The recognition of schools whose accreditation of record comes from the DETC is weaker than the recognition of those that are regionally accredited. A few schools are accredited by both the DETC and a regional accreditor, and they count as regionally accredited, with the DETC accreditation serving as a sort of merit badge for their capacity in distance learning.
There are only two DETC-accredited institutions offering the M.P.H., and neither are accredited by the CEPH.
Independence University, formerly California College of Health Sciences, is a for-profit, predominantly vocational school with a track record especially for training associate's- and bachelor's-level respiratory care providers. It is not regionally accredited. Their
M.P.H. page looks like that of a trade school program.
The American Public University System, offering degrees under the brands American Military University and American Public University, is for-profit and publicly traded. Much of its market is among members of the U.S. military whose tuition is reimbursed entirely by their employer, with a second market among other public servants, and a third among civilians searching for relatively affordable and flexible online learning. It is also regionally accredited. The
AMU M.P.H. and
APU M.P.H. pages are identical except for the name of the division.
To the best of my knowledge, the faculties of both school are predominantly part-time, contingent online freelancers; while they should implicitly be academically qualified, don't expect them to be very prominent or well-connected. I don't expect either school has or ever will have a research profile to speak of in public health.
On distance learning forums, AMU/APU/APUS has a reasonably good reputation for attentive customer service. While the sample for Independence/CCHS is much smaller, I would have to say it is closer to mixed or not great; going from these accounts, you could reasonably expect very limited interaction with your faculty.
Now, if you're looking to seek employment based largely on other credentials like a medical degree and specialty, with the M.P.H. not required but a useful boost, along the lines of continuing education... there's a case for going for a modest but legitimate, accredited if not gold-standard, fairly low-cost M.P.H. like one of these, as a form of continuing education.
But in most circumstances, I would much, much rather go for a CEPH-accredited program. It is the clear gold standard in the public health field in the United States; some employers, notably the CDC, are reliably reported to insist on it. Look into the tuition of every CEPH program offered by distance, or in real space close to you. Surprisingly competitive options may include state programs in your state, state programs elsewhere that are increasingly recognizing the competitive market in distance learning and lowering out-of-state tuition in their distance programs, etc. Look into whether you can transfer credit from your M.D. or other education. Make humble but assertive inquiries into tuition support from your employer.
Finally, there are international options that are not accredited by the CEPH, but may benefit from host institutions with much greater reputations than the DETC vocational schools, and could conceivably, where such discretion is possible, get byes from employers on the CEPH thing because they aren't based in the U.S. Check out the
M.Sc. in Public Health from the London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine of the University of London, some
related graduate programs including Epidemiology and Infectious Diseases from LSHTM and London, the
M.P.H. from Lakehead University, and the
M.P.H. from the University of South Africa. (While scandalously affordable, UNISA can be challenging for prospective North American students to deal with on administrative questions. They've appointed a correspondent office,
IACI, to help represent Canadian and U.S. students; don't be shy about contacting them with inquiries.)
Best of luck!
