Exploring the Diverse Academic Landscape: Degrees Offered at the University of Massachusetts Boston

The University of Massachusetts Boston (UMass Boston), established in 1964, stands as a public research university committed to providing accessible, high-quality education. With a focus on research, interdisciplinary studies, and practical skills, UMass Boston caters to a diverse student body, including many non-traditional students balancing work, family, and academic pursuits. Located on Boston Harbor, UMass Boston’s stunning oceanfront campus gives its students direct access to downtown Boston, home to a rich, vibrant culture and one of the nation's strongest economies. Living in the city while being able to play hockey appealed to me. I knew right away UMass Boston was the right school for me. I love the location of UMass Boston. In my classes I get to hear opinions from many different people.

A Reputation for Value and Academic Rigor

UMass Boston is lauded for offering "a private school level education at a public school price." The university fosters "an ambitious academic community for driven students" through "prestigious educators" and "amazing resources," particularly in science and engineering. Students find "interesting research opportunities" and appreciate the focus on interdisciplinary studies, allowing them to discover their academic niche and cultivate practical skills. The student-faculty ratio at University of Massachusetts-Boston is 15:1, and it utilizes a semester-based academic calendar. University of Massachusetts-Boston has a test-optional admissions policy.

Dedicated and Accessible Faculty

Students consistently praise and respect their professors, describing them as "extremely helpful," "considerate and fair," and "very knowledgeable." In the classroom, professors avoid lecturing "over your heads when teaching." Outside of class, "most professors are very accessible" and "passionate about what they teach," encouraging student engagement. Undergraduates find ample opportunities to pursue shared interests and research collaborations with these dedicated faculty members.

A Hub for Serious and Diverse Students

As a commuter school accessible to non-traditional students, UMass Boston attracts many individuals who "work full-time jobs and juggle academics and extracurricular activities as well." This results in a student body of "very serious students who are well onto their way to developing good adult skills and possessing maturity." The diversity of cultures and experiences within the UMass Boston student body is widely praised, with students coming from more than 135 different countries.

Campus Life and Engagement

Even without traditional dorms, UMass Boston fosters a vibrant campus life. Students reside in the bustling city of Boston and find alternative ways to connect on campus. "The food is good and the cafeteria is always full of students in between classes or after class." The new Campus Center "offers a lot of comfortable seating and hosts many fairs like job fairs or opportunities that kids can go and get access to jobs or clubs." It is common to see students enjoying campus facilities throughout the day, whether "play[ing] basketball in the gym, hacky sack and football and soccer on the plaza, or read[ing] on grassy areas." A stop on the MBTA Red Line, MBTA Commuter Rail Line. MBTA and Shuttle bus service. Recreational and intramural sports are popular, and there are "non-stop events on campus, from movie nights to guest speakers, which students attend."

A Wide Array of Academic Programs

UMass Boston offers a comprehensive array of academic programs across various disciplines, from undergraduate to graduate studies. These programs are designed to prepare students for success in today's competitive global landscape. Earn your bachelor's degree, master's degree or certificate at UMass Global, a regionally accredited university. At UMass Global, we believe in high-quality, online education that lives where life happens. At UMass Global, we believe in high-quality, online education that lives where life happens. UMass Global provided the flexibility, the support, and the resources to make success possible on my terms. The late-night study sessions, the early-morning assignments before the rest of the world woke up, the professors who understood that life doesn’t pause just because you have a deadline - that is what made the difference. UMass Global really set the bar high for what a virtual school should be doing for graduate level students by pushing, supporting, and guiding us. The IT program provided me the flexibility to set my pace of learning according to my work and other life events. The competency-based education framework (MyPath) was great. UMass Global made this chaos a little more manageable. The flexible learning format meant I could squeeze in coursework between work shifts, bedtime stories, and emergencies about APA citations. The curriculum challenged me to think critically, communicate effectively, and approach problem-solving with empathy and awareness, qualities that have greatly enhanced how I show up in my work and within my team. UMass Global provided the mentorship and resources that helped me navigate grad school, balance challenges, and grow both academically and personally.

Accreditation and Flexible Learning Options

Yes. University of Massachusetts Global is regionally accredited by the WSCUC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), 985 Atlantic Avenue, Suite 100, Alameda California, 94501; (510) 748-9001. Additional industry and program specific accreditations apply to select degrees. Start date depends on your preferred program and learning style. Most classes for our term-based degrees begin six times a year on a trimester basis. Alternatively, students can begin UMass Global MyPath, self-paced programs, throughout the year upon admission and enrollment. At UMass Global, two classes per eight-week session is a full-time schedule, with one being part-time for term-based programs. Self-paced degrees are also available for those who want to take as many credits as they want within a six month billing period.

Financial Aid and Student Support

Yes! Students who enroll in an undergraduate or graduate degree program may apply for financial aid to help finance their education. Explore a variety of financial aid options including frequently asked questions and learn how University of Massachusetts Global will help support you through the process. Yes. At UMass Global, we focus on students first. An academic advisor will stay with you throughout your degree program and a one stop specialist will be there to help you finance your education. Our helpful career coaches can also work with you to align your studies with your career goals. Sixty-nine percent of first-year students receive need-based financial aid, and the average net price for federal loan recipients is $17,642.

A Look into UMass Boston's History

The University of Massachusetts System dates back to the founding of Massachusetts Agricultural College under the Morrill Land-Grant Acts in 1863. Prior to the founding of UMass Boston, the Amherst campus was the only public, comprehensive university in the state. As late as the 1950s, Massachusetts ranked at or near the bottom in public funding per capita for higher education, and proposals to expand the University of Massachusetts into Boston was opposed both by faculty and administrators at the Amherst campus and by the private colleges and universities in Boston. In 1962, the 162nd Massachusetts General Court expanded the UMass System for the first time to Worcester, Massachusetts with the creation of the University of Massachusetts Medical School. In 1963, UMass President John W. At the time, there were 12,000 freshman applications to the University of Massachusetts in Amherst with only 2,600 slots, yet the majority of the applicants lived in the Greater Boston area. In 1964, Massachusetts Senate Majority Leader Maurice A. Donahue and State Senator George V. Kenneally Jr. introduced a bill to establish a Boston campus for the UMass System. The bill was opposed by several private colleges and universities in the area, including Northeastern University, Boston University, and Boston College (who argued that the state would be better off subsidizing the existing private institutions in the city), as well as by Boston State College (who argued for expanding its campus on Huntington Avenue instead).

UMass Boston leased part of the Boston Park Plaza (then known as the Statler Hilton Boston) for faculty and departmental office space in the late 1960s, while in February 1966, the Massachusetts General Court appropriated funds for the university to purchase the former headquarters of the Boston Gas Company (in the foreground) which the company had leased to the university in September 1965 for its inaugural semester. In 1981, the Massachusetts state government announced that the Massachusetts Archives and Commonwealth Museum would be built next to the JFK Presidential Library. Italian literature scholar Carlo L. Golino served as the university's chancellor from 1973 to 1978. The JFK/UMass station in April 2016. In June 1964, with a $200,000 appropriation, the legislation establishing the University of Massachusetts Boston was signed into law. UMass President John W. Lederle began recruiting freshmen students, faculty, and administrative staff for the fall semester of 1965 (with goals of 1,000 students and 80 faculty members), and appointed his assistant at the Amherst campus, John W. Ryan, as UMass Boston's first chancellor. Ryan recruited tenured faculty members from the Amherst campus to relocate and form the UMass Boston faculty, and appointed Amherst's history professor Paul A.

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Freshman classes started for 1,240 undergraduate students in September 1965 at a renovated building located at 100 Arlington Street in Downtown Boston, formerly the headquarters of the Boston Gas Company (which had leased the building to the university). Virtually the entire entering class were residents of Massachusetts, with the great majority living in the Greater Boston area. By the fall of 1968, the number of applications to UMass Boston for the fall semester had risen from 2,500 for fall 1965 to 5,700, and total enrollment had risen to 3,600. In the late 1960s, UMass Boston students on average were 23 years old, typically white and male, working part- or full-time, and either married or living with others in an apartment. In February 1966, the 164th Massachusetts General Court appropriated funds for the university to purchase the building at 100 Arlington Street. Over the next three years, the university also leased the Sawyer Building on Stuart Street, the Salada Buildings on Columbus Avenue, a part of the Boston Statler Hotel for faculty and departmental office space, and the Armory of the First Corps of Cadets (which was converted into the university's library). The student newspaper, The Mass Media, published its inaugural issue on November 16, 1966, and the Founding Day Convocation for the university was held December 10, 1966. In 1968, a group of students started the folk music radio station WUMB-FM. In the summer of 1968, inaugural Chancellor John W. Ryan resigned and was succeeded by historian Francis L.

By early 1967, some younger professors were holding teach-ins and encouraging their male students to burn their draft cards in protest of "American corporate imperialism." The Young Socialist Alliance and the Students for a Democratic Society both had chapters on campus, and in April 1969, the latter group rallied more than a hundred students protesting the decision to move the university campus to Columbia Point. The following month, a student group called the "Afro-American Society", staged an occupation of summer school registration, demanding the immediate hiring of more Black faculty members and the admission of more Black students. In March 1970, a group of thirty students occupied the chancellor's office after a popular "radical" female professor in the Sociology Department was denied tenure. Following President Richard Nixon's announcement of the Vietnam War's Cambodian campaign on April 30, 1970, and the subsequent shooting of anti-war protestors at Kent State University on May 4, like hundreds of other universities across the United States, UMass Boston administration suspended regular business operations while the campus became consumed by protests. In 1972, Chancellor Francis L. Broderick resigned, and was succeeded by Carlo L. On January 28, 1974, the university opened its new campus on the Columbia Point peninsula.

In 1975, enabled by the move to Columbia Point, Chancellor Carlo L. Golino oversaw the opening of the College of Professional Studies (later renamed the College of Management), and in 1976, supervised the merger of College I and College II into a single College of Arts and Sciences. Golino resigned as chancellor in 1978, was succeeded in the interim by Claire Van Ummersen, and succeeded permanently in 1979 by Robert A. Corrigan. In October 1979, a dedication ceremony was held for the opening of the John F. In 1988, Chancellor Robert A. Corrigan resigned. Besides the opening of the Clark Athletic Center and the Boston State College merger, during his tenure, he oversaw the authorization of the university's first PhD program (in environmental science), the opening of the John W. In 1988, historian Sherry A. Penney succeeded Robert A. Corrigan as chancellor. Her tenure was initially marred by an economic downturn in Massachusetts, to which Governor Michael Dukakis responded by ordering all state agencies to cut their budgets in the 1989, 1990, and 1991 fiscal years. In response to the budget cuts, Chancellor Penney began initiating major fundraising efforts, and despite the decline in state support, implemented multiple research programs, PhD programs, and oversaw a reorganization of the school's colleges. In 1989, Chancellor Penney oversaw the opening of both the Urban Harbors Institute and The Mauricio Gastón Institute for Latino Community Development and Public Policy, and later oversaw the separation of the College of Arts and Sciences into the College of Science and Mathematics and the College of Liberal Arts. In 1990, the university launched PhD programs in clinical psychology, gerontology, and environmental biology. In 1994, the Carnegie Commission on Higher Education classified UMass Boston as a Master's Comprehensive University I. By 1998, the university had four main research areas that accounted for three-quarters of the university's research funding: Environmental Studies, Psycho-Social Functioning of At-Risk Populations, Education, and Health and Social Welfare. In 2000, Chancellor Penney resigned. She was succeeded in the interim in 2000 by David MacKenzie, and permanently in May 2001 by Jo Ann M. Gora. During Gora's tenure, the McCormack Institute of Public Affairs became the John W. McCormack Graduate School of Policy and Global Studies in 2003, and the PhD program in green chemistry, the first in the world, was launched under the direction of chemist and UMass Boston alumnus John Warner in 2004. Gora resigned as chancellor in 2004 and was succeeded in the interim by J.

On April 2, 2004, a new Campus Center next to Wheatley Hall was opened. Construction for the facility began on July 20, 2001, and was completed during the tenure of Chancellor Gora. It became the new entrance for the campus and was the first building constructed since the Clark Athletic Center was completed in 1979. Unlike the original Columbia Point campus buildings, which were uniformly built of brick and faced inward, the Campus Center was designed such that its glass front would look out onto Boston Harbor, and the offices, food court, event space, student clubs, and activities space gave the campus a center of cohesion that was often lacking in the older buildings. In 2005, Chancellor Gora was permanently succeeded by Michael F. In early 2007, Chancellor Collins resigned, and he was succeeded by J. In 2014, UMass Boston celebrated its fiftieth anniversary, and in 2015, the University of Massachusetts Press published the school's first history about its founding and growth, entitled UMass Boston at 50. In 2015, the College of Management enrolled close to one-sixth of all students and more than half of the undergraduate students earning degrees in a STEM field were minority or female. By 2015, UMass Boston students came from 140 different nations and spoke 90 different languages. On January 26, 2015, the university opened its first new academic building since the Columbia Point campus was built, a research facility named the Integrated Sciences Complex. On March 30, 2015, the dedication ceremony for the Edward M. On March 3, 2017, Barry Mills was appointed the university's deputy chancellor and chief operating officer. On April 5, 2017, university officials announced that Chancellor J. Keith Motley would resign at the end of the academic calendar year. In February 2019, university campus employees protested an administration decision to increase the daily parking fee from $6 to $15 to cover the costs of the garage operation and other expenses. During the 2018-2019 academic year, UMass Boston was ranked by multiple publications as being among the best universities in the United States for veteran students. In May 2019, the Pioneer Institute released a white paper co-authored by former Massachusetts State Representative Gregory W.

The Columbia Point Campus

Where UMass Boston would locate its campus permanently was a contentious dispute during the university's early history in the 1960s. The conflict emerged in 1965, not long after the university was initially founded: UMass President John W. Lederle had insisted upon a campus inside the city limits of Boston, while Boston Mayor John F. Collins publicly asked Chancellor John W. In 1967, the Boston Redevelopment Authority (BRA) published a study, titled An Urban Campus by the Sea, which proposed building the campus on the Columbia Point peninsula. The site was a former landfill, adjacent to the largest and poorest public housing complex in New England, and a mile from the MBTA's Columbia station. Chancellor Ryan also opposed the Columbia Point proposal, who before he resigned in February 1968, made a counterproposal for a 15-acre campus south of where John Hancock Tower was being built that the BRA rejected. Architectural consultants of the university also scouted land near North Station and adjacent to the Boston Garden that was immediately opposed both by the ownership of the Boston Garden-Arena Corporation that owned the Boston Bruins (who threatened to move the team out of the city) and Boston Mayor Kevin White. In August 1968, after Francis L. Broderick was appointed the university's chancellor, now Speaker of the Massachusetts House of Representatives Robert H. Quinn, Massachusetts Senate Majority Leader Kevin B. In November 1968, Chancellor Broderick proposed a scattered-site campus of office buildings situated along the MBTA's Green Line in the South End that would be jointly owned by the university and businesses while retaining the original Arlington Street building. However, while the UMass Board of Trustees and UMass President John W. Lederle argued instead for a unified campus on Columbia Point, they allowed a task force an additional month to more fully study Broderick's proposal. The Columbia Point campus was originally composed of five buildings connected by a series of skyways on the second floors of the buildings: McCormack Hall, Wheatley Hall, the Science Center, the Healey Library (which was designed by Chicago modernist architect Harry Weese), and the Quinn Administration Building. To transport students from Columbia station, the MBTA concluded that constructing a skyway from the station to the campus would be too expensive, and the university administration set about planning a shuttle bus system, funded by parking fees. Campus facilities would rise from the bottom of the substructure and the bottom of the substructure would provide entry to a parking garage with 1,600 spaces. Because the university was underneath flight paths arriving at Logan International Airport, all of the original Columbia Point campus buildings were soundproofed, and because of this, the classroom and offices in the buildings were…

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A Multicultural and Inclusive Community

UMass Boston's exceptionally diverse student population is one of its greatest assets. With students from more than 135 different countries, UMass Boston fosters a collaborative, inclusive environment where students from a variety of backgrounds learn to view issues from different perspectives.

Rankings and Recognition

University of Massachusetts-Boston is a public institution that was founded in 1964. In the 2026 edition of Best Colleges, University of Massachusetts-Boston is ranked No. #213 in National Universities. It's also ranked No. #42 in Top Performers on Social Mobility. The four-year graduation rate is 33%. Six years after graduation, the median salary for graduates is $53,521.

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