of healthcare, and medical insurance and billing analysis, with further subjects depending on the area chosen inside the curriculum.

The award comes in three sizes, an associate, a certificate coded C25200, and an online associate, and the college keeps completion guides and course requirements for each academic year alongside an archive of previous ones. Graduates are pointed at hospitals, medical offices, outpatient clinics, long-term care facilities and insurance companies, and the college notes that industry-recognized certifications may become available to graduates once they have work experience behind them.

  • Separate completion guide for the online track
  • Coursework in billing analysis and healthcare law
  • Certificate and associate versions of the same curriculum
  • Named routes into long-term care and entrepreneurship
6

Healthcare Administration

West Virginia Junior College-Morgantown

Fully online

Morgantown, WV

$13,196 in-state tuition71% graduation rate5 graduates74.5 score

West Virginia Junior College runs this fully online as a Specialized Associate Degree and puts the completion time at eighteen months, shorter than the two years the tier assumes.

The program is aimed squarely at people who want a healthcare career without direct patient care, and the college is specific about what that means: managing the day-to-day functions of hospitals, nursing homes, clinics and other medical facilities, or working on the insurance side. Content covers the impact of government health policy and healthcare law, and the management and control of reimbursement costs for drugs and other medical products.

Delivery is built for students already carrying work and family commitments. The college lists externships in healthcare administration, round-the-clock technical support, mobile access to classes and career services, and describes the online operation as a smaller school atmosphere rather than a large one.

  • Eighteen months to a Specialized Associate Degree
  • Fully online with mobile course access
  • Healthcare administration externships
  • Covers health policy, healthcare law and reimbursement
7

Associate in Science in Health Services Management

Indian River State College

Fully online

Fort Pierce, FL

$2,496 in-state tuition45% graduation rate2 graduates73.4 score

Indian River teaches the front office specifically: setting appointments, maintaining confidential medical records, and assisting with billing and accounting at a clinic or doctor’s office.

The college is direct about what the degree is for, which is unusual at this level. Health services managers here oversee or coordinate front-office operations at a clinic or a physician’s practice, and the day-to-day is described as public-facing scheduling, records and billing rather than as leadership in the abstract. The program is positioned as preparation either for an entry-level role or for entry to a bachelor’s degree.

The onward route is kept inside the college where a student wants it: after the associate, students can continue in Indian River’s own healthcare management bachelor’s degree, or move to another Florida public university. Students can also join the Health Occupations Students of America chapter, which the college frames as where the personal and professional side of working in healthcare gets built.

  • Front-office focus: scheduling, records, billing
  • Continues into the college’s own bachelor’s degree
  • HOSA student chapter
  • Built for entry-level work or transfer
8

Healthcare Administrative Assistant

Minnesota West Community and Technical College

Fully online

Granite Falls, MN

$5,848 in-state tuition52% graduation rate4 graduates73.2 score

The degree runs at five Minnesota campuses and online, and a 36-credit diploma ladders into it, so a student can stop at two semesters with an award in hand and return for the rest.

Minnesota West teaches the Healthcare Administrative Assistant as a 60-credit Associate of Applied Science over four full-time semesters, with the work described as confidential administrative and clerical work in a medical office: ordering laboratory supplies and instructing patients among it. The 36-credit diploma covers two semesters and concentrates on bookkeeping, billing, appointment scheduling and processing insurance claims.

The diploma is explicitly a stepping stone rather than an alternative, laddering into the associate for anyone who continues. Both are offered at Canby, Granite Falls, Jackson, Pipestone and Worthington, Minnesota, as well as online, which is a wider spread of campuses than almost any program at this level and matters in a part of the state where the next college is a long drive.

  • 60-credit AAS over four full-time semesters
  • 36-credit diploma that ladders into the degree
  • Five campuses plus an online option
  • Coursework in insurance claims and medical bookkeeping
9

Health Science, AAS

Northeast Texas Community College

On campus

Mount Pleasant, TX

$2,808 in-state tuition56% graduation rate2 graduates73 score

This one is a Health Science AAS rather than an administration degree, and its first year includes Anatomy and Physiology I with a required dissection lab, so it is a different proposition from the rest of this list.

Northeast Texas describes a broad degree covering contemporary health issues, aimed at careers in healthcare, social policy, health organization or education rather than at office management specifically. The stated outcomes are about handling evidence: using health information and data effectively, understanding and formulating health-related arguments, and evaluating health issues from a multidisciplinary standpoint.

The first-year sequence shows the difference plainly. Alongside English Composition I sits BIOL 2401, Anatomy and Physiology I, a four-credit course with three hours of lecture and three of laboratory, covering cell biology, histology and the integumentary, skeletal, muscular and nervous systems. Animal dissection is a required laboratory component in both the face-to-face and the online format, and a C or better is needed before the second semester of the sequence. Anyone choosing this expecting a business degree should read the plan first.

  • A broad health science AAS, not an administration degree
  • Anatomy and Physiology I required in year one
  • Dissection lab required online as well as on campus
  • Aimed at health policy, organization or education
10

Health Care Management (HC23) Associate of Applied Science Degree

Georgia Northwestern Technical College

Fully online

Rome, GA

$2,568 in-state tuition43% graduation rate16 graduates72.4 score

Georgia Northwestern's Health Care Management A.A.S. combines a 15-credit general education core with 45 credits of occupational coursework.

The catalog lists the program at Floyd County and Walker County campuses. Occupational choices include healthcare reimbursement, administrative procedures, coding, accounting, management and human resources, alongside medical terminology and science courses.

An allied health adviser helps you select courses for your intended specialization. All required courses must be completed with a C or better. The published minimum for graduation is 60 credits, and the exact selection should follow the advising plan for your pathway.

  • 60-credit minimum
  • Floyd County and Walker County
  • Adviser-guided occupational choices
  • C minimum in required courses
11

Business Healthcare Technology Degree (BHT3)

Albany Technical College

Fully online

Albany, GA

$2,568 in-state tuition42% graduation rate11 graduates71.9 score

Albany Technical's Business Healthcare Technology degree covers reimbursement, medical coding and electronic records.

The BHT3 curriculum develops the administrative skills used in a healthcare office. Students study medical terminology, human diseases, financial accounting, document preparation and computer applications, then apply those foundations in healthcare administrative procedures.

Its electronic health records course covers record security, claims, appointment scheduling and practice-management software. Reimbursement coursework addresses insurance billing, documentation and compliance. Specialization electives are selected with an advisor from approved business, computing and related subjects.

  • Business Healthcare Technology
  • Medical coding
  • Healthcare office procedures
12

Health Services Management Associate in Science

Seminole State College of Florida

Fully online

Sanford, FL

$2,393 in-state tuition41% graduation rate12 graduates71.7 score

Seminole State caps classes at thirty and connects the degree to the University of Central Florida through DirectConnect, which guarantees the transfer route rather than leaving it to be negotiated.

The Health Services Management Associate in Science is taught both in person and online, and the college states that most of its A.S. courses run in both formats, so the choice between them is not made once at enrollment. Class sizes are held to thirty or fewer.

The transfer position is the reason to look at this one. Most Seminole State A.S. graduates earn credits that apply to a bachelor’s degree either at Seminole State itself or at the University of Central Florida through DirectConnect. The college advises students planning to transfer to meet an advisor early, because the required courses and entry requirements for the receiving program have to be taken in the right order rather than reconstructed afterwards.

  • DirectConnect transfer route to UCF
  • Classes of thirty students or fewer
  • Most courses offered in person and online
  • Advising recommended before the transfer sequence starts
13

Health Sciences A.S. Degree

St Petersburg

Fully online

St. Petersburg, FL

$1,943 in-state tuition38% graduation rate17 graduates70.8 score

The degree carries an embedded Health Care Services certificate and transfers into St Petersburg College’s own bachelor’s in Health Services Administration, so both the exit and the continuation are inside one institution.

The Health Sciences A.S. is built as a foundation for work across many healthcare disciplines and settings rather than for one job title, and the college states that the degree plus its embedded certificate prepares students for basic management and administrative work on the non-clinical side.

It also functions as a chassis. The college offers focus areas of the same A.S. degree, carrying the general education and support coursework for dental hygiene, emergency medical services, health information technology, nursing, physical therapy assisting, radiography, respiratory care, surgical services and veterinary technology. A student who arrives intending administration and changes direction does not necessarily start again.

  • Embedded Health Care Services certificate
  • Transfers to the college’s own B.S. in Health Services Administration
  • Nine focus areas built on the same degree
  • Non-clinical administration and management preparation
14

Associate of Science in Healthcare Administration

Herzing University-Kenosha

On campus

Kenosha, WI

$12,360 in-state tuition72% graduation rate2 graduates70.8 score

Herzing's online Healthcare Administration associate degree includes patient privacy, conflict resolution and an adviser-approved block of healthcare electives.

Kenosha lists the Associate of Science among its healthcare programs. The 60-credit curriculum includes 18 credits of required healthcare courses and 16 credits of open healthcare or related electives, plus general education and professional development.

Required subjects include U.S. healthcare systems, public and private delivery, health policy, medical terminology and healthcare management. The privacy course examines protection of personal health information, while conflict-resolution coursework covers negotiation and workplace disputes. Herzing accepts up to 45 approved transfer credits toward the degree.

  • Online associate degree
  • 60 credits
  • 16-credit healthcare elective block
  • Up to 45 approved transfer credits
15

Healthcare Management Technology Associate Degree (A25200M)

McDowell Technical Community College

On campus

Marion, NC

$1,824 in-state tuition48% graduation rate2 graduates70.4 score

McDowell Tech's 68-credit Healthcare Management Technology associate degree connects healthcare operations with accounting, insurance and data analysis.

The core includes financial and managerial accounting, medical terminology, medical insurance, legal issues and an introduction to healthcare management. Required management courses address human resources and healthcare organizations, with professional development included in the plan.

Other major coursework covers business finance, spreadsheets, health data systems and quality analysis. Work-based learning may be available with the coordinator's approval. The 2026-27 catalog provides a recommended sequence that includes a summer term between the first and second years.

  • 68-credit associate degree
  • Accounting and insurance coursework
  • Health data and quality analysis
  • Work-based learning subject to approval
16

Healthcare Management Degree (HC23)

Southeastern Technical College

Fully online

Vidalia, GA

$2,568 in-state tuition38% graduation rate5 graduates70.1 score

Southeastern Tech's Healthcare Management A.A.S. includes a physician-practice management course covering revenue cycles, workflow and electronic records.

The catalog lists locations in Vidalia and Swainsboro, Georgia. Coursework combines anatomy, physiology, microbiology and medical terminology with financial accounting, management, human resources and healthcare reimbursement.

The six-credit Physician's Practice Management course examines healthcare regulation, financial operations, electronic medical records, staffing and planning. Reimbursement coursework addresses insurance billing, documentation, confidentiality and compliance. Applicants must meet the college's placement requirements and be at least 18 years old.

  • Associate of Applied Science
  • Vidalia and Swainsboro, GA
  • Six-credit practice-management course
  • Healthcare reimbursement and accounting
17

Itawamba Community College

On campus

Fulton, MS

$3,100 in-state tuition50% graduation rate3 graduates70 score

Small: 3 finished in the year counted.

18

Healthcare Management Technology

Rowan-Cabarrus Community College

Fully online

Salisbury, NC

$1,824 in-state tuition35% graduation rate16 graduates69.5 score

Rowan-Cabarrus files this degree under Information Technology rather than health sciences, and the coursework follows: procedure coding and diagnostic coding sit in the core beside healthcare management.

The Healthcare Management Technology program is offered as an Associate in Applied Science, a diploma, and a Billing and Coding Essentials certificate. Sample courses named by the college are HMT 110 Introduction to Healthcare Management, HMT 210 Medical Insurance, OST 247 Procedure Coding and OST 248 Diagnostic Coding, which places the billing and coding work at the centre of the award rather than at its edge.

The stated aim is strength in organization, leadership, quality assurance and information technology management, with coursework built to handle the demands of large systems such as Medicaid and medical billing and coding. The college is also clear that healthcare managers work across hospitals, clinics, long-term care facilities and government agencies, and that the role means adapting to changes in healthcare law, regulation and technology.

  • Taught inside the Information Technology division
  • Procedure and diagnostic coding in the core
  • AAS, diploma and billing certificate versions
  • Built around large payer systems such as Medicaid
19

Health Care Administration A.S.

Clovis Community College

On campus

Fresno, CA

$1,332 in-state tuition45% graduation rate4 graduates69.5 score

Clovis Community College's published Health Care Administration A.S. plan combines medical office operations with business, economics and communication.

The California college's 2023-24 catalog listed a 40-41-unit major. Its core included medical billing, medical office administration, medical terminology, computer concepts and an introduction to healthcare careers, alongside biology and intercultural communication.

Business courses covered human relations and introductory business, with choices in economics, mathematics and composition. These are the requirements documented in that catalog year. An adviser can identify the applicable plan and general education requirements for a student entering under a later catalog.

  • Associate in Science
  • California campus
  • Medical office and billing coursework
  • Dated 2023-24 curriculum
20

Health Science - Health Services Management - Associate in Science

Miami Dade

On campus

Miami, FL

$1,987 in-state tuition46% graduation rate38 graduates69.3 score

Most of the coursework can be taken in evenings and weekends, which makes this one of the few programs at this level a reader can finish without leaving a daytime job.

Miami Dade runs Health Service Management as a 60-credit Associate in Science over two years at its Medical Campus, built from a series of general education and business courses alongside the discipline itself. The curriculum covers the legal and ethical responsibilities that sit inside a health care system, current issues in that system, health services management concepts, health care quality management, and managing organizations in a multi-cultural environment.

The college positions the A.S. for students who want immediate entry to a career on graduation, with most of the discipline courses tied directly to the career area rather than to a later degree. It also names the other direction plainly: the program is designed to give an in-depth background for anyone heading toward a graduate professional health program or other graduate study.

  • Majority of courses in evenings and weekends
  • 60 credits over two years at the Medical Campus
  • Health care quality management in the core
  • Built for immediate entry or graduate study
21

Health Services Management Associate in Science

South Florida State College

On campus

Avon Park, FL

$3,135 in-state tuition48% graduation rate4 graduates69.1 score

South Florida State's online Health Services Management A.S. builds on a linked Health Services certificate pathway.

The associate degree requires 60 credits, with a published plan of approximately two years. Its pathway focuses on healthcare office management, billing and insurance, staff supervision and compliance with health policies and regulations.

The college also offers a 27-credit online Health Services certificate that links directly to the A.S. That earlier stage focuses on records, billing, office organization and patient information. Students can use the college's separate program maps to plan the certificate and the full associate degree.

  • 60-credit A.S.
  • Fully online
  • Linked 27-credit certificate
  • Office management and billing pathway
22

Healthcare Management Technology

Forsyth Technical Community College

Fully online

Winston-Salem, NC

$1,824 in-state tuition34% graduation rate15 graduates69.1 score

Forsyth Tech builds the degree at the join between healthcare administration and information technology, and names records management and IT support among the jobs it leads to.

The Healthcare Management Technology associate runs two years with day and online classes, and the college describes it as combining healthcare principles with technology expertise rather than as a management degree with computing attached. The foundational understanding it sets out to build is of healthcare management and of technology’s role inside it.

The four career tracks the college names show the same split: healthcare administrator and medical records manager on one side, healthcare technology specialist and administrative support specialist on the other. Entry-level positions in administration, records management and IT are the stated destinations.

  • Two years, day and online classes
  • Administration and IT taught together
  • Named tracks in records management
  • Entry-level administration and IT roles
23

Associate in Science Health Services Management

Lake-Sumter State College

On campus

Leesburg, FL

$3,292 in-state tuition48% graduation rate1 graduates68.9 score

Lake-Sumter threads public health through a management degree, naming diabetes prevention, nutrition and obesity care, and vaccinations among the areas of study.

The Health Services Management A.S. can be completed fully online. Its coursework spans healthcare systems, healthcare law and ethics, the factors that shape patient experience, human resources and management concepts, which is the standard shape for the tier. What is not standard is the population-health material sitting beside it, and the college frames the degree as being about influencing public and community health outcomes as well as keeping a facility running.

The destinations the college names are correspondingly wide: hospitals, home health, long-term care, insurance, public health, pharmaceuticals, physician practices and other healthcare-related businesses. The A.S. is set out as preparation for leadership roles in hospitals, clinics and other healthcare settings, with communication and medical ethics named as emphases.

  • Can be completed fully online
  • Public health material inside a management degree
  • Coursework in healthcare law and patient experience
  • Named routes into home health and pharmaceuticals
24

Healthcare Management Degree (HC23)

West Georgia Technical College

Fully online

Waco, GA

$2,568 in-state tuition35% graduation rate11 graduates68.8 score

West Georgia Tech's Healthcare Management associate degree offers an occupational course selection spanning patient records, practice administration and health sciences.

The catalog requires at least 60 credits, including a general education foundation and at least 45 additional occupational credits. The general core includes composition, public speaking, psychology and mathematics, with science choices that depend on the pathway.

Occupational options include healthcare reimbursement, administrative procedures, electronic records, coding, compliance, practice law and ethics, and financial accounting. Anatomy, physiology, microbiology and human-development courses also appear in the selection. Prerequisites and pathway requirements should guide which courses you take.

  • 60-credit minimum
  • 45-credit occupational selection
  • Healthcare records and compliance
  • Pathway-specific science choices
25

Health Care Administration Degree (AAS)

Terra State Community College

Fully online

Fremont, OH

$4,692 in-state tuition39% graduation rate2 graduates68.5 score

Terra State's 61-credit Health Care Administration A.A.S. emphasizes resource management, communication and computer applications in healthcare operations.

The program's learning outcomes cover planning, leadership, legal and ethical decisions, and management of financial, human and physical resources. Technology work applies to presentations, operational systems, analysis and quality improvement.

Terra describes the degree as preparation for both career entry and continued study toward a healthcare administration bachelor's. The curriculum pairs knowledge of healthcare organizations with the interpersonal and organizational skills needed to work within them. Any bachelor's transfer plan should be checked against the receiving university's requirements.

  • 61-credit A.A.S.
  • Resource management and planning
  • Healthcare computer applications
  • Preparation for continued bachelor's study

22 of these 25 programs are at public colleges, which is what a model weighting cost heavily will produce in a field where the public median is $3,119 and the for-profit median is $16,450. The exceptions are worth looking at rather than dismissing: Bryan leads the list on a 90% graduation rate, far above the 35% median, and it earns the position despite charging $14,580. A private college can win here, but it has to win on completion, because it will lose on price.

The geography is narrow, and worth knowing before you read the list as a national one. These 25 programs sit in 11 states, and the field as a whole concentrates in the same places: FL has 17, NY has 10, GA has 8, NC has 8. Community colleges are built to serve the county they sit in, so a top-ranked program two thousand miles away is only useful to you if it is one of the 55 taught online.

Where You Can Finish the Bachelor's Without Transferring

Most people taking this degree intend to continue, so this is the structural fact worth knowing first, and it is not one the colleges advertise. Of the 61 public institutions teaching this associate, one also teaches the bachelor's in the same subject. 60 do not. Among private institutions it runs the other way: 25 of 53 offer both.

That pattern is the community college system working as designed rather than anything sinister. Two-year colleges award two-year degrees and hand students on to state universities, and the transfer routes are usually well established. But it does change what the price gap is buying. The expensive private option is, among other things, selling you the next degree as well, and the cheap public option is not.

Whichever way you go, confirm the credits transfer against the specific university you intend to finish at, and do it before enrolling. Regional institutional accreditation is what makes that possible, which is why it sits in the sources below and why it matters more at this level than any programmatic badge. CAHME, the accreditor that shapes the master's tier, accredits at master's level and does not reach a two-year degree.

Online Associates Degree in Healthcare Administration

55 of the 115 programs are flagged online and 60 are campus-based, an even split, and the lowest online share of any level in this field. Online study gets commoner the higher the award goes: 48% here, 54% at bachelor's, 55% at master's and 63% at doctoral level, because the intake gets older at every step. The useful finding at this level is that the two formats are hard to tell apart on the record: the same 35% median graduation rate, and median tuition differing by a few hundred dollars rather than a multiple.

That is genuinely good news, and it is why delivery is scored so lightly above. Choosing the online version of this degree does not appear to cost you anything measurable in completion or price, so it comes down to whether you can get to a campus. What the federal flag will not tell you is which kind of online a program means, since it covers both the sort that never meets and the sort that expects you on site periodically. That is on the college's own page.

Associate Programs by State

Where the 115 programs sit. 29 states have at least one and the rest have none, which at this level is a real constraint rather than a formality: a community college is built for the area around it, and only 55 of these programs travel.

The 18 Programs Not Scored, and Why

18 of the 115 programs are listed here but not ranked, because they do not publish both figures the model needs. Most are missing a tuition figure. They are named rather than dropped, because a reader in one of their states should know the program exists, and they are not scored low, because a college that files an incomplete return has not thereby become a worse college.

Pima Medical Institute-Tucson AZ · Online · 203 a year
Pima Medical Institute-Albuquerque NM · Online · 14 a year
Eastern Gateway Community College OH · Online · 282 a year
The College of Health Care Professions-Northwest TX · Online · 54 a year
Ultimate Medical Academy FL · Online · 510 a year
St Louis College of Health Careers-Fenton MO · Online · 27 a year
Miller-Motte College-Chattanooga TN · Online · 7 a year
Northwest Career College NV · On campus · 44 a year
Healthcare Career College CA · Online · 18 a year
Ross College-Sylvania OH · Online · 68 a year
National Career College CA · Online · 15 a year
Florida Institute of Technology-Online FL · Online · 3 a year
Infinity LA · Online · 5 a year
Pima Medical Institute-Phoenix AZ · Online · 58 a year
North-West College-West Covina CA · On campus · 1 a year
UEI College-Gardena CA · On campus · 6 a year
Community Care OK · Online · 17 a year
FVI School of Nursing and Technology FL · On campus · 12 a year

Sources for These Associates Degree in Healthcare Administration Rankings

Associates Degree in Healthcare Administration: Common Questions

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