Tuscaloosa, AL • Department of Human Nutrition, Hospitality and Sport Management • Online, Hybrid and Campus • $399–$480/Credit (distance)
The University of Alabama offers 4 nutrition credentials:
- B.S., Food and Nutrition
- M.S., Human Nutrition
- M.S., Human Nutrition with the Coordinated Program in Dietetics
- Ph.D., Nutrition Sciences
Program Tracks Overview
| Program | Est. Tuition | Est. Duration | Credit Hours |
|---|---|---|---|
| B.S. | $47.9K flat | 4 years (8 semesters) | 120 |
| M.S. | $14.4K flat | 1–2 years (3–6 semesters) | 30 |
| M.S. + CPD | $26.6K / $74.6K | 2 years (24 months, published) | 57 |
| Ph.D. | $38.4K / $110.4K | 3 years (6 semesters) | 54 minimum |
Alabama’s defining feature is a split between what is online and what leads to the dietitian credential. The ACEND-accredited didactic coursework runs fully online, but the Coordinated Program that supplies supervised practice is campus-based, and the online M.S. on its own confers no RDN eligibility at all.
Quick Facts
| Feature | Details |
|---|---|
| Program Types | Bachelor’s, master’s, master’s with coordinated dietetics program, doctorate |
| Format | B.S. Online; M.S. Online or Campus; CPD Hybrid; Ph.D. Campus |
| Credit Hours | 120 (B.S.), 30 (M.S.), 57 (CPD), 54 minimum (Ph.D.) |
| ACEND Accreditation | Yes. Didactic Program in Dietetics and Coordinated Program in Dietetics |
| RD/RDN Eligibility | Partial. CPD leads to eligibility; DPD does not on its own; M.S. alone does not |
| Supervised Practice | 21 credits across seven CPD rotations. Hour count not published by UA |
| Specializations | M.S.: Generalist, Clinical, Community. B.S.: DPD track or Nutrition Sciences concentration |
| Research Requirement | M.S. capstone: course, non-thesis project, or thesis. Ph.D.: 18 dissertation hours |
| Entrance Exams | None for B.S. or M.S. GRE for Ph.D. unless master’s GPA is 3.5 or above |
| Intake | B.S. year-round; M.S. three terms; CPD and Ph.D. once a year |
| GPA Floor | 2.0 B.S. admission, 3.0 for DPD standing; 3.0 M.S.; 3.7 for the accelerated master’s |
| Tuition | $399 undergraduate and $480 graduate per distance credit, no residency premium |
| Prerequisite Load | 35 hours of prerequisites for M.S. applicants without an ACEND-accredited degree |
| Institutional Accreditation | Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC) |
Bachelor of Science in Food and Nutrition
The estimated tuition for the B.S. in Food and Nutrition at Alabama is approximately $47,880 (120 credits at $399 per distance credit hour). The program requires 120 credits and takes about four years full time, though students who already hold a bachelor’s degree are exempt from general education and finish far less.
The B.S. in Food and Nutrition is the degree that carries Alabama’s ACEND-accredited Didactic Program in Dietetics.
B.S. Curriculum
A heavy required block. The 2026-27 catalog lists 82 hours of required courses, which is roughly 68 percent of the degree. That leaves about 38 hours for general education and free electives, a tighter margin than most bachelor’s programs. Nineteen NHM courses account for 53 of those hours; the science block accounts for 20 across five lecture-plus-lab courses.
Three routes inside one major. The catalog splits the major into the DPD track for students pursuing the dietitian credential, an application route into the graduate Coordinated Program beginning in the junior year, and a 57-hour Nutrition Sciences concentration built for students heading to medical school or another health profession. The catalog states plainly that the Nutrition Sciences concentration does not meet the requirements for the registered dietitian credential.
A term-locked science chain. NHM 361 Nutritional Biochemistry and NHM 362 Nutrition at the Cell Level gate the advanced sequence, and the two medical nutrition therapy courses run in order. Students who arrive without chemistry and anatomy behind them should expect the sequence, not the credit total, to set their graduation date.
- NHM 361 Nutritional Biochemistry and NHM 362 Nutrition at the Cell Level
- NHM 365 and NHM 465 Medical Nutrition Therapy I and II
- NHM 372, 373, 374 and 475, a four-course food service management sequence
- NHM 454 Experimental and Functional Food Science
- NHM 491 Directed Professional Study, the major’s supervised experience course
- BER 345 Educational Statistics, which also satisfies general education
A Sport and Performance Nutrition minor and a Food and Nutrition minor sit alongside the major in the same department. More curriculum details are available here.
You Should Know
- UA does not teach CH 104 and CH 105 by distance. The university’s own guidance is that online students complete both chemistry courses by distance at another institution and transfer them in. That is eight required credits billed by someone else, on someone else’s calendar.
- UA Online describes the degree as 59 hours of major courses, 20 science and 44 general education. Those figures sum to 123, and the listed major courses actually total 62 hours. The catalog’s 82-hour required table reconciles to 120 once PY 101 and BER 345 are counted in both the major and general education.
- The undergraduate catalog says DPD students take NHM 492 Prepare Dietetic Internship and marks it as offered on campus only. The online curriculum omits NHM 492 entirely. Confirm with the DPD director which applies to distance students before assuming no travel.
- Admission to the DPD is a separate petition filed after 60 semester hours, not automatic with the major.
B.S. Admissions
Undergraduate admission is open year-round and unusually low-barrier, but DPD standing is a second, stricter gate applied later.
- Transfer applicants with 24 or more college credits: 2.0 minimum college GPA
- Applicants with fewer than 24 credits also meet freshman requirements; ACT and SAT are not required through the Fall 2026 entry term, and are waived entirely if high school ended more than four years ago
- DPD petition after 60 hours including a 26-hour prerequisite set, with an overall 3.0 GPA
- DPD grade floors: C- or better in the sciences and PY 101, B- or better in every NHM course and BER 345
- The verification statement additionally requires 24 hours of DPD coursework taken at UA, including NHM 340, NHM 465 and NHM 475
You Should Know
- The 2.0 admission floor and the 3.0 DPD floor are different standards. A student can be admitted to the major and later fail to qualify for the credential track that makes it worth taking.
- The 24-hour residency rule on DPD coursework limits how much of the dietetics core can be transferred in, which matters for anyone assembling a degree from multiple institutions.
- Online enrollment can be restricted by the state you live in. Check UA’s state authorization page before applying, and again if you plan to move mid-program.
Master of Science in Human Nutrition
The estimated tuition for the M.S. in Human Nutrition at Alabama is approximately $14,400 (30 credits at $480 per distance credit hour). The program requires 30 credits and can generally be completed in about one year full time or two years part time, with identical requirements on campus and online.
The M.S. in Human Nutrition is built for people who already hold the RDN credential or a verification statement. UA states directly that for students without a verification statement, this degree alone provides neither exam eligibility nor eligibility to apply for a dietetic internship.
M.S. Curriculum
Three tracks with very different amounts of freedom. All three total 30 hours, but the prescribed share varies sharply. The Generalist track fixes 18 hours and leaves 12 for electives. The Clinical concentration fixes 24 and leaves 6. The Community concentration fixes 27 and leaves 3. If elective flexibility is the reason you picked a track, the Generalist route is the only one that delivers much of it.
The capstone is where the tracks diverge in practice. Every student completes NHM 597 as a course, NHM 598 as a non-thesis research project, or NHM 599 as a thesis. The capstone slot is three hours, but the thesis requires a minimum of six hours of NHM 599, so a thesis consumes three elective hours on top of the slot. In the Community concentration that leaves nothing at all, and in the Clinical concentration it leaves three hours.
- NHM 509 Research Methods in Nutrition and POPH 522 Biostatistics, taken early in every track
- NHM 572 Metabolism of Energy Nutrients and NHM 573 Advanced Vitamins and Minerals
- NHM 567 Nutrition Support for the Critically Ill and NHM 568 Nutrition for the Older Adult, both in the Clinical core
- NHM 550 and NHM 551 Advanced Community Nutrition I and II
- NHM 625 Nutritional Epidemiology, in the Community research core
- Electives reaching outside the department into conflict resolution, health promotion and diabetes management coursework
More curriculum details are available here.
M.S. Research Requirements
- Thesis (NHM 599): six hours minimum, a faculty chair, a committee of at least three including one member outside the department, IRB approval at UA and at the student’s own institution, formal defense and electronic publication. Two to three semesters
- Non-thesis research (NHM 598): three hours, faculty mentor, IRB approval, manuscript-style write-up. At least two semesters
- Capstone course (NHM 597): three hours of professional development and community-engaged learning
- Minimum 18 hours of NHM-designated coursework at a B or better, and a 3.0 graduate GPA
- Only one retake is allowed across all capstone options combined; failing the retake means dismissal
UA advises that the thesis is usually a poor fit for distance students because it depends on sustained contact with campus faculty, and both research options require securing a willing mentor. For a working dietitian, NHM 597 is the realistic default. The retake rule deserves attention: attempts are pooled across NHM 597, 598 and 599, so switching from a failed thesis to the capstone course does not reset the count.
The M.S. + DPD Route
This is the pathway most likely to be what an online searcher is actually looking for, and it appears nowhere in most program listings. Students who hold a bachelor’s degree in another field can combine the master’s with the undergraduate DPD coursework needed for a verification statement, then apply to a dietetic internship while finishing the degree. UA notes that most students in this route begin by enrolling in the undergraduate Food and Nutrition major to clear remaining prerequisites, and that UA maintains affiliations with dietetic internships around the country.
You Should Know
- Total cost for this route is the 30-hour master’s plus however many undergraduate DPD hours you still need, billed separately at the $399 undergraduate rate. UA publishes no combined figure because the undergraduate share depends entirely on your transcript.
- The internship is still a competitive national match. An affiliation is not a placement.
M.S. Admissions
The 35-hour prerequisite table is the real admissions hurdle for career changers, and it must be cleared before applying rather than during the program.
- 3.0 overall undergraduate GPA, or 3.0 across the last 60 hours
- Resume, statement of purpose of one to two pages, three recommendation letters with at least two preferred from academic references
- Transcripts from every institution attended for 15 or more hours
- Either an ACEND-accredited dietetics degree, or 35 hours of prerequisites: CH 104, CH 105, BSC 215, BSC 216, NHM 101, 201, 295, 340, 361, 363 and 365
- Deadlines: July 1 for fall, December 1 for spring, April 15 for summer
- Up to 12 graduate hours transfer in; all coursework must fall within six years of the degree award
- Permission-to-Continue admission is available for applicants who miss the standard requirements but excel elsewhere, with conditions to clear in the first 12 hours
You Should Know
- Two of the 35 prerequisite hours are CH 104 and CH 105, the same two courses UA does not offer by distance. Career changers must source them elsewhere before they can even apply.
- The six-year clock has no extension provision for master’s students.
- Course load is capped at 15 hours a semester, 6 in a single summer term and 12 across a full summer session, so the one-year full-time claim assumes a summer term is used.
Master of Science with the Coordinated Program in Dietetics
The estimated tuition for the M.S. with the Coordinated Program in Dietetics at Alabama is approximately $26,629 for a resident and $74,641 for a nonresident, derived from the main-campus graduate rate across four full-time semesters plus the $49 per hour technology fee. The program requires 57 credits and UA publishes it as a 24-month program.
The Coordinated Program in Dietetics is the only route at Alabama that carries a student all the way to RDN exam eligibility without a separate internship match. It is 36 hours of didactic coursework and 21 hours of supervised practice, and it requires concurrent admission to the M.S.
CPD Supervised Practice
- Seven supervised practice courses totalling 21 credits: NHM 574 through NHM 580
- Rotations in community health and wellness, long-term care, food service management and medical nutrition therapy
- Three of the seven are Capstone rotations (NHM 578, 579 and 580) and double as the M.S. capstone requirement under Plan III
- Only enrolled CPD students may register for any supervised practice course
- B or better required in every rotation, with a single retake allowed across all capstone options
- A CPD exit exam must be passed before the verification statement is issued
- UA does not publish a supervised practice hour count for the program
Removing the internship match is a genuine advantage, since the didactic-to-internship transition is where most dietetics candidates stall. Alabama’s own DPD objectives assume only half of eligible graduates will be admitted to a supervised practice program within twelve months, which is the risk the CPD eliminates. The trade-off is that this is the campus-bound option, admitted once a year, with an exit exam standing between degree completion and the credential. Note also that 21 credits is a substantial practice block but UA publishes no hour figure, so it cannot be compared directly against the roughly 1,000-hour standard.
You Should Know
- ⚠ UA publishes no CPD-specific tuition rate and directs CPD applicants to the main-campus cost estimates rather than the distance rate table. At 57 credits the difference between the two rate lines is roughly $27,400 at the distance rate against $74,600 for a main-campus nonresident. Get the applicable rate in writing from Student Account Services before committing.
- The graduate catalog restricts Plan III to main-campus students and allows distance students only Plans I and II. The department page says some CPD coursework is delivered by distance. Treat this as a hybrid program requiring relocation or local residence, not an online one.
- A student removed from the CPD can still finish the master’s, but must then complete a thesis, non-thesis project or NHM 597 instead, and receives no verification statement.
CPD Admissions
This is a single annual intake with a hard deadline, which makes a missed application a full year’s delay.
- Applications due February 1, decisions issued no later than March 15
- Concurrent admission to the M.S. in Human Nutrition is mandatory
- Application form, statement of purpose, resume, transcripts and two recommendation letters, sent to the CPD director
- Prerequisites: introductory chemistry and organic chemistry with labs, two anatomy and physiology courses with labs, biochemistry or nutritional biochemistry, introduction to nutrition, lifecycle nutrition, community nutrition and applied nutrition
- Medical Nutrition Therapy I may be taken concurrently with the application
- UA also describes an entry route in which current undergraduates apply during the spring of their junior year
Doctor of Philosophy in Nutrition Sciences
The estimated tuition for the Ph.D. in Nutrition Sciences at Alabama is approximately $38,400 for a resident and $110,418 for a nonresident, derived from six full-time main-campus semesters plus the $49 per hour technology fee. The program requires a minimum of 54 graduate hours and is designed as a three-year program.
The Ph.D. in Nutrition Sciences is built around translational research and aligns its objectives with the NIH National Center for Advancing Translational Sciences. Students may enter with either a bachelor’s or a master’s degree.
Ph.D. Curriculum
The 54 hours break into 18 hours of nutrition core coursework, 9 of statistics, 9 of nutrition electives and 18 of dissertation research. Required coursework must be finished within the first two years at a C or better, with no more than two C grades permitted across the required set. Elective offerings run toward metabolic and population science rather than practice.
- NHM 601 Contemporary Research in Nutrition Science
- NHM 602 Methods of Integrated Nutrition Assessment
- NHM 603 Nutrition Intervention
- NHM 691 Grant Writing in Nutrition Research
- NHM 635 Advanced Practice in Post-Secondary Dietetics Education
- NHM 611 Nutritional Neuroscience and NHM 650 Amino Acid Metabolism and Signaling
- NHM 648 Secondary Analysis of Survey Data
Ph.D. Research Requirements
- Two-phase qualifying exam: a proctored written exam over two days, then an oral exam at the dissertation proposal defense
- The written exam is offered on the first Thursday and Friday of the spring semester, in a campus computer classroom or on a departmental laptop
- Grading bands are pass at 80 percent, contingency at 70 to 79, fail below 70. One retake only, and failure means dismissal
- Dissertation committee of at least five faculty; proposal and final defense cannot occur in the same semester
- 18 hours of NHM 699 Dissertation Research
- Semester-by-semester mentor evaluations begin in the second semester and govern continued funding
The exam structure is stricter than most doctoral programs in the field: a proctored, lockdown-browser written exam graded by three blinded faculty, with a single retake and dismissal as the consequence. Combined with the requirement that all coursework finish by the end of year two, the three-year design leaves little room for a slow start. The proctored on-campus exam and the semester mentor reviews also make this a residential program in practice, whatever the credit total suggests.
You Should Know
- The catalog’s overview paragraph says 15 hours of nutrition core, but the course table lists six required courses totalling 18. Only the table’s figure reconciles to 54.
- The catalog’s course table shows a “Total Hours 83-102” row. That sums every listed elective option and is not a program requirement.
- Only 9 hours transfer from another institution, and required courses must be taken at UA. Hours from a UA master’s transfer more freely, though NHM 597, 598 and 599 are excluded.
- Applications are due January 15 for fall entry only, with decisions in late February.
Tuition
Alabama’s distance programs are billed at a flat per-credit rate with no residency distinction: $399 per credit hour for undergraduate courses and $480 per credit hour for graduate courses, confirmed on the Student Account Services rate table for Fall 2026 and Spring 2027. Out-of-state students pay the same as Alabama residents on these programs, which is the single most consequential cost fact on this page.
Main-campus programs work on a completely different model. Graduate students are billed a flat $5,959 resident or $17,962 nonresident per semester for 9 to 15 hours, plus a $49 per hour technology and infrastructure fee that distance courses do not carry. That block structure makes on-campus cost a function of how many terms you enrol, not how many credits you take.
| Enrollment | Resident per credit | Nonresident per credit |
|---|---|---|
| Distance, any load | $480 | $480 |
| Main campus, 9 hrs/term | $662 derived | $1,996 derived |
| Main campus, 12 hrs/term | $497 derived | $1,497 derived |
| Main campus, 15 hrs/term | $397 derived | $1,197 derived |
Derived figures divide the published per-semester block rate by the enrolled hours. A main-campus resident taking a light load pays more per credit than a distance student; one taking a maximum load pays less.
Confirmed costs
- B.S., full 120-hour degree: 120 × $399 = $47,880
- B.S., second-degree route: general education is waived for postgraduate students, leaving the 82-hour required block. Less the 8 chemistry hours UA does not teach by distance, that is 74 × $399 = $29,526 billed by UA (derived)
- M.S., all three tracks: 30 × $480 = $14,400
- M.S. + CPD at the distance rate: 57 × $480 = $27,360
- M.S. + CPD at the main-campus rate over four terms: $26,629 resident, $74,641 nonresident, technology fee included (derived)
- Ph.D. over six main-campus terms: $38,400 resident, $110,418 nonresident, technology fee included (derived)
- Arts and Sciences college fee on distance courses: $15 per hour. Required biology and psychology hours alone add about $225; general education coded to Arts and Sciences adds more
- College of Education fee on distance courses: $10 per hour, which applies only if an M.S. student chooses HHE electives
Be aware that:
- UA Online’s cost page still labels these rates “2025-2026.” The Student Account Services table publishes the same $399 and $480 figures for Fall 2026 and Spring 2027, so the rates are current even though the label is stale.
- The CPD figure is the one to verify personally. UA publishes no program-specific rate and points applicants to main-campus estimates, yet the coursework overlaps with distance-delivered courses. The gap between rate lines is roughly $47,000 for a nonresident.
- Doctoral sticker prices are misleading. Assistantships, fellowships and up to three years of funding exist, and fellowship recipients receive paid tuition and fees plus a stipend. The department states outright that most master’s students receive no departmental support, so the funding question is genuinely different at the two levels.
- Chemistry taken at another institution is billed by that institution and is not in any figure above.
- None of these figures are cost-of-attendance bundles. Housing, books and living costs are excluded.
For a self-funded student, the distance programs are the whole story here, and the flat national rate is what makes them work: an out-of-state student pays $14,400 for the master’s rather than a nonresident premium that would roughly quadruple it on campus. For anyone considering the CPD or the doctorate, the calculation inverts. Those are main-campus programs where residency is the dominant variable and, for the Ph.D., where funding rather than sticker price determines whether the degree is affordable at all. See UA’s official cost page for current rates.
Why Choose This Nutrition Program?
Best suited for people who already hold a dietetics verification statement or the RDN credential and want a graduate degree without moving, and for career changers willing to assemble a pathway from more than one institution.
The flat national tuition rate is the strongest argument. Alabama charges every distance student $399 or $480 per credit regardless of residency. For a working dietitian in another state, a 30-hour master’s from a flagship public university at $14,400 with no out-of-state premium is a straightforward proposition, and the degree requirements are identical to the on-campus version.
The Coordinated Program removes the failure point that ends most dietetics careers before they start. UA’s own DPD objectives assume half of eligible graduates will be admitted to supervised practice within a year of graduating. The CPD replaces that gamble with a guaranteed 21-credit sequence and direct exam eligibility. Alabama is one of only two institutions in the state offering it. If you can relocate to Tuscaloosa for two years, this is the cleanest route to the credential the school offers.
Multiple entry points into one department. Few schools let a student enter as a freshman, as a second-degree student skipping general education, as a career changer stacking DPD coursework onto a master’s, or as a doctoral applicant with only a bachelor’s, all within the same faculty. The accelerated master’s route, open at 90 hours with a 3.7 GPA, double-counts up to 12 graduate credits and shortens the now-mandatory graduate degree requirement.
The honest drawbacks. The “100% online, ACEND-accredited” framing does not survive contact with the details. Two required chemistry courses are not taught by UA at any distance, so every online dietetics student has to source them elsewhere. The Coordinated Program that completes the credential is campus-based and admits once a year on a February 1 deadline. The online master’s on its own leads to no credential whatsoever, a point UA states clearly but buries in an admissions paragraph. And the Community concentration is 90 percent prescribed, which leaves a thesis student with zero elective flexibility. None of this makes Alabama a poor choice. It does mean the program you enroll in matters more here than the school you enroll in.
Accreditation
The University of Alabama is accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. Institutional accreditation covers every degree at the university and governs the things students rarely think about until they matter: whether credits transfer, whether another university will accept the degree for graduate admission, and whether federal financial aid is available. All online degree-seeking students at UA are eligible to file the FAFSA.
Programmatic accreditation is narrower and is what determines credential eligibility. The Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics accredits two programs at Alabama: the Didactic Program in Dietetics, which sits inside the B.S. in Food and Nutrition, and the Graduate Coordinated Program in Dietetics, which sits alongside the M.S. in Human Nutrition. Both are currently accredited.
Nothing else at the school carries ACEND accreditation. The M.S. in Human Nutrition on its own, the Nutrition Sciences concentration in the bachelor’s, and the Ph.D. in Nutrition Sciences all fall outside that scope. For the doctorate this is entirely normal and expected, since research degrees in nutrition science have no programmatic accreditor. For the master’s it is a distinction worth reading twice, because the degree title sits one word away from the dietetics track.
Graduates of the Didactic Program in Dietetics receive a verification statement and may apply to ACEND-accredited supervised practice programs. On completing supervised practice together with a graduate degree, they are eligible for the Commission on Dietetic Registration examination, which since January 1, 2024 requires a master’s degree at minimum. Graduates of the Coordinated Program are eligible to sit for that examination on completion of the program, the master’s degree and the exit exam. Graduates of the M.S. alone, or of the Nutrition Sciences concentration, are not eligible for the RDN examination and cannot apply to a dietetic internship without first earning a verification statement. ACEND’s position is that its accredited programs meet the educational requirements for licensure in all states, but completing one does not by itself qualify anyone for a dietetics license anywhere; check your own state board.
Related Programs
- Alabama Nutrition Programs & Online Degrees
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- Samford University - Birmingham
- Tuskegee University - Tuskegee