Nova Southeastern University Nutrition Programs

Nova Southeastern University offers 2 Nutrition and Dietetics credentials profiled here:

  • B.S., Human Nutrition — accredited Didactic Program in Dietetics (DPD)
  • M.S., Nutrition — Professional Practice Concentration (MS-RDN)

NSU’s M.S. in Nutrition also runs several non-clinical concentrations under the same 30-credit degree: a generalist track, sports nutrition, community nutrition, and functional nutrition/herbal therapy. None of these leads to RD eligibility, though NSU states the degree meets the academic requirements for the Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS) credential. These are named here but not profiled in full.

Program Tracks Overview

ProgramEst. TuitionEst. DurationCredit Hours
B.S., Human Nutrition (DPD)~$162,000–$164,700 total (derived)4 years (8 terms)120–122
M.S., Nutrition (Professional Practice Concentration)~$47,357 total (derived, includes program-specific fees)Up to 4 years allowed; designed around roughly 2 years67

The state hub’s characterization of NSU is wrong on the single most important point. It lists NSU’s RD Pathway as “No — not an accredited dietetics program.” In fact, NSU’s B.S. in Human Nutrition carries a specific ACEND accreditation as a Didactic Program in Dietetics, and its M.S. in Nutrition, Professional Practice Concentration, is ACEND-approved as a Future Graduate Program through December 31, 2029. NSU is a genuine, if expensive, RD pathway in Florida, not a non-clinical nutrition degree.

Quick Facts

FeatureDetails
Program TypesB.S. Human Nutrition (DPD); M.S. Nutrition (Professional Practice/MS-RDN, or non-clinical concentrations: generalist, sports nutrition, community nutrition, functional nutrition/herbal therapy)
FormatCampus (B.S., Fort Lauderdale/Davie); Hybrid, residential (MS-RDN: online synchronous coursework plus required onsite labs and supervised practice, students must live within a 2-hour drive of the Fort Lauderdale/Davie or Tampa Bay/Clearwater campus); Online or Hybrid (non-clinical MS concentrations)
Credit Hours120–122 (B.S.); 67 (MS-RDN); 30 (non-clinical MS concentrations)
ACEND AccreditationYes: the DPD, and the MS-RDN as an ACEND Future Graduate Program (approved through Dec. 31, 2029). NSU’s own pages also refer to this category as “ACEND Graduate Degree Programs (GP)” in one place; treat both labels as the same ACEND classification. The non-clinical MS concentrations carry no ACEND accreditation.
RD/RDN EligibilityYes, via the DPD plus a graduate degree plus supervised practice (most directly through the MS-RDN itself, which bundles both) plus the CDR exam. A bachelor’s degree holder from any accredited institution, not only DPD graduates, may apply directly to the MS-RDN provided its prerequisite courses are complete. The non-clinical MS concentrations do not lead to RD eligibility, though they meet the CNS credential’s academic requirements.
Supervised PracticeCoordinated entirely by the program; students are not required to find their own preceptors or training sites. Specific hour totals were not separately published on the pages reviewed.
SpecializationsMS-RDN is the sole RD-track concentration; the plain M.S. offers sports nutrition, community nutrition, and functional nutrition/herbal therapy concentrations, none RD-eligible
Distinctive CourseworkApplied Nutrition Capstone (MS-RDN culminating project); BSHN 4100/4300, Principles of Medical Nutrition Therapy I & II (B.S.)
Research RequirementCapstone project for the MS-RDN; not clearly stated as a thesis requirement for the non-clinical MS concentrations
Entrance ExamsNot required; MS-RDN requires a virtual interview instead
IntakeMS-RDN: one cohort per year, starting each Summer semester, with three staggered application/decision dates (Oct. 15, Feb. 15, Apr. 15). Non-clinical MS concentrations: Fall (Aug. 1), Winter (Dec. 15), and Summer (Apr. 15) admission.
GPA Floor3.0 undergraduate GPA preferred (not a hard cutoff) for MS-RDN admission; not separately published for the B.S.
Tuition$1,350/credit (published, undergraduate, no residency distinction); see Tuition section
Institutional AccreditationSACSCOC

B.S., Human Nutrition (DPD)

The estimated tuition for the B.S. in Human Nutrition at NSU is approximately $162,000–$164,700 (120–122 credits at NSU’s published flat per-credit rate; derived, see Tuition). NSU does not distinguish in-state from out-of-state tuition; every student pays the same per-credit rate. The program requires a minimum of 120 credits (122 once required science labs are counted) and runs on NSU’s own Fall/Winter term calendar across four years.

NSU houses nutrition in the Dr. Kiran C. Patel College of Osteopathic Medicine, not a standalone nutrition department, which puts undergraduates alongside pre-medical and allied-health students from the start. NSU’s own catalog confirms the DPD “complies with the 2022 ACEND Accreditation Standards For Nutrition and Dietetics Didactic Programs.”

DPD Curriculum

NSU publishes a term-by-term sample schedule across 8 terms (Fall and Winter each year, rather than Fall/Spring), each carrying 15–16 credits.

  • BSHN 1200: Nutrition for Health Professions
  • BSHN 2300: Nutrition Education, Counseling, and Communication
  • BSHN 2400: Community Nutrition
  • BSHN 3000: Lifespan Nutrition
  • BSHN 3100: Nutrition Advocacy & Public Policy
  • BSHN 3200: Nutrition at the Cellular Level
  • BSHN 4100 / BSHN 4300: Principles of Medical Nutrition Therapy I & II
  • BSHN 4200: Human Function and Nutrition

More curriculum details are available here.

You Should Know

NSU’s own published program objectives set the completion and placement bar lower than several other Florida schools: at least 30% of graduates are expected to apply to a supervised-practice program within 12 months of graduation, and of those who apply, at least 50% are expected to be admitted. These are the program’s own stated objectives, not guarantees, but they are worth comparing against the more aggressive placement objectives published by other Florida programs before assuming NSU’s DPD leads smoothly into supervised practice.

M.S., Nutrition (Professional Practice Concentration / MS-RDN)

The estimated tuition for the MS-RDN at NSU is approximately $47,357 (67 credits at NSU’s published graduate per-credit rate, plus program-specific fees; derived, see Tuition). The program requires 67 semester credits, the largest credit total of any RD-track graduate program documented across Florida and Louisiana so far, and allows up to 4 years to complete.

The MS-RDN is an ACEND Future Graduate Program: a single accredited credential that bundles didactic coursework and supervised practice together, similar in concept to UNF’s Integrated Graduate Program. NSU’s own admission requirements list prerequisite science coursework rather than a DPD verification statement, meaning a bachelor’s degree holder from any accredited institution, not only NSU’s own DPD graduates, can apply directly.

MS-RDN Curriculum and Format

The program coordinates every placement itself. NSU states plainly that MS-RDN students are “not required to find their own preceptors or training sites,” removing the placement-risk burden that shapes so much of the rest of this state’s dietetics landscape. In exchange, students must live within a 2-hour drive of their assigned campus (Fort Lauderdale/Davie or Tampa Bay/Clearwater) for the program’s duration, and the first term requires in-person attendance even though most coursework is delivered online and synchronously.

  • Hybrid delivery: online synchronous classes plus regular onsite labs and practicum training
  • Applied Nutrition Capstone, a culminating project near the end of the program
  • Single annual cohort, starting each Summer semester
  • Campus choice (Fort Lauderdale/Davie or Tampa Bay/Clearwater) indicated at application, subject to seat availability

More program details are available here.

You Should Know

A Summer-only start is unusual among the Florida schools documented so far, which mostly start their internship-bearing graduate programs in Fall. A student whose DPD or bachelor’s completion timing doesn’t line up with a Summer start should plan for a longer gap than at a Fall-starting program.

MS-RDN Admissions

  • Bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited institution
  • Prerequisite courses (“C” or better): Anatomy and Physiology with lab, General Biology, Organic Chemistry with lab, Biochemistry, General Chemistry with lab, General Statistics, Human Nutrition, Microbiology
  • 3.0 undergraduate GPA preferred, not an absolute cutoff
  • Successful virtual interview; not all applicants are invited to interview
  • Application through DICAS (external applicants); $50 non-refundable application fee
  • Rolling review against three deadlines: October 15, February 15, and April 15, for the following Summer start

Tuition

NSU is a private university and does not distinguish resident from non-resident tuition. Undergraduate tuition runs $1,350 per credit (2026–27 published rate), the highest per-credit undergraduate rate documented across Florida and Louisiana so far by a wide margin, reflecting NSU’s status as a private institution without state subsidy. Graduate tuition for the M.S. in Nutrition, including the MS-RDN concentration, runs $697 per credit.

Estimated Totals by Credential (derived)

  • B.S., Human Nutrition (120–122 credits): approximately $162,000–$164,700, using the per-credit rate × credit count. NSU’s own published full-time Cost of Attendance for a bachelor’s degree runs $40,500/year before books, housing, and other living costs.
  • MS-RDN (67 credits): approximately $46,699 in tuition alone, plus published program-specific fees (a $50 application fee, $200 background screening and immunization fees, $200 for uniforms and a white coat, $150 ServSafe training, and $58/year professional membership dues), for a total of roughly $47,357.
  • Non-clinical M.S. concentrations (30 credits): approximately $20,910, using the same $697/credit rate.

Be aware that:

  • NSU’s own published international-student cost-of-attendance figures list $54,610.25 for a “12-month (RDN)” period and $40,461.94 for a “9-month (General)” period; these are full costs of attendance (including living expenses), not tuition alone, and are not directly comparable to the tuition-only totals above.
  • The state hub’s listing of NSU shows no tuition figure at all (“Private rates — verify with the university”), which undersells how directly comparable NSU’s published rates actually are to the public schools’ figures once converted to a per-credit basis.
  • NSU’s DPD program costs, itemized separately by the university (books averaging roughly $2,376/year, institutional fees around $1,360/year, mandatory health insurance around $2,674/year unless waived with comparable coverage), sit on top of tuition and should be budgeted for in addition to the per-credit total.
  • Rates cited here come from NSU’s own undergraduate and College of Osteopathic Medicine graduate tuition and fees pages. Verify current rates before enrolling, as NSU states tuition is subject to change at any time.

NSU is, by a substantial margin, the most expensive accredited dietetics pathway documented across Florida and Louisiana so far. What that premium buys is coordination: the university, not the student, arranges every supervised-practice placement, and a bachelor’s degree in any field can lead directly into the MS-RDN without a separate undergraduate DPD detour.

Why Choose This Nutrition Program?

Best suited for students who can afford a private-university price point in exchange for a fully coordinated placement process and a genuine no-prior-DPD path into the RD credential.

Choose NSU’s MS-RDN if you want zero placement risk. NSU arranges every preceptor and training site itself. Combined with the Future Graduate Program structure, a career-changer with any bachelor’s degree and the right prerequisites can reach RD eligibility through one 67-credit program, without first completing a separate undergraduate DPD.

Choose NSU’s undergraduate DPD if you want a pre-health-adjacent environment. Housing nutrition inside the College of Osteopathic Medicine puts DPD students alongside pre-medical, physician assistant, and other allied-health tracks from day one, which NSU markets as a pathway advantage for students still weighing clinical career options.

The honest drawback: cost. At $1,350 per undergraduate credit and $697 per graduate credit, NSU’s total cost for the DPD-through-MS-RDN pathway runs into the low-to-mid six figures before scholarships or aid, dramatically above every public Florida university documented so far. NSU’s own published placement objectives (30% of DPD graduates applying to supervised practice within 12 months, 50% of those admitted) are also more modest than the objectives some other Florida programs publish, worth weighing against the sticker price.

Accreditation

Nova Southeastern University is institutionally accredited by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges (SACSCOC), which governs the university’s authority to award degrees, the transferability of its credits, admission to its graduate programs, and eligibility for federal financial aid. This institutional accreditation covers every program described here.

Programmatic accreditation is narrower and comes from the Accreditation Council for Education in Nutrition and Dietetics (ACEND), the only accreditor relevant to RD eligibility. ACEND accredits two named programs at NSU: the B.S. in Human Nutrition’s Didactic Program in Dietetics, and the M.S. in Nutrition’s Professional Practice Concentration (MS-RDN), approved as an ACEND Future Graduate Program through December 31, 2029.

The M.S. in Nutrition’s other concentrations (generalist, sports nutrition, community nutrition, functional nutrition/herbal therapy) fall outside that ACEND scope. This is standard for non-clinical nutrition tracks sharing a degree title with an accredited one, and is not itself a deficiency; NSU states these concentrations instead meet the academic requirements for the Certified Nutrition Specialist (CNS) credential, a genuine alternative for non-RD nutrition careers.

Graduates of the DPD may apply to ACEND-accredited supervised-practice programs, including NSU’s own MS-RDN or programs at other institutions. A bachelor’s degree holder without a DPD may also apply directly to the MS-RDN if the program’s own prerequisite coursework is complete. On completing the MS-RDN, or an equivalent combination of a graduate degree and ACEND-accredited supervised practice, meeting current Commission on Dietetic Registration requirements, graduates become eligible to sit for the CDR’s national RDN examination. Graduates of the non-clinical M.S. concentrations are not RD-eligible on those credentials.

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