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Point Park University is a small private nonprofit institution in downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, founded in 1960 and holding MSCHE regional accreditation. It is not a large-enrollment online university. Its total student population is approximately 3,500 to 4,000. What it is, and what distinguishes it in any honest comparison against larger online alternatives, is a communication-focused university located at the center of one of the most distinctive media and sports markets in the United States, with industry-embedded faculty, active Pittsburgh media partnerships, and a Center for Media Innovation that produces journalism with real newsroom infrastructure.

For students in communication, journalism, public relations, social media, and sports management who want applied industry connections and are targeting the Pittsburgh and mid-Atlantic media market specifically, Point Park is worth understanding. For students primarily seeking the most affordable online credential in business, health administration, or education, the per-credit rate of approximately $811 to $842 for most graduate programs and the IACBE business accreditation, which is less widely recognized than ACBSP or AACSB, place Point Park in a market position that requires explicit justification against lower-cost alternatives. This review covers both dimensions.

Quick Facts	Point Park University Online
Location	Downtown Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania (201 Wood Street)
Founded	1960
Institutional type	Private, nonprofit
Institutional accreditation	Middle States Commission on Higher Education (MSCHE); reaffirmed 2021; next evaluation 2028-2029
Total enrollment	~3,500-4,000 students (small institution)
Online delivery	Fully online options available for select programs; same tuition rate for on-ground and online for most master’s degrees
Graduate per-credit tuition (2025-26)	~$811-$842/credit (most master’s programs); education master’s ~$629/credit; doctoral Ed.D. programs higher
Undergraduate per-credit (online)	~$884/credit (regular academic year); $528/credit summer online rate
Fully online graduate programs	Athletic Coaching and Administration MA; Educational Administration MA; Health Care Administration and Management MS; select other MA programs
Fully online undergraduate programs	Social Media Management BA (degree completion); Public Relations, Advertising and Social Media BA (online option)
Key programmatic accreditations	IACBE (Rowland School of Business: MBA, MS Health Care Administration, multiple BS programs); ABET EAC (BS Electrical Engineering, BS Mechanical Engineering); ABET ETAC (BS Civil Engineering Technology); NASD (Conservatory of Performing Arts)
Distinctive strengths	School of Communication; Center for Media Innovation; Next Generation Newsroom; Pittsburgh sports/media industry connections; downtown Pittsburgh location
Same tuition for online/on-ground	Yes — for most master’s programs; students choose modality without premium for online
Federal financial aid	Title IV eligible; 94% of undergraduates receive grants or scholarships; average financial aid $24,746/year

What Is Point Park University?

Point Park University occupies a genuinely unusual position in the landscape of online-accessible private universities. Its main campus sits at 201 Wood Street in downtown Pittsburgh, one block from the Allegheny River, within walking distance of the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, the studios of local television stations, the corporate offices of major Pittsburgh-area employers, and the professional sports franchises whose partnerships the university uses as curriculum anchors. This geographic reality is the foundation of Point Park’s most distinctive academic programs and its most honest competitive claim.

The institution was founded in 1960 as a small professional school and has grown into a university of approximately 3,500 to 4,000 students organized into four academic schools: the Conservatory of Performing Arts, the School of Arts and Sciences, the Rowland School of Business, and the School of Communication. The Conservatory is nationally known for dance, theater, and musical theater training; it is not the focus of this review for online learners but contributes to the institutional culture. The School of Communication and the Rowland School of Business are the schools most relevant to online students.

The Center for Media Innovation, housed in West Penn Hall, operates what Point Park calls the Next Generation Newsroom, a working journalism infrastructure that produces content for distribution through partnership media organizations and the Point Park News Service. Faculty in the School of Communication are drawn from working journalists, PR professionals, and media executives in the Pittsburgh market. The applied, industry-embedded faculty model is what distinguishes Point Park’s communication programs from the more academically oriented communication programs at larger research universities.

Point Park made a deliberate structural decision to charge the same per-credit rate for online and on-ground master’s programs. This is not universal in the industry, and it removes the format premium that many institutions apply to online delivery. A student who chooses an online section of the MBA or MA in Media Communication pays the same rate as a student sitting in a classroom on Wood Street.

Accreditation: MSCHE and the Programmatic Portfolio

Point Park holds MSCHE regional accreditation, the same accrediting body as Penn State, Drexel, Rutgers, and Georgetown. The MSCHE accreditation was reaffirmed in 2021 with a verification visit completed in August 2023. The next full evaluation is scheduled for 2028-2029. This is a standard, active accreditation status with no sanctions, warnings, or adverse actions on record.

Program Area	Accrediting Body	Programs Covered	Employer Recognition Note
Rowland School of Business (most programs)	International Accreditation Council for Business Education (IACBE)	MBA; MS in Health Care Administration and Management; BS in Accounting, Applied Computer Science, Business Management, Economics and Finance, Human Resource Management, Marketing and Sales, Sports/Arts/Entertainment/Music Business; Post-Baccalaureate business degrees	IACBE is a recognized business accreditor but is less widely known than ACBSP or AACSB; accepted by most business employers but does not carry the same hiring screen weight as AACSB in elite consulting, financial services, and Fortune 500 pipelines; compare to ACBSP-accredited alternatives if AACSB is not required
Engineering (on-campus BS programs)	ABET Engineering Accreditation Commission (EAC)	BS in Electrical Engineering; BS in Mechanical Engineering	ABET EAC accreditation for campus-based engineering programs; relevant for PE licensure eligibility; these programs are not online
Civil Engineering Technology (on-campus)	ABET Engineering Technology Accreditation Commission (ETAC)	BS in Civil Engineering Technology	ABET ETAC; campus-based; not offered online
Conservatory of Performing Arts	National Association of Schools of Dance (NASD)	Dance programs	Relevant for on-campus performing arts students; not applicable to online programs

 

The IACBE business accreditation requires honest contextualization. IACBE (International Accreditation Council for Business Education) is a recognized accrediting body for business programs, accepted by the U.S. Department of Education and CHEA. It is not AACSB and it is not ACBSP. Employer recognition of IACBE is narrower than for AACSB or ACBSP, and some corporate hiring processes that specifically screen for business accreditation may not recognize IACBE with the same weight. For students targeting most regional employers, mid-market business roles, and organizations where IACBE is sufficient, the distinction is immaterial. For students targeting elite consulting, investment banking, or Fortune 500 management pipelines that specifically require AACSB, the IACBE accreditation at Point Park does not satisfy that screen.

The more important observation for students evaluating Point Park’s business programs is that IACBE accreditation is not why most students consider Point Park. The institution’s competitive positioning is its communication programs, its Pittsburgh industry connections, and its downtown location, not its business school accreditation. Students who are primarily drawn to Point Park for its communication and media programs and who add a business credential to their portfolio are in a different market position than students who are choosing Point Park over ACBSP- or AACSB-accredited alternatives purely on business program merit.

For a full explanation of how IACBE, ACBSP, and AACSB accreditation compare in employer hiring markets, see: How Employers View Online Business Degrees

The School of Communication: Point Park’s Genuine Differentiator

The School of Communication is the reason most prospective online students should know Point Park’s name. In the online education market, communication, journalism, PR, and media management programs are widely available from much larger and more prominent institutions. What is not widely available is a program where the faculty are active working journalists, the university operates a functioning newsroom with distribution partnerships, and the institutional location provides direct physical access to the Pittsburgh media market’s employers.

Fully Online Communication Programs

The fully online and online-option programs in the School of Communication include the Bachelor of Arts in Public Relations, Advertising and Social Media (online option available), the Bachelor of Arts in Social Media Management (fully online degree completion program), and graduate programs in media communication with journalism and communication specializations. The BA in Social Media Management is specifically designed as a degree completion program for working adults who have some college credits and want to complete a bachelor’s credential in an in-demand field with fully online delivery.

The BLS projects 6 percent job growth for public relations specialists at an $67,440 median and 8 percent growth for marketing managers at $157,620. Social media management as a distinct occupation is tracked within the marketing and advertising category, where the broader field projects 8 percent growth. For students targeting communications, PR, and social media careers, Point Park’s programs carry the Pittsburgh market credibility and active industry faculty that distinguish them from generic online communication degrees at larger institutions.

The Center for Media Innovation and Next Generation Newsroom

The Center for Media Innovation is funded through significant external investment, including a $250,000 gift from the Heinz Endowments and a $100,000 pledge from The Pittsburgh Foundation for the Next Generation Newsroom. These are not nominal grant relationships. They reflect genuine community investment in Point Park’s journalism infrastructure and connect Point Park to the philanthropic networks that drive journalism support in western Pennsylvania. For journalism and media communication students, the connection to these networks is a career asset that most online journalism programs cannot replicate.

The point is not that online students have full access to the physical newsroom infrastructure. It is that the institutional culture, faculty network, and alumni connections the newsroom produces extend to online students through the same faculty relationships, the same media partner connections, and the same alumni network in the Pittsburgh media community. A PR and advertising student who builds connections with Point Park’s working-professional faculty during an online program has access to the same industry network as a campus-based student through those faculty relationships.

Sports Communication and the Pittsburgh Sports Market

Point Park’s sports communication program and the MBA concentration in Sports, Arts and Entertainment Management benefit from the university’s location in a city with three major professional sports franchises, the Steelers, Penguins, and Pirates, and a deep network of sports media professionals who have graduated from or teach at Point Park. The School of Communication explicitly markets these connections as a curriculum asset, and they are genuine: faculty who currently work in sports media and sports PR for Pittsburgh-area organizations teach courses whose applied assignments connect directly to real industry contexts.

For online students in sports communication or the sports management MBA concentration, the value of these connections depends on their career target. Students targeting Pittsburgh and mid-Atlantic sports industry roles get direct network value. Students targeting sports management careers in other markets get curriculum quality from faculty with current industry experience, which is a more diffuse but real benefit.

Fully Online Graduate Programs Beyond Communication

MS in Health Care Administration and Management (IACBE)

The fully online MS in Healthcare Administration and Management is one of Point Park’s most clearly positioned online programs for working healthcare professionals. The program is IACBE-accredited as part of the Rowland School of Business portfolio. The BLS projects 28 percent job growth for medical and health services managers at a $110,680 median, making health administration one of the strongest career signals in any institution’s graduate catalog. For students comparing Point Park’s health administration MS against alternatives, the relevant comparison is against other IACBE-accredited health administration programs and against CAHME-accredited alternatives where the career target specifically requires CAHME recognition for senior hospital system roles.

Educational Administration MA (Fully Online)

The fully online Educational Administration MA is designed for K-12 educators seeking administrative credentials and leadership positions. The program covers school leadership, policy, and administration, and is relevant for teachers pursuing principal or district leadership roles. Pennsylvania-specific administrative certification requirements apply; students outside Pennsylvania should verify the program’s applicability to their state’s administrative credentialing requirements before enrolling.

Athletic Coaching and Administration MA (Fully Online)

The fully online MA in Athletic Coaching and Administration combines coaching methodology with athletic administration skills, serving high school coaches, collegiate assistant coaches, and athletic department staff who want graduate-level credentials for advancement. The Pittsburgh sports context gives this program an authentic industry flavor, though the practical value of that context for students outside the Pittsburgh market is primarily the faculty expertise rather than direct geographic employment access.

BLS Career Outcomes by Point Park Online Program Area

Program Area	Representative Career Role	BLS Median Wage (2023)	10-Yr Growth	Point Park-Specific Note
Social Media Management BA (online completion)	Social Media Manager / Digital Marketing Specialist	$68,230 (marketing specialist)	+8%	Fully online degree completion; Pittsburgh industry faculty; practical portfolio focus
PR, Advertising and Social Media BA (online option)	Public Relations Specialist / PR Manager / Advertising Manager	$67,440 / $135,900	+6% / +5%	Online option; working professional faculty; Pittsburgh media network; active portfolio development
MA in Media Communication (journalism track)	Reporter / Editor / Media Relations Director	$57,500 / $67,440+	+3% / +6%	Center for Media Innovation; Next Generation Newsroom; Pittsburgh Post-Gazette / local TV connections
MBA (IACBE) with Sports/Arts/Entertainment concentration	Sports Management / Entertainment Director / Operations Manager	$101,280 (ops manager median)	+5%	IACBE accreditation; Pittsburgh sports franchise connections; same online and on-ground tuition rate
MS Health Care Administration (IACBE, fully online)	Medical and Health Services Manager / Hospital Administrator	$110,680	+28%	IACBE; fully online; strongest BLS growth signal in Point Park’s catalog; compare CAHME alternatives for senior hospital roles
Educational Administration MA (fully online)	School Principal / Vice Principal / District Administrator	$103,460	+4%	Fully online; Pennsylvania-focused administrative credentials; verify out-of-state applicability
Athletic Coaching and Administration MA (fully online)	Athletic Director / Head Coach / Sports Administrator	$67,710 (recreation workers with coaching responsibility)	Stable	Fully online; Pittsburgh sports culture context; practical coaching and administration skills
Business programs (BS/Post-Bacc, IACBE)	Financial Analyst / HR Manager / Marketing Analyst	$99,890 / $67,650 / $68,230	+8-11%	IACBE; downtown Pittsburgh employer connections; note IACBE vs. ACBSP/AACSB employer recognition distinction

Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Outlook Handbook and Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, 2023-24 Edition.

The healthcare administration projection of 28 percent growth is the strongest single BLS signal in Point Park’s online catalog and represents the program area where the fully online delivery, the IACBE accreditation, and the per-credit rate comparison against alternatives is most worth examining carefully. The communication programs project more modest growth but offer industry differentiation that the BLS occupation category alone does not capture.

Tuition and Cost: Where Point Park Sits in the Market

Point Park’s graduate per-credit rate of approximately $811 to $842 for most programs, and ~$629 for education master’s programs, sits in the mid-to-upper range of private nonprofit online graduate programs. The same-rate-for-online-and-on-ground policy is a genuine structural benefit that removes the format premium. The total program cost comparison against directly competitive alternatives is worth doing explicitly.

Cost Comparison (Graduate Online)	Point Park (most programs)	Point Park (education)	Liberty University	Concordia Chicago
Approx. grad per-credit	~$842/credit	~$629/credit	~$515/credit	~$581/credit (avg)
Online premium vs. on-ground?	No — same rate	No — same rate	No — same rate	No — same rate
IACBE / ACBSP / AACSB business?	IACBE	N/A	ACBSP	ACBSP
Communication/media programs?	Yes — distinctive	N/A	Yes (CACREP counseling focus)	No
Fully online health admin?	Yes (IACBE MS)	N/A	No directly comparable	No
Pittsburgh industry connections?	Yes — distinctive	Yes (limited)	No	No
MSCHE accreditation?	Yes	Yes	No (SACSCOC)	No (HLC)

For students in communication, PR, social media, and media management programs, the Point Park per-credit rate is competitive when evaluated against the specific industry access and applied faculty network it produces. There are not many MSCHE-accredited institutions with working newsrooms, Pittsburgh sports franchise connections, and industry-embedded communication faculty available to online students at $842 per credit. For this specific student profile, the rate is contextually justified.

For students in business and health administration programs where the IACBE accreditation is the relevant credential and where the Pittsburgh industry connections are less directly applicable, the comparison against ACBSP-accredited programs at lower per-credit rates requires more careful financial justification. Liberty University’s ACBSP-accredited programs at ~$515 per credit and Concordia Chicago’s ACBSP programs at ~$581 per credit are meaningfully less expensive with comparable or stronger business programmatic accreditation.

For a complete framework for comparing online program costs and accreditation before enrolling, see: What to Look for in an Accredited Online University

Who Point Park Online Is Best Suited For

Students Most Likely to Thrive at Point Park Online

• Communication, PR, advertising, social media, and journalism professionals who want MSCHE-accredited online programs from an institution with active Pittsburgh media industry connections, working-professional faculty, and the Center for Media Innovation’s newsroom infrastructure behind the curriculum, and who are targeting careers in the Pittsburgh or mid-Atlantic media market.
• Sports communication and sports management students who value the Pittsburgh sports franchise connections and industry-embedded faculty that Point Park has cultivated through its downtown location and alumni relationships with the Steelers, Penguins, Pirates, and Pittsburgh’s sports media ecosystem.
• Working adults seeking the fully online Social Media Management BA degree completion program from an MSCHE-accredited institution with applied communication faculty, particularly those who already have some college credits and want to complete a bachelor’s in a growing field without paying an online format premium.
• Healthcare professionals targeting the fully online MS in Health Care Administration as a mid-career advancement credential, particularly those in the Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania market where Point Park’s regional presence adds local employer recognition alongside the IACBE programmatic signal.
• Pennsylvania K-12 educators considering the fully online Educational Administration MA for school leadership credentials within the Pennsylvania administrative licensing framework, where Point Park’s regional knowledge and MSCHE accreditation provide appropriate state-context preparation.

Students Who May Want to Consider Other Options

• Students primarily seeking an online business credential and comparing Point Park’s IACBE-accredited MBA against ACBSP or AACSB alternatives. At $842 per credit, Point Park’s MBA is more expensive than Liberty University’s ACBSP MBA (~$515/credit), Concordia Chicago’s ACBSP MBA (~$699/credit), and significantly more expensive than the University of Illinois Gies iMBA (~$22,000 total, AACSB) or WGU’s competency-based programs. Without the specific communication industry context or Pittsburgh market relevance, the IACBE-accredited business credential at Point Park’s per-credit rate does not justify a premium over better-accredited alternatives at lower cost.
• Students seeking cost-minimized online health administration credentials where CAHME accreditation is relevant. UCF’s CAHME-accredited Executive MHA and other CAHME programs may be more strategically appropriate for students targeting senior hospital system roles where CAHME is a recognized quality signal, even at higher per-credit rates, compared to IACBE health administration from Point Park.
• Students outside the Pittsburgh and mid-Atlantic region who are considering Point Park specifically for its communication programs but whose career targets are in markets where the Pittsburgh media network connections have limited geographic relevance. The curriculum quality and faculty expertise transfer nationally, but the direct network benefits are most concentrated in the Pittsburgh and Pennsylvania market.
• Students seeking the most affordable fully online education master’s programs for Pennsylvania licensure, where other MSCHE or regionally accredited institutions with CAEP-accredited educator preparation programs may offer the credential at lower cost with stronger state-specific accreditation signals.

For adult learners evaluating online programs in communications and media fields, see: Jobs You Can Get With an Online Business Degree

Final Assessment

Point Park University Online is an MSCHE-accredited private nonprofit institution with a genuine and distinctive market position in communication, media, and sports management education, and a pragmatic structural decision to charge the same per-credit rate for online and on-ground master’s programs. The School of Communication, the Center for Media Innovation, the Next Generation Newsroom, and the Pittsburgh industry faculty network are real differentiators that few online-accessible institutions can match for students in these specific fields.

The IACBE business accreditation, the per-credit rate of $842 for most graduate programs, and the limited programmatic accreditation depth compared to larger institutions are the counterweights that require explicit financial justification for students in business and health administration programs who are comparing Point Park against ACBSP or AACSB alternatives. For those students, the comparison must be made honestly and the Pittsburgh industry context must be specifically relevant to their career target to justify the cost premium.

Point Park is worth knowing for what it does specifically well: communication and media programs at an institution whose downtown Pittsburgh identity is genuinely embedded in how those programs are taught and who teaches them. For students whose career targets align with that identity, it is a distinctively appropriate choice. For students who found Point Park through a generic online program search and are evaluating it as a cost-efficient all-around online option, the honest guidance is to compare carefully against alternatives with stronger programmatic accreditation and lower per-credit rates before committing.

Ready to find accredited online programs matched to your career goals? See: See Your Best-Fit Online Programs in 60 Seconds