Overview
Founded in 1964, the University of South Alabama comprises the Graduate School; the Colleges of Allied Health Professions, Arts and Sciences, Mitchell College of Business, Education, Engineering, Medicine, and Nursing; the School of Continuing Education and Special Programs; and the School of Computer and Information Sciences. There are three specialized departments: Cooperative Education, Military Science, and Aerospace Studies. The University has two major teaching hospitals in Mobile. All facilities are entirely modern.

In 2007-08, the University enrolled approximately 13,830 students, 2,815 of them as graduate students. Sixty-two percent of the students were from Alabama, 26 percent from other states, and 12 percent from other countries.

The University of South Alabama awards approximately 650 master’s degrees each academic year. Graduates are currently enrolled in Ph.D. programs at Rutgers, Yale, Texas A&M, Emory, Missouri-Columbia, Arizona State, Michigan, Wisconsin, Washington University in St. Louis, and a number of other institutions. Education graduates have found teaching and administrative positions in all fifty states and in Australia, Bahrain, Canada, Germany, Hong Kong, Mexico, Nigeria, Russia, Venezuela, and the Virgin Islands. Others find employment in business and industry, government agencies, and in hospitals and clinics throughout the country.

The Location and Community
The University is in Mobile, Alabama, a port city and metropolitan area with a population of 476,000. While summers are warm, the overall climate is pleasantly mild. The nearby Gulf of Mexico beaches and extensive water resources of Mobile Bay and its tributaries provide outstanding recreational opportunities.

Programs of Study and Degree Requirements
The Graduate School offers a wide range of graduate degrees, including an interdisciplinary M.S. in environmental toxicology, the M.S. in occupational therapy and in speech and hearing sciences, and an M.H.S. in physician assistant studies. (College of Allied Health Professions); the M.A. in communication, English, history, and sociology; the M.S. in biological sciences, mathematics, marine sciences, and psychology; and the Master of Public Administration in the Department of Political Science (College of Arts and Sciences); the Master of Business Administration and the Master of Accounting (College of Business); the M.S. in computer and information sciences (School of Computer and Information Sciences); the Master of Education, with concentrations in alternative education, alternative secondary education, early childhood education, educational leadership, educational media, elementary education, health education, physical education, school counseling, school psychometry, and secondary education as well as a collaborative program; the M.S. in community counseling, exercise technology, instructional design and development, recreation administration, rehabilitation counseling, and therapeutic recreation; the Educational Specialist degree in counselor education, early childhood education, educational leadership, educational media, elementary education, health education, physical education, secondary education, and special education as well as a collaborative program (College of Education); the M.S. in electrical engineering, chemical engineering, and mechanical engineering (College of Engineering); and the Master of Science in Nursing, with concentrations in adult health nursing, community-mental health nursing, woman and child health nursing, nursing education, clinical nurse specialist, and executive and midlevel nursing administration (College of Nursing). The Doctor of Audiology (Au.D.) and the Doctor of Physical Therapy are offered. The Ph.D. is offered in communication sciences and disorders, in instructional design and development, in marine sciences, and in the basic medical sciences with specializations available in biochemistry, microbiology/immunology, pharmacology, physiology, and structural and cellular biology.

Facilities & Resources
The graduate program in the basic medical sciences is housed in the College of Medicine, which has the Primate Center, Laboratory of Molecular Biology, Electron Microscopy Center, Mass Spectroscopy Center, Flow Cytometry Center, DNA-Protein Sequencing and Synthesis Center, Sickle-Cell Center, and Cancer Center. The graduate program in nursing has access to the clinical facilities of the two University of South Alabama (USA) hospitals and numerous outpatient clinics. The graduate program in marine sciences is housed in the College of Arts and Sciences, which has the Big Creek Biological Station available during the entire year for field research on reservoirs and streams. The University is a member of the Alabama Marine and Environmental Sciences Consortium and has full access to the consortium’s extensive research facilities, which are located on the Gulf of Mexico on Dauphin Island, Alabama. The University is also a member of the Mississippi-Alabama Sea Grant Consortium and the Oak Ridge Associated Universities Consortium. The University libraries consist of the University (main) Library, USA Archives on the Spring Hill Avenue Campus, the Biomedical Library, two hospital libraries, and library services offered at the Baldwin County campus. The Biomedical Library system serves the information needs of students and faculty in the Colleges of Medicine, Nursing, and Allied Health Professions, while the main library serves the remaining colleges (Arts and Sciences, Business, Computer and Information Sciences, Continuing Education, Education, and Engineering) Collectively, they provide access to more than 500,000 monographic titles, nearly 3,000 print subscriptions, about 1,000,000 government documents, and an ever expanding array of Internet accessible information databases, including full-text article databases that provide electronic access to thousands of additional, unique journal titles or serial publications. The Archives houses one of the largest photographic collections in the region, as well as many important collections, including the papers of Congressmen Jack Edwards and Sonny Callahan, and material from the civil rights era. The Psychological Teaching Clinic is operated in support of the master’s degree program in psychology, and the Business Resources Center is available to students in the M.B.A. program. A modern, fully equipped Speech and Hearing Clinic provides research facilities for graduate students in that program.

Expenses and Aid
The basic fees for fall 2007 amounted to $285 per semester plus course fees of $187 per semester hour, thus, a regular student carrying a 9-semester-hour load paid course fees of $1503 per semester or $3006 for the academic year. Out-of-state rates were $334 per semester hour, thus, a regular student carrying a 9-semester-hour load paid course fees of $3006 per semester or $6012 for the academic year. There is no tuition fee for Ph.D. students in basic medical sciences.

Financial Aid:
The major University awards are assistantships in master’s programs in all fields, with stipends of $6000 to $15,000 for the academic year plus tuition fellowships and remission of out-of-state tuition. Assistants are expected to pay other specific fees. Stipends of $10,000 to $17,000 per year, a remission of out-of-state tuition, plus tuition fellowships and remission of out-of-state tuition, are awarded to students in the Ph.D. programs..

Housing/Living Expenses:
The University has extensive housing near the campus for single and married students; rent is about $240 to $485 per month. Single students may live in dorms; the cost is about $960 per semester for a suite to about $1936 per semester for a one-person efficiency apartment. A board plan is available, with options from $935 to $1049 per semester. The cost of living in Mobile is slightly below the national average.

How to Apply
The University deadlines for applications and all supporting documents are July 15 for fall, December 1 for spring, and May 1 for summer. Some programs may have earlier deadlines; the requirements for a specific program may be found in the University Bulletin. The admission decision is based on the applicant’s previous academic record and on evidence of the ability to pursue work on the graduate level.

International Students
A minimum TOEFL score of 525 (197) is required or a minimum IELTS score of 5.5. Applicants who have received a bachelor's or higher degree from an accredited U.S. institution are not required to submit

Go To Profile Index Page

Go To Top Of Page