The online Master of Science in Finance is a 33-credit hour program designed to prepare students for a successful career in finance. The program aims to impart quantitative, practical knowledge in various areas within the field of finance; deliver hands-on experience applying various financial modeling and valuation concepts, tools, and techniques; and develop communication, critical thinking, analytical and ethical decision making, and discipline-specific skills.
The connection between complicated research ideas and practical application is what makes our courses so important and relevant.
Dr. Sara Shirley
Associate Professor of Finance
Learn to analyze and apply financial data, get familiar with financial technologies like Excel, Python, and Wall Street Prep, and develop skills to evaluate and manage risk in capital budgeting and structure decisions.
Program Structure
Our online M.S. in Finance is a cohort program, allowing students to make lasting connections with their peers and faculty through continued contact and collaboration.
We blend online coursework that you can complete on your own schedule with virtual synchronous sessions, granting students the flexibility to pursue their finance graduate degree from any location while fostering valuable connections through face-to-face interactions. Whether you prefer a part-time or full-time schedule, our program accommodates your needs, with all synchronous classes held in the evening to ensure the success of full-time working students. The 33-credit online M.S. in Finance program can be completed while you work with classes that meet via Zoom on Tuesday and Thursday evenings.
Degree requirements overview
Students must complete 33 credit hours to earn their online Master of Science in Finance.
- Our core courses make up 24 credit hours
- The remaining 9 credit hours can be filled with your choice of approved electives
Most of our courses are on an accelerated schedule, meeting once per week for three hours over approximately seven weeks. Each traditional semester (fall/spring) is divided in half so that you have two accelerated terms during the fall and another two during the spring.
Time to complete degree
Our online M.S. in Finance degree can be completed in as little as 12 months as a full-time student, or part-time in two years. Because this is a cohort program, part-time students will finish their first year of coursework with one cohort and their second year with another.
Synchronous class schedule
While not every class is synchronous, many in this program are. Virtual, live classes throughout the program will take place from 6 to 9 p.m. CT on Tuesdays and Thursdays.
Most faculty record these classes and understand that students are working professionals with outside responsibilities. Because of this, they tend to work with you if you are unable to join a live session.
Request Information
Learn more about the MTSU online Master of Science in Finance by filling out the fields below and downloading a program brochure. You can also call us at 629-263-5486 to talk with one of our enrollment specialists.
Course Offerings
Core Courses
Our eight core courses make up 24 credit hours of the online M.S. in Finance degree.
For Finance M.S. students only. Provides an introduction to finance at the graduate level. Topics include the time value of money, valuation of debt and equity, risk and return, financial statements, and capital budgeting.
Prerequisites: FIN 6010 and FIN 6110. Focuses on understanding and working with data to make statistical inference. Statistical software used for data collection, data cleaning, dataset creation, and applied regression analysis.
Prerequisite: FIN 6010 (or concurrent enrollment in FIN 6010). Includes mathematical, programming, and statistical tools used in the real-world analysis and modeling of financial data; applies these tools to model asset prices and returns, to measure risk, and to construct optimized portfolios. Examines real-world problems faced by investment advisors, consultants, and investors in putting finance theory into practice.
(Same as ECON 6460.) Prerequisites: FIN 6010 and FIN 6110. Focuses on the pricing of equity and debt securities using discounted cash flow, relative valuation, and the Black-Scholes real option valuation approaches in the top-down analysis framework. Focuses on analyzing the macroeconomic environment, forecasting short-term and long-term stock market trends, performing industry analysis, identifying the key value drivers for the industry and stocks, interpreting accounting and non-accounting information necessary for valuation, establishing assumptions for valuation models, applying valuation quantitative models in the stock research project, and presenting equity research in a professional manner.
Prerequisites: FIN 6010 with C or better. Theory of corporate finance with applications. Techniques and problems for maximizing wealth through the application of discounted cash flow analysis. Emphasis on risk, capital budgeting, and capital structure.
(Same as ECON 6730.) Prerequisites: FIN 6010 and FIN 6110. Focuses on the common and distinctive aspects of the provision of financial services and the management of risk associated with those services. Roles, characteristics, and operation of financial institutions, constraints that these institutions face in meeting that objective, regulatory environment within which they operate, risks they face and the management of those risks, evolution of the financial industry over time, and the causes and reactions to financial crises throughout the world.
Prerequisites: FIN 6010 and FIN 6110. Topics include ethical decision making, advanced risk analysis, advanced project analysis, advanced capital structure concepts, valuation techniques, and cash flow analysis.
Prerequisites: FIN 6460 and FIN 6750. Applications-oriented approach to managerial problem-solving. Topics may include working capital management, capital budgeting, cost of capital estimation, lease/purchase decisions, bond refunding, and international issues.
Electives
Our revolving elective courses are updated and rotated each semester. Students have the opportunity to choose from approved electives with the help of their academic advisor each semester.
Students will complete 9 credit hours of approved electives. Reach out to an enrollment specialist to learn more about our electives.
Theories and concepts related to investing, security analysis, and portfolio management will be put to the test in the management of a real portfolio of stocks. TVA investment guidelines, portfolio management strategies, stock selection, investment gurus, individual investment styles, data sources and Internet sites, stock-screening techniques, and portfolio rebalancing.
Development of a framework for making real estate finance and investment decisions and for analyzing real estate finance and investment alternatives.
Prerequisites: FIN 6010 and FIN 6110. Issues covered include the reasons firms merge, buyer and seller motivations, the assessment of merger prospect value, merger waves and their consequences, the concentration of economic power resulting from mergers, policies toward mergers, the effects of takeover defenses, and the effects of mergers on the economy.
Prerequisites: FIN 6010 and FIN 6110. Analyzes fixed income securities. Uncovers innovations in bond markets, preparing students for careers in bond markets. Demonstrates active portfolio management and the analysis of yield spread trades in cash and futures markets. Approximates bond price using duration and convexity. Bonds with imbedded options, such as collateralized mortgage obligations, floaters and inverse floaters, and other derivatives, are financially engineered from the underlying fixed income securities.
Prerequisites: FIN 6010 and FIN 6110. Explores and analyzes the key issues associated with theory and practice of derivatives instruments. Includes advanced topics dealing with pricing, risk management, and structuring of global derivatives products such as options, forwards, futures, swaps, caps, collars, and swaptions in the equity, foreign exchange, commodities, and interest- rate markets.
Focuses on both theoretical and practical aspects of investment analysis, security selection, and portfolio management. Topics include asset allocation, investment policy statement, mean variance optimization, contemporary asset pricing theories, equity and fixed- income portfolio strategies, managing interest rate risk and credit risk, using derivatives in portfolio management, and alternative investment.
Prerequisites: FIN 6010 and FIN 6110. International capital markets, exchange rate exposure, risk management, and other multinational finance issues. Essential not only for United States exporters, but also for those facing competition from abroad.
Prerequisites: FIN 6060 and enrollment in the M.S. in Finance program. Focuses on developing advanced financial data analysis skills focusing on the topics of obtaining financial data from the internet, momentum and value investing, portfolio creation, and financial machine learning.
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