Four Mississippi schools currently offer active nutrition or dietetics degrees, spanning an associate transfer degree through the master’s. In-state tuition and fees at the public universities run higher than commonly cited: current resident rates run roughly $11,000 to $11,100 a year at Mississippi State and Ole Miss, above the ~$7.7K to $10.1K figures sometimes quoted. Bachelor’s degrees take four years; the graduate routes add one to two more.
Three of the four carry ACEND accreditation, which is unusually dense for a state this size, but they divide by route. Southern Miss, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State run accredited undergraduate coursework; Ole Miss and Mississippi State also run graduate routes that include supervised practice, and Southern Miss pairs a separately accredited internship with an online master’s. Jones County Junior College is a transfer degree. A fifth school, Delta State University, closed its Coordinated Program in Dietetics via an ACEND-confirmed teach-out effective December 31, 2023, and no nutrition or dietetics program currently appears anywhere on Delta State’s site; it has been removed from this guide. Mississippi separately requires a state licence to provide medical nutrition therapy, so the national credential alone is not enough to practise here.
Nutrition Programs in Mississippi — Comparison Table
| School | Credentials | Est. Cost | Format | RD Pathway |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Southern Mississippi Hattiesburg |
BS Nutrition and Dietetics — accredited DPD MS Nutrition and Food Systems — one 30-credit degree, two tracks (Dietetics Practice, paired with a separately accredited internship; or Applied Nutrition, not an RD pathway) |
$446/credit resident (B.S.); $594/credit resident (M.S.) | Campus in Hattiesburg; master’s fully online | Yes — DPD plus the Dietetics Practice track and its paired internship |
| University of Mississippi University |
BS Dietetics and Nutrition — accredited DPD MS Food and Nutrition Services — Coordinated Program supplies supervised practice, competitive admission |
~$10.3K-$12.8K/year in-state (full-time, current rate) | Campus based | Yes — didactic then coordinated graduate practice |
| Mississippi State University Mississippi State |
BS Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion, Food and Nutrition concentration — accredited DPD MS — 30-31 credits, thesis Dietetic internship — combined with the MS, or a shorter track for those who already hold a master’s |
~$11.1K/year in-state | Campus based | Yes — DPD, plus an accredited internship on the same campus |
| Delta State University Cleveland |
Closed. ACEND confirms Delta State’s Coordinated Program in Dietetics closed via teach-out effective December 31, 2023; no nutrition or dietetics program currently appears on Delta State’s site | Not applicable | Not applicable | No — program closed |
| Jones County Junior College Ellisville |
AA Food & Nutrition and Dietetics, Transfer Pathway — 67 credits, two-year transfer | $2,542/term flat rate (full time); $216/credit (part time) | Campus based | No — transfer pathway into a four-year dietetics degree |
Costs are approximate in-state figures for tuition and mandatory fees, drawn from state board decisions rather than individual school pages, and exclude housing. Out-of-state rates run substantially higher. Verify current rates directly with each school before applying.
Which Mississippi Nutrition Program Fits You
Choose Southern Miss if you need to study online at graduate level. Its Master of Science in Nutrition and Food Systems is one 30-credit degree with two tracks, delivered fully online and built for working professionals. The Dietetics Practice track pairs the coursework with a separately accredited internship rather than being a fully separate program.
Choose Ole Miss if you want the didactic degree and the coordinated practice available at the same institution. Its Coordinated Program serves as the supervised practice component of the Master of Science in Food and Nutrition Services, so a student can apply to continue from the bachelor’s into practice hours without changing institutions, though admission remains competitive and space-available rather than automatic.
Choose Mississippi State if you want an accredited internship on the same campus as your degree. It runs the DPD inside the Food and Nutrition concentration and operates its own dietetic internship, now combined with the master’s from the start or, for applicants who already hold one, a shorter dedicated track. A commonly cited enrollment cap for the dietetics major could not be confirmed on Mississippi State’s own pages.
Choose Jones County Junior College if you want two cheap years first. The associate transfers into state universities through Mississippi’s articulation agreement, and it covers the chemistry, anatomy, physiology, and microbiology that dietetics degrees require anyway.
Mississippi Nutrition Schools
University of Southern Mississippi
USM in Hattiesburg runs its nutrition programs through the School of Kinesiology and Nutrition and offers the state’s most flexible graduate delivery.
- BS Nutrition and Dietetics — accredited Didactic Program in Dietetics
- MS Nutrition and Food Systems — one 30-credit degree, fully online, with a Dietetics Practice track (paired with a separately accredited internship) and an Applied Nutrition and Food Systems track (not an RD pathway)
The undergraduate curriculum is science-heavy, covering nutrient metabolism, food microbiology, and diet-disease relationships, and points toward clinical dietetics, community nutrition, food service management, and research. The online master’s is the differentiator: it is designed around working professionals rather than full-time campus students. USM’s own pages list nine program-specific scholarships for the B.S. and a separate five scholarships plus a research fellowship for the M.S. — don’t assume the two figures are interchangeable.
The program advertises strong exam and internship placement figures, but publishes them without a cohort or year attached, and three different pass rates appear across USM’s own B.S., M.S., and internship pages. Ask the department for current outcome data with the reporting period specified before treating those numbers as decisive.
Full University of Southern Mississippi profile
University of Mississippi
Ole Miss houses dietetics in the Department of Nutrition and Hospitality Management within the School of Applied Sciences, and covers both the didactic and the supervised practice stages.
- BS Dietetics and Nutrition — four-year accredited Didactic Program in Dietetics
- MS Food and Nutrition Services — the Coordinated Program serves as its supervised practice component
The structure is the appeal. Rather than finishing a bachelor’s and entering the national internship match as an outside applicant, a student can continue into the coordinated graduate program and complete practice hours in place. The program combines graduate coursework with exposure across education, research, and practice.
Ole Miss notes that Mississippi does not license Nutrition and Dietetic Technicians, so the technician route has no state recognition here. It also states it has not determined whether its curriculum meets licensure requirements outside Mississippi — check that directly if you intend to practise in another state.
Full University of Mississippi profile
Mississippi State University
Mississippi State runs dietetics through the Department of Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion, and is the only Mississippi school offering the degree and an accredited internship on one campus.
- BS Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion — the accredited DPD sits inside the Food and Nutrition concentration
- MS Food Science, Nutrition and Health Promotion, Nutrition — 30 to 31 credits, thesis and defence required, 3.0 GPA minimum
- Dietetic internship — combined with the master’s from the start, or a shorter track for applicants who already hold one
The internship is the differentiator, and it is ACEND-accredited in its own right. Since the 2024 graduate-degree rule, there is no true stand-alone internship here anymore; the combined DI/MS track runs about 23 months, and the DI-only track for those with a prior master’s runs about 11 months. Having an accredited internship in the same department removes some of the geographic uncertainty that DPD graduates elsewhere face.
Entry to the DPD requires a 3.0 GPA and a C or better in required courses. A commonly cited claim that dietetics enrollment is limited could not be confirmed on Mississippi State’s own pages and appears to actually describe Michigan State University’s program instead, a different school sharing the same “MSU” abbreviation. The master’s is research-oriented, built around advanced biochemistry and statistics with a personalised study plan, rather than a clinical credentialing route on its own.
Full Mississippi State University profile
Delta State University — Program Closed
Delta State’s Coordinated Program in Dietetics is no longer offered. ACEND’s own 2022 accreditation-decisions record lists it under “Programs Voluntarily Closing,” with a teach-out plan effective December 31, 2023. Delta State’s current undergraduate and graduate program listings show no Nutrition, Dietetics, or Family and Consumer Sciences program of any kind. This entry is kept here only so prospective students searching for Delta State’s former program understand it has closed; students who completed the earlier program and need records or verification statements should contact Delta State directly.
Jones County Junior College
Jones County in Ellisville is a two-year public college. Its Associate of Arts in Food and Nutrition and Dietetics is a transfer degree, not a terminal credential.
- AA Food & Nutrition and Dietetics, Transfer Pathway — 67 credits, roughly two years
The curriculum pairs general education with chemistry, anatomy and physiology, microbiology, and nutrition coursework — the science base every dietetics bachelor’s requires. Credits move into state universities through Mississippi’s articulation agreement, though the current catalog no longer names a specific four-year partner the way an older version once did.
The value depends entirely on the transfer landing where you need it. Confirm the articulation with your intended four-year school before enrolling, and note that Mississippi does not license dietetic technicians, so this degree is a stepping stone rather than a route to independent practice.
Full Jones County Junior College profile
How to Choose a Nutrition Program in Mississippi
Who supplies your supervised practice
All three of the larger universities produce a verification statement, but they differ in what follows. Ole Miss offers a coordinated graduate program, Mississippi State runs its own accredited internship, and Southern Miss folds practice into a master’s concentration. That makes Mississippi unusually well supplied compared with states where DPD graduates must compete nationally for placement.
Delivery and cost spread
Southern Miss is the only Mississippi school delivering a nutrition master’s fully online; everything else is campus based. On cost, the spread between the cheapest and most expensive four-year option is only a few thousand dollars a year in state, so location, accreditation, and practice route should weigh more heavily than price.
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 program, to sit for the RDN exam. Supervised practice runs to a minimum of 1,000 hours. A Mississippi bachelor’s alone no longer qualifies anyone, so plan the graduate step from the start.
Where you can start
Jones County, Delta State, Southern Miss, Ole Miss, and Mississippi State all accept students with no prior college coursework. The graduate routes at Ole Miss, Mississippi State, and Southern Miss require a bachelor’s first, and the coordinated and internship options generally require an accredited verification statement.
Nutrition Licensure and Credentials in Mississippi
Mississippi operates practice exclusivity: providing medical nutrition therapy requires a state licence, not merely the national credential. Licensure runs through the Mississippi State Department of Health’s Office of Licensure, with an application fee around $100 and the Licensed Dietitian designation on approval.
The state does not license Nutrition and Dietetic Technicians, so the NDTR route carries no state recognition in Mississippi. Alongside the licence, CDR requires an ACEND verification statement, a master’s degree, supervised practice hours, and a passing exam score. Confirm current fees and regulations with the Department of Health before relying on them, as they change through rulemaking.
Full profiles for all four active Mississippi schools are linked above. Before applying, verify two things directly with the school: that the tuition rate quoted matches the coming academic year, since current rates at several Mississippi schools run higher than commonly cited, and — if you are starting at Jones County — that the articulation agreement to your intended university is still active.