MPH Programs in Louisiana

Who Hires MPH Graduates in Louisiana

The biggest single public health employer in the state is the Louisiana Department of Health’s Office of Public Health (OPH). It has more than a thousand staff, runs more than 50 programs, and works through 63 parish health units, nine regional offices, three specialty clinics and 15 bureaus. That structure matters when you plan an MPH: a parish health unit is where immunization, STI, reproductive health and WIC services reach people, while the bureaus in Baton Rouge are where surveillance, planning and data jobs sit.

The bureaus map neatly onto MPH concentrations. The Bureau of Infectious Diseases and the STI/HIV/Hepatitis Program hire for the skills an epidemiology MPH teaches. The Bureau of Chronic Disease Prevention and Healthcare Access, which runs as Well-Ahead Louisiana, works on obesity, diabetes, heart disease and tobacco use, a natural fit for community health and health education graduates. The Center for Environmental Health covers sanitarian services, engineering and the state laboratory, and Louisiana WIC alone serves nearly 100,000 participants a month at 100 clinic sites.

Two Price Tiers: Tulane and the LSU Campuses

Louisiana’s MPH market splits cleanly by price. Tulane charges $1,841 per credit hour for every degree, the same for Louisiana residents and everyone else, plus a $100 per credit academic support fee. A 45-credit Tulane MPH works out to an estimated $82,845 in tuition (published per-credit rate times credits, before fees).

The LSU campuses are where residency pays. At LSU Health New Orleans, a full-time MPH year in 2026-27 (fall, spring and summer) costs Louisiana residents $13,312.40 in tuition and fees and non-residents $21,617.08. The school sets your status at admission: if you aren’t classified as a Louisiana resident when you’re admitted, you pay the nonresident rate for your whole enrollment. So sort out residency before you apply, not after. Its part-time online MPH rate, $604 per credit hour, is the same for residents and non-residents.

LSU Shreveport’s online MPH posts the lowest estimate in the state: $780 per credit hour over 42 credits, $32,760 in total tuition with fees, and it can be finished in as few as two years.