Lehman College Nutrition Degree Programs

Department of Health Promotion and Nutrition Sciences • Bronx, NY • Hybrid (B.S.) and Campus • $470/Credit (Graduate, New York Resident, Part-Time)

Lehman College offers 4 nutrition credentials, and the internship together with the master’s is the route to RD/RDN eligibility:

  • B.S., Nutrition and Dietetics (the Didactic Program in Dietetics)
  • B.S., Culinary and Community Nutrition (non-RD)
  • M.S., Nutrition
  • Dietetic Internship (medical nutrition therapy concentration)

Program Tracks Overview

ProgramEst. TuitionEst. DurationCredit Hours
B.S. Nutrition and Dietetics (DPD)$6,930 a year resident tuition (derived)4 years; 3 years maximum after declaring120; 69 in the major
B.S. Culinary and Community Nutrition$6,930 a year resident tuition (derived)4 years120
M.S. Nutrition$15,510 resident (derived, per-credit billing)Not clearly stated33
Dietetic InternshipAbout $9,870 resident for the internship year (derived)12 months, 3 semesters21 billed

Lehman holds two ACEND programs, a Didactic Program in Dietetics and a Dietetic Internship, and the M.S. is not itself accredited. A student combines them: the DPD for the verification statement, the M.S. for the graduate degree, and the internship, which requires M.S. enrollment, for supervised practice.

The route bills more credits than the degree counts. On the pre-select path, 42 credits are billed for a 33-credit master’s because only half of the internship’s core courses transfer into the degree.

Quick Facts

FeatureDetails
FormatB.S.: hybrid, accredited for 50% or more distance education. M.S.: evening, online and in person. Internship: in person
ACEND AccreditationDPD: seven-year term to June 30, 2033. Internship: full and continued accreditation, January 2026; term end not found
RD/RDN EligibilityInternship with the master’s: yes. B.S. and M.S. alone: no
Supervised PracticeAt least 1,100 hours plus up to 150 alternative hours, program-arranged in the New York region
Entrance ExamsNo GRE mentioned
GPA FloorDPD: 3.3. M.S.: 3.0. Internship: 3.3
Cohort SizeInternship: up to 14 interns a year; DPD: maximum enrollment of 190
IntakeInternship: DICAS by February 15. M.S.: summer or fall
TuitionCUNY: $470 per credit graduate resident, $855 non-resident; $305 per credit undergraduate resident
Institutional AccreditationMiddle States Commission on Higher Education

Bachelor of Science, Nutrition and Dietetics

The B.S. is 120 credits, with a 69-credit major of 25 courses of which 45 credits are DPD requirements. Resident undergraduate tuition is $3,465 a semester, or $6,930 a year before fees of about $240 a semester (derived). Courses are offered in several modalities, and ACEND approved the program for 50% or more distance education.

  • Entry is two-step: students enter Culinary and Community Nutrition, spend a semester there, and then apply to the DPD with a B- in the gateway course, a 3.3 GPA, no science grade below C-, an interview, and an information session
  • The verification statement needs a 3.3 GPA, a C- or better in every required course, a 75% score on the DPD verification exam, and ServSafe; second-degree students need at least 31.5 credits at Lehman
  • The degree has no supervised practice; extra costs include foods lab fees of $45 twice, books of $500 to $1,000, and uniforms near $100
You Should Know

Lehman’s application page names one gateway course with a B-, while the catalog names three courses plus an 80% pre-entry exam. The old Dietetics, Foods and Nutrition major was split in summer 2024 into this degree and Culinary and Community Nutrition, and the old name survives on some pages. A self-study says the DPD’s previous term ended June 30, 2025, which the February 2026 decision letter supersedes.

Bachelor of Science, Culinary and Community Nutrition

Every student enters this sibling major first, and it is explicitly not ACEND-accredited. It carries no verification statement and no route to the credential on its own.

Master of Science, Nutrition

The M.S. is 33 credits, 24 in a required core and at least 9 from a list of electives, ending in a comprehensive exam or a thesis. At per-credit billing that is $15,510 for residents or $28,215 for non-residents (derived). It meets evenings, online and in person.

  • Admission needs a bachelor’s with a 3.0 GPA and prerequisites in biology, chemistry, and nutrition, two letters, a 500-word essay, and a resume; no GRE is mentioned
  • The page lists summer and fall deadlines of March 15 and June 15, carrying a stale year

Dietetic Internship

The internship runs three consecutive semesters full-time, 30 to 37.5 hours a week Monday to Friday, with a medical nutrition therapy concentration. On the pre-select path it is 21 credits, about $9,870 for residents at $470, plus roughly $409 in fees and a $150 internship fee (derived), and the whole pathway is 42 billed credits, or $19,740 resident and $35,910 non-resident before fees.

  • The handbook gives at least 1,100 hours plus up to 150 alternative hours, broken into clinical 470, food service 200, community 280, research project 150, and alternative 150; those components sum to 1,250, and the handbook text says 1,300, while an older page said 1,200
  • Rotations are arranged in New York City and the Westchester, Rockland, and Fairfield counties, and interns may hold up to 15 hours a week of paid work
  • Applicants must be enrolled in the M.S., submit DICAS by February 15 with three references and a separate $50 check, and hold a DPD verification statement or a letter of intent; Lehman students can pre-select; the next cycle’s dates were not found
You Should Know

Two of the internship’s courses are 4.5 credits each on the M.S. sheet and 9 credits each in the handbook, which changes how many internship-year credits are billed and means only 9 of 18 can transfer into the M.S. The handbook’s estimate of $15,500 or more for the internship year does not reconcile with the arithmetic here, which comes to about $12,000.

Tuition

Lehman’s CUNY rates are $470 per credit graduate part-time, $5,545 a semester full-time for residents, and $855 per credit for non-residents, with undergraduate resident tuition at $3,465 a semester or $305 per credit part-time. Fees are $239.60 a semester full-time and $144.10 part-time.

  • No nutrition-specific graduate differential was found on the bursar page
  • Up to 12 graduate credits may transfer into the M.S.; graduate assistantship rules were not found
  • The bursar page is labeled 2025, and CUNY’s own page states the same $305 and $470 rates for 2026-27

Be aware that:

A semester of 9 credits billed at the full-time flat rate can cost more than the per-credit total, so the plan of study matters. Official figures are on Lehman’s tuition and fees page.

Why Choose This Nutrition Program?

Best suited to New York residents who want the whole dietetics sequence at public tuition in the Bronx and can plan for a long credit count and a gated entry.

The in-house ladder runs from the DPD to the master’s to the internship in one department, and Lehman students can pre-select a place. The published DPD results show 88% to 100% of applicants accepted into internships in most years from 2018-19 to 2022-23 and 6 of 8 in 2023-24, while the first-attempt exam pass rate ran 86.36% in 2020, 94.7% in 2021, 68.89% in 2022 (below target), and 82.0% in 2023.

The honest limits are the competitive internship of up to 14 places, a DPD gate of a 3.3 GPA, and a pathway that bills 42 credits for a 33-credit degree. The technician exam pass rate averaged below 50% from 2021 to 2023.

Accreditation

Lehman is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, a member since 1968 and reaffirmed in 2019 with the next visit in 2027 to 2028, which matters for transfer credit, graduate admission, and federal financial aid.

ACEND’s January 2026 decision letter, dated February 11, 2026, continues the Didactic Program in Dietetics at full accreditation for a seven-year term ending June 30, 2033, with an interim report due March 16, 2026 and the next site visit between January and June 2032. The letter sets maximum enrollment at 190 and approves distance education of 50% or more. ACEND’s January 2026 decisions also list the Dietetic Internship as fully and continued accredited after a site visit, but its term end required a portal login and was not found. The live directory would not load for New York in this review.

Earlier decisions show a reduced term after a progress report in January 2015, full accreditation in April 2016, and a site visit decision in January 2018, with no entries in 2019 through 2025. Lehman is not on the Programs Under Review page. A graduate of the M.S. with the internship completes the master’s and the supervised practice and can sit for the CDR exam, while a graduate of the B.S. holds a verification statement only.

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