Eight Missouri institutions offer nutrition or dietetics coursework, spanning a two-year technician degree through the master’s. Missouri’s public universities sit below the national average on tuition — Southeast Missouri State charges $295 per credit hour for undergraduates and $395 for graduates, among the lowest published rates in the region.
The University of Missouri runs the state’s only coordinated program, and since 2016 it has admitted students only to a five-year bachelor’s-to-master’s structure. Everything else accredited in Missouri is didactic, meaning supervised practice is applied for separately. Missouri requires an accredited internship of at least 900 hours and state registration to practise.
Nutrition Programs in Missouri — Comparison Table
| School | Credentials | Est. Cost | Format | RD Pathway |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| University of Missouri Columbia |
Accelerated BS-to-MS Coordinated Program in Dietetics — five years, accredited BS Nutrition and Exercise Physiology, nutrition and foods emphasis |
Graduate from $551.30/credit resident undergraduate — verify |
Campus in Columbia | Yes — the only coordinated program in Missouri |
| Missouri State University Springfield |
BS Nutrition and Dietetics — accredited DPD MS Nutrition and Dietetics — population health focus |
Verify with the university | Campus | Yes — didactic; internship applied for separately |
| Southeast Missouri State University Cape Girardeau |
BS Nutrition — didactic, nutrition and wellness, and nutrition science options MS Applied Nutrition — online |
$295/credit undergraduate $395/credit graduate $210/credit regional campus |
Campus; master’s online | Yes — via the didactic option only |
| Northwest Missouri State University Maryville |
BS Foods and Nutrition — dietetics option MS Nutrition — general track and dietetic internship track |
Verify with the university | Campus; master’s online | Yes — internship track attached to the master’s |
| University of Central Missouri Warrensburg |
MS Nutrition — clinical nutrition and sport nutrition options | Verify with the university | Campus and online | Confirm — graduate nutrition, verify accreditation directly |
| Saint Louis University St. Louis |
Nutrition and dietetics — programme detail requires confirmation | Private — verify | Campus, private | Confirm directly with the university |
| St. Louis Community College, Florissant Valley St. Louis |
AAS Dietetic Technology — management or nutrition care options, roughly 450 practice hours | Community college rates — verify | Campus | No — leads to the NDTR technician credential |
| College of the Ozarks Point Lookout |
BS Applied Nutrition | Private — verify | Campus, private | No — not an accredited dietetics programme |
Southeast Missouri State’s per-credit rates are 2025–26 figures approved by its Board of Governors. Mizzou’s graduate rate is the minimum tier; non-residents pay roughly $827 more per credit in each tier. Rates elsewhere should be confirmed directly, as should accreditation status.
Which Missouri Nutrition Program Fits You
Choose the University of Missouri if you want the coordinated route and can commit early. Its programme dates to 1972 and is among the oldest accredited coordinated programmes in the country. Since 2016 it admits only to the five-year bachelor’s-to-master’s structure, which means deciding as an undergraduate rather than applying later.
Choose Southeast Missouri State if cost is the binding constraint. At $295 per credit hour for undergraduates it is among the least expensive accredited routes in the region, its regional campuses charge $210, and its Applied Nutrition master’s is delivered online.
Choose Northwest Missouri State if you want the internship attached to an online master’s. Its MS in Nutrition runs a general track and a dietetic internship track, so the supervised practice sits inside the graduate degree rather than requiring a separate match.
Choose Missouri State if you want a population health emphasis. Its accredited undergraduate programme feeds a master’s oriented toward population-level nutrition rather than clinical practice alone.
Choose St. Louis Community College if you want to work in nutrition sooner. Its Dietetic Technology associate runs management and nutrition care options with around 450 supervised hours, leading to the NDTR credential rather than the RDN.
Missouri Nutrition Schools
University of Missouri
Mizzou runs dietetics through the Division of Food, Nutrition and Exercise Sciences in the College of Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources.
- Accelerated Master’s Coordinated Program in Dietetics — established 1972, ACEND-accredited, five-year bachelor’s-to-master’s
- BS Nutrition and Exercise Physiology, nutrition and foods emphasis — the undergraduate entry into the coordinated programme
This is the state’s only coordinated programme and one of the oldest in the country. Students accepted into it complete the bachelor’s, the master’s, and all supervised practice in a single five-year structure, finishing eligible to sit the registration exam with no separate internship application. Mizzou publishes a five-year first-time pass rate of 97 percent.
Two structural points. Since January 2016 the programme has accepted applications only to the five-year BS-to-MS route, so there is no longer a way in as a graduate applicant from elsewhere. And its accreditation was approved through 2026 — confirm the current term with the department, since that date has arrived. The published completion and exam-taking figures attached to the programme are ACEND objectives rather than outcomes; the 97 percent pass rate is a reported result and the more useful number.
Missouri State University
Missouri State in Springfield runs its dietetics programmes through the School of Health Sciences.
- BS Nutrition and Dietetics — accredited Didactic Program in Dietetics
- MS Nutrition and Dietetics — with a population health orientation
The undergraduate programme produces a verification statement; the master’s addresses the graduate degree requirement that has applied since 2024. Pairing them at one institution gives a clear route, though supervised practice still has to be secured separately.
The population health framing distinguishes the master’s from clinically oriented programmes elsewhere in the state, and suits students heading toward public health, community nutrition, or policy work.
Springfield sits in southwest Missouri, within reach of Cox and Mercy health systems, which matters for where supervised practice placements are realistically available. Students planning to stay in the region afterwards benefit from building those relationships during the degree.
Southeast Missouri State University
SEMO in Cape Girardeau offers the broadest set of undergraduate options in Missouri and the lowest published rates.
- BS Nutrition — with didactic programme, nutrition and wellness, and nutrition science options
- MS Applied Nutrition — delivered online
Only the didactic option produces a verification statement. Nutrition and wellness and nutrition science are separate destinations within the same degree title, which is exactly the kind of distinction worth confirming with an advisor before you enrol rather than after.
The cost position is genuinely strong. At $295 per credit hour for undergraduates, $395 for graduates, and $210 at regional campuses, SEMO undercuts most accredited alternatives, and the online master’s removes the relocation cost as well.
Northwest Missouri State University
Northwest Missouri State in Maryville, in the far northwest corner of the state, pairs an undergraduate dietetics option with a graduate internship.
- BS Foods and Nutrition — with a dietetics option
- MS Nutrition — general track and dietetic internship track, delivered online
The internship track is the useful part. Rather than completing a didactic bachelor’s and entering the national match, a Northwest student can continue into a master’s that contains the supervised practice. Online delivery of the coursework makes it viable from outside Maryville, though practice hours remain in person.
Confirm the accreditation status of both the undergraduate dietetics option and the graduate internship track directly, since the online master’s is administered separately from the main campus programme.
Maryville’s location is worth factoring in. It sits closer to Omaha and Kansas City than to St. Louis, so rotations and employment after graduation will realistically be oriented toward the western side of the state or across the Nebraska and Iowa lines.
University of Central Missouri
UCM in Warrensburg offers nutrition at graduate level with two specialisations.
- MS Nutrition — clinical nutrition and sport nutrition options
The sport nutrition specialisation has no direct equivalent among Missouri’s accredited dietetics programmes, and suits students heading toward athletic performance work, whether or not they pursue the RDN.
Verify accreditation directly. A graduate nutrition degree is not automatically an accredited dietetics programme, and if the credential is your goal you need to know whether this satisfies the coursework requirement or only the graduate degree requirement.
Saint Louis University
SLU is a private research university in St. Louis with nutrition and dietetics programming.
SLU appears in national listings of ACEND-approved schools, and it took on records for Fontbonne University’s closed dietetics programme, which suggests an established department. Our sourcing for the programme’s current shape is a directory rather than the university’s own pages, so confirm what is offered, at what level, and with what accreditation directly with SLU before applying.
St. Louis Community College, Florissant Valley
Florissant Valley offers Missouri’s technician route into nutrition practice.
- AAS Dietetic Technology — with a management option and a nutrition care option, including roughly 450 supervised practice hours
The two options serve different work: management points toward food service operations, nutrition care toward clinical support roles alongside registered dietitians. Both lead to the NDTR credential rather than the RDN, and both include roughly 450 hours of supervised practice — far less than the 1,000 or more an RDN route requires.
Being in the St. Louis metro puts the programme near the largest concentration of hospitals and health systems in Missouri, which matters for placements and for employment. It also sits within reach of the four-year programmes a graduate might transfer into later, if the technician credential turns out to be a first step rather than a destination.
Given the 2024 graduate degree requirement lengthened the RDN route considerably, a two-year technician credential is a more serious alternative than it once was, particularly for someone who wants to be working sooner.
College of the Ozarks
College of the Ozarks at Point Lookout, near Branson, offers an applied nutrition bachelor’s at a private institution known for its work-study model.
- BS Applied Nutrition
The degree suits students heading toward wellness, community health, food service, or further graduate study. It is not an accredited dietetics programme and does not produce a verification statement.
If the credential is the goal, confirm with the college what accredited coursework would still be required, because completing a didactic programme afterwards is a longer route than starting in one.
College of the Ozarks is unusual in another respect: it operates a mandatory work-study model in place of tuition for enrolled full-time students, which changes the cost calculation substantially compared with other private institutions. Ask how that applies to the nutrition programme specifically, and what remains payable in fees and living costs.
How to Choose a Nutrition Program in Missouri
The coordinated route requires deciding early
Mizzou’s programme is the only one in Missouri that removes the internship match, and since 2016 the only way in is the five-year bachelor’s-to-master’s structure. That means committing as an undergraduate rather than applying at graduate level. If you are already holding a bachelor’s, this route is closed to you and Northwest Missouri State’s internship track is the closest alternative in state.
Watch which option inside a degree you are entering
Southeast Missouri State offers three options under one Nutrition degree and only one is accredited. Northwest Missouri State runs two master’s tracks and only one contains supervised practice. These distinctions decide whether you finish with a verification statement, and the degree title will not tell you.
Missouri closed a programme recently
Fontbonne University in St. Louis ran an accredited coordinated programme in nutrition and dietetics until the university closed permanently after August 2025. It no longer accepts students. Graduates needing a verification statement should contact the Office of the Registrar at Saint Louis University, which holds the records. Some national directories still list the programme; it does not exist.
Cost varies more than the accreditation does
Every accredited didactic programme in Missouri produces the same verification statement, so what differs is price, delivery, and where you will do supervised practice. Southeast Missouri State’s $295 per credit hour and $210 regional rate sit well below what the private institutions charge, and its online master’s removes relocation cost as well. For a student indifferent between locations, that gap compounds substantially across a degree.
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. Missouri separately requires an accredited internship of at least 900 hours, so plan both steps together rather than sequentially.
Nutrition Licensure and Credentials in Missouri
Missouri regulates dietitians through the State Committee of Dietitians, within the Department of Insurance, Financial Institutions and Professional Registration. The committee requires completion of an ACEND-accredited dietetic internship of at least 900 hours.
The national CDR requirements apply alongside — an ACEND verification statement, a master’s degree, supervised practice, and a passing exam score. Registration in Missouri follows the exam. Confirm current requirements with the State Committee of Dietitians before relying on them.
Before applying anywhere in Missouri, verify three things directly with the school: the current accreditation term at the University of Missouri, whose approval ran through 2026, which option or track within a broader degree carries the accreditation at Southeast Missouri State and Northwest Missouri State, and what Saint Louis University and the University of Central Missouri currently offer, since our sourcing for both is a directory listing rather than their own materials. Individual school profiles for these programs are in progress and will be linked here as they publish.