Eight Minnesota institutions offer nutrition or dietetics coursework. Five hold accredited didactic programmes at bachelor’s level, which is good supply, and the University of Minnesota runs both a coordinated master’s and a dietetic internship.
What makes Minnesota unusual right now is how much is in flux at graduate level. Three of the state’s graduate routes are mid-transition — one applying to become a coordinated programme, one holding candidate status, one still pending accreditation. If you are planning around a Minnesota master’s, verifying its current standing matters more here than in most states.
Nutrition Programs in Minnesota — Comparison Table
| School | Credentials | Est. Cost | Format | RD Pathway |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Minnesota Twin Cities Minneapolis |
BS Nutrition, dietetics subplan — accredited DPD MPH Nutrition — coordinated programme Dietetic internship — accredited for 2019–2026 |
~$15,800 in-state ~$36,400 out-of-state |
Campus | Yes — didactic, coordinated MPH, and internship |
| Minnesota State University, Mankato Mankato |
BS Nutrition and Dietetics — accredited DPD MS Dietetics — 2 years, 1,000 practice hours, ACEND candidate status |
~$9,800 in-state ~$18,400 out-of-state |
Campus | Yes — but the master’s holds candidate rather than full accreditation |
| St. Catherine University Saint Paul |
BS Nutrition and Dietetics — accredited DPD MS Nutrition and Dietetics — accreditation pending |
Private — verify | Campus, private | Yes at bachelor’s level; confirm the master’s status |
| Concordia College Moorhead |
BA Food, Nutrition and Dietetics — accredited DPD Combined Dietetic Internship and MS Nutrition — dietetics leadership emphasis, 39 credits, cohort of 8 |
Private — verify | Campus, private | Yes — didactic only |
| College of Saint Benedict / Saint John’s University Saint Joseph |
BA Nutrition, dietetics concentration — accredited DPD | Private — verify | Campus, private | Yes — didactic only |
| Winona State University Winona |
BS Public Health, nutrition | ~$10,650 in-state | Campus | No — public health focus, not accredited dietetics |
| Northland Community and Technical College Thief River Falls |
AAS Dietetic Technician — online | Community college rates — verify | Online | No — leads to the NDTR technician credential |
| North Hennepin Community College Brooklyn Park |
AS Nutrition — transfer | Community college rates — verify | Campus | No — transfer pathway |
Public university figures are approximate 2025–26 in-state tuition and fees from published comparisons rather than institutional schedules, so confirm current rates directly. Private rates vary widely and discount heavily. Verify accreditation status with each programme before applying.
Which Minnesota Nutrition Program Fits You
Choose the University of Minnesota if you want the widest set of routes. It runs the accredited didactic subplan, a coordinated Master of Public Health in Nutrition, and its own dietetic internship — the only Minnesota institution covering all three. It has also applied to open a combined coordinated programme in 2027.
Choose Minnesota State Mankato if cost is the constraint. At roughly $9,800 in state it is the least expensive accredited route in Minnesota, and its master’s includes all 1,000 supervised experiential learning hours. Students can apply to the master’s while still in the undergraduate programme through its continuous Professional Program in Dietetics.
Choose St. Catherine if you want a small programme with strong internship placement support. Its didactic programme is accredited and it publishes both exam pass rates and internship acceptance rates, which most programmes do not.
Choose Concordia or Saint Benedict if you want a liberal arts setting. Both run accredited dietetics within a broader Bachelor of Arts, which suits students who want the credential route without a narrowly vocational degree.
Minnesota Nutrition Schools
University of Minnesota Twin Cities
The University of Minnesota runs dietetics through the Department of Food Science and Nutrition, and is the only school in the state offering coursework, a coordinated route, and supervised practice.
- BS Nutrition, dietetics subplan — the accredited Didactic Program in Dietetics
- MPH Nutrition — a coordinated programme combining graduate education with over 1,000 supervised practice hours
- Dietetic internship — accredited for the 2019 to 2026 period
Two timing points matter. The internship’s accreditation period runs to 2026, so confirm its current term before applying. And the department has applied to ACEND to open a new coordinated programme combining the dietetics graduate degree and the internship into a single two-year programme, targeted at September 2027 under the Future Education Model standards. If you are planning two or three years out, that changes what will be available to you.
Minnesota State University, Mankato
Mankato offers the state’s least expensive accredited route, through its College of Allied Health and Nursing.
- BS Nutrition and Dietetics — accredited Didactic Program in Dietetics
- MS Dietetics — two years, including all 1,000 hours of supervised experiential learning
The continuous Professional Program in Dietetics lets students apply to the master’s while still enrolled as undergraduates, which smooths the transition. Applicants from elsewhere need either a didactic verification statement or the required prerequisite coursework, and a minimum 3.0 GPA. Admission to the graduate school is separate from admission to the professional programme — two approvals, not one.
One qualification to confirm directly: Mankato states that its Master of Science in Nutrition and Dietetics has been granted candidate status by ACEND. Candidacy is a step toward accreditation, not the same as full accreditation, and its implications for your eligibility are worth asking the programme director about explicitly.
St. Catherine University
St. Kate’s in Saint Paul runs its dietetics programme through the Henrietta Schmoll School of Health.
- BS Nutrition and Dietetics — accredited Didactic Program in Dietetics
- MS Nutrition and Dietetics — a proposed Future Education Model graduate programme, accreditation pending
The undergraduate programme is solidly accredited and the department publishes outcomes against both the five-year registration exam pass rate and the five-year internship acceptance rate — more transparency than most programmes offer. Its stated objective is that 80 percent of graduates seeking employment are working in nutrition, dietetics, or a related field within twelve months.
The master’s is a different matter. St. Kate’s describes it as pending accreditation, with an eligibility application accepted by ACEND and the programme in the candidacy process. The most recent published estimate for candidacy status has passed, and the programme was not accepting applications at that point. If the master’s is part of your plan, contact the department for its current position rather than relying on published pages.
Concordia College and the College of Saint Benedict
Two private liberal arts institutions run accredited dietetics outside the Twin Cities.
- Concordia College, Moorhead — BA in Food, Nutrition and Dietetics, accredited, plus a combined dietetic internship and master’s
- College of Saint Benedict / Saint John’s University, Saint Joseph — BA in Nutrition with a dietetics concentration, accredited
Both house the accredited coursework inside a Bachelor of Arts rather than a Bachelor of Science, which is unusual and reflects their liberal arts framing. The verification statement is the same. Moorhead sits on the North Dakota border, so Concordia students are within reach of Fargo-area placements as well as Minnesota ones.
Concordia is more than a didactic programme, and this is worth correcting against the impression its bachelor’s alone gives. It runs a combined Dietetic Internship and Master of Science in Nutrition with an emphasis in dietetics leadership — 39 credits across five consecutive semesters including a summer course, admitting a cohort of just eight students a year. That makes Concordia one of the few Minnesota institutions offering supervised practice at all, and the leadership framing distinguishes it from clinically oriented internships. Eight places is very small, so apply early and apply elsewhere too.
As private institutions both discount substantially from published rates, so compare net price rather than list price before ruling them out.
Non-credentialing and transfer programmes
Winona State University offers a Bachelor of Science in Public Health with a nutrition focus. It is not an accredited dietetics programme and does not produce a verification statement, but it suits students heading toward community health, health promotion, or policy work.
Northland Community and Technical College runs an online Associate of Applied Science in Dietetic Technology, leading to the NDTR credential rather than the RDN. Online delivery makes it accessible from outside Minnesota, and given how long the RDN route now takes, a two-year technician credential is a serious alternative rather than a fallback.
North Hennepin Community College in Brooklyn Park offers a transfer associate in nutrition, a low-cost first two years before moving into an accredited bachelor’s. Confirm which specific courses your destination university accepts before enrolling.
How to Choose a Nutrition Program in Minnesota
Verify graduate accreditation status specifically
This is the state’s defining issue. UMN’s internship accreditation runs through 2026 while a replacement coordinated programme is pending for 2027. Mankato’s master’s holds candidate status. St. Kate’s master’s is pending. None of these means a programme is unsound — new programmes routinely pass through candidacy — but each means the answer to “is this accredited right now, and will it be when I graduate” requires a direct conversation rather than a web page.
Undergraduate supply is strong; graduate supply is thinner
Five accredited didactic programmes for a state of Minnesota’s size is generous, and they span public, private, and liberal arts settings. The narrower point is what happens afterwards: the coordinated MPH at UMN is the clearest route that includes supervised practice, and Mankato’s master’s is the main alternative. Plan the graduate step early and apply beyond Minnesota as well.
Cost varies by a factor of two among the publics
Mankato at roughly $9,800 against the University of Minnesota at about $15,800 is a substantial gap for coursework producing the same verification statement. Minnesota’s public tuition sits above the national average overall, and its community colleges are correspondingly good value as a first two years.
The master’s requirement changed in 2024
Since January 1, 2024, the Commission on Dietetic Registration has required a master’s degree in any field, plus a verification statement from an ACEND-accredited programme, to sit for the RDN exam, with at least 1,000 supervised practice hours. That requirement is precisely why Minnesota’s graduate landscape is shifting — the transitions described above are programmes restructuring to meet it.
Nutrition Licensure and Credentials in Minnesota
Minnesota’s regulation of dietetics differs from states with full practice-act licensure, and the University of Minnesota notes in its own materials that completing an accredited programme alone does not qualify anyone for licensure or certification in any state. Confirm what Minnesota currently requires for the work you intend to do.
The national CDR requirements apply regardless: an ACEND verification statement, a master’s degree, supervised practice hours, and a passing exam score, with continuing education to maintain registration.
Before applying anywhere in Minnesota, verify three things directly with the school: the current accreditation status and term of any graduate programme you are considering, since three are in transition, whether Mankato’s continuous Professional Program route applies to you, since it requires two separate approvals, and — if you are considering the University of Minnesota — how the proposed 2027 coordinated programme would affect the timeline you are planning. Individual school profiles for these programs are in progress and will be linked here as they publish.