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Navigator education requirements
Updated January 8, 2025
4 min read
There are several educational requirements to become a navigator. Navigators usually study business, psychology, or social work. 57% of navigators hold a bachelor's degree, and 18% hold an associate degree. We analyzed 3,237 real navigator resumes to see exactly what navigator education sections show.
The most common colleges for navigators are the University of Phoenix and the University of Phoenix.
There are also many online navigator courses to help get the education required to be a navigator.
There are certain navigator certifications that you should consider. These navigator certifications include Certified Nurse Assistant (CNA) and Diplomate, Navigation Engineering (D.NE).
What education do you need to become a navigator?
What degree do you need to be a navigator?
- Bachelor's, 57%
- Associate, 18%
- Master's, 11%
- High School Diploma, 8%
- Other Degrees, 6%
What should I major in to become a navigator?
- Business, 16%
- Psychology, 14%
- Social Work, 9%
- Nursing, 8%
- Other Majors, 53%
Most common colleges for navigators
| Navigator common college | Percentages |
|---|---|
| University of Phoenix | 22.83% |
| Monroe College | 7.76% |
| City College of New York of the City University of New York, The | 5.48% |
| Texas A&M University | 5.02% |
| University of Washington | 5.02% |
Best majors for navigators
| Rank | Major | Percentages |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Business | 16.4% |
| 2 | Psychology | 14.3% |
| 3 | Social Work | 9.3% |
| 4 | Nursing | 7.8% |
| 5 | Criminal Justice | 6.0% |
Best colleges for navigators
The best colleges for navigators are University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University in the City of New York, and Northwestern University.
A navigator with advanced education typically earns a higher salary and has access to better jobs. That's why Zippia looked into the best colleges for navigators. We based this list on several metrics: admissions rate, retention rate, mean earnings of graduates, the ratio of working vs. non-working students ten years after admission, the average cost of attendance, and median debt for graduates who become navigators.
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
In-state tuition
$55,584
Enrollment
10,764
2. SUNY at Binghamton
Vestal, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$9,808
Enrollment
13,990
3. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI • Private
In-state tuition
$15,262
Enrollment
30,079
4. SUNY Stony Brook
Stony Brook, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$9,625
Enrollment
17,407
5. New York University
New York, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$51,828
Enrollment
26,339
6. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$59,430
Enrollment
8,216
7. Howard University
Washington, DC • Private
In-state tuition
$26,756
Enrollment
6,166
8. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
In-state tuition
$55,695
Enrollment
6,596
9. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$56,225
Enrollment
19,548
10. California State University - Bakersfield
Bakersfield, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$7,309
Enrollment
9,142
20 best online courses for navigators
Advertising disclosure
1. Health After Cancer: Cancer Survivorship for Primary Care
This course presents basic principles of cancer survivorship to primary-care physicians. Developed by a team of experts in caring for cancer survivors, and narrated by a primary-care physician, this course provides practical tips and tools that can be easily integrated into medical practice. You will learn about the complex physical and psychosocial needs and concerns of the growing number of cancer survivors, along with the key role that primary care physicians have in guiding these patients...
2. Addiction Treatment: Clinical Skills for Healthcare Providers
This course is designed with a singular goal: to improve the care you provide to your patients with substance use disorders. By delving into a model case performed by actors, seven Yale instructors from various fields provide techniques to screen your patients for substance use disorder risk, diagnose patients to gauge the severity of their use, directly manage treatment plans, refer out to treatment services, and navigate the various conditions that may limit your patient’s access to treatment...
3. [2023] Customer Service 2.0: Learn Digital Customer Service
Used by Chase®, Intel®, & more! Learn soft skills, social media customer service, diagnosing user problems, & more...
4. Customer Service & Support For Customer Service Executives
Learn Customer Service Skills & Provide Excellent Customer Support, Customer Experience & How To Manage Upset Customers...
5. Health for All Through Primary Health Care
This course explores why primary health care is central for achieving Health for All. It provides examples of how primary health care has been instrumental in approaching this goal in selected populations and how the principles of primary health care can guide future policies and actions. Two of the most inspiring, least understood, and most often derided terms in global health discourse are “Health for All” and “Primary Health Care.” In this course, we will explore these terms in the context...
6. Traditional herbal medicine in supportive cancer care: From alternative to integrative
Please join us for an exciting and innovative journey, examining one of the most important and often overlooked aspects of the oncology setting: Traditional Herbal Medicine in Supportive Cancer Care. This course is presented with short lectures offering a wide range of issues related to the principles and practice of herbal medicine in cancer care. The course includes interviews with leading world experts from the field of Integrative Oncology, from the U.S. and Canada, as well as Europe, the...
7. Customer Service Mastery: Delight Every Customer
Master Customer Service using this practical customer care course...
8. Prehospital care of acute stroke and patient selection for endovascular treatment using the RACE scale
Acute stroke is a time-dependent medical emergency. In acute ischemic stroke, the first objective is to restore brain flow using sistemic thrombolytic treatment and, in patients with large vessel occlusion, by endovascular treatment. In hemorrhagic stroke there are also specific treatments that can improve the clinical outcome. The sooner the initiation of all these therapies the higher the clinical benefit. Thus, the organization of Stroke Code systems coordinated between emergency medical...
9. Operations and Patient Safety for Healthcare IT Staff
Now that you've been introduced to the world of Health IT and the important role played by electronic health records (EHRs), we'll focus on other technologies that play a role in maintaining ongoing operations in healthcare. Telemedicine, patient portals, barcode scanners, printers, and medical devices are just some of the technologies that impact providers and patients. As an IT support specialist, you’ll be asked to troubleshoot issues with a wide variety of tools. You'll see a scenario with...
10. Value-Based Care: Managing Processes to Improve Outcomes
COURSE 3 of 7. This course is designed to introduce you to critical office-based processes that a value-based practice must manage in the drive towards improved patient outcomes. In Module 2, we’ll focus on office-based and clinical patient-based supporting functions. At every level in healthcare, guidelines, processes, and functions exist to improve outcomes, and following a consistent process will return the best effect. Refine your understanding of value and learn strategies to provide real...
11. Palliative Care Always Capstone Course
The Palliative Care Always Capstone course is designed to let you test your knowledge about palliative and help others understand the value of palliative care, while showing your creative side. In this course, you will impact community awareness about palliative care, promote self-care and wellness, show-off your communication skills in a virtual environment, and finish the course off by proving your thoughts on ways to offer psychosocial support to a patient and family...
12. Emergency Care: Pregnancy, Infants, and Children
Welcome to the final course of lectures in your quest to master EMT basics. In this course, we will cover some of the highest-stress patient populations: pregnant patients and kids, also known as pediatrics. To wrap up your EMT knowledge we will end this course with information about hazmat situations, extricating patients from tight spots and finally how you write a note about your patient care. You will learn to ensure it communicates what your assessment of the patient was, what...
13. Motivational Enhancement Techniques: Working with Patients with Opioid & Substance Use Disorders or High Risk Use MAT Waiver Training S...
WORKING WITH PATIENTS WITH SUBSTANCE USE DISORDERS OR HIGH RISK This optional online course opportunity is made possible through a joint partnership with University of Virginia School of Medicine (UVASOM) and Nursing (SON) and the American Academy of Addiction Psychiatry (AAAP), DATA 2000 sponsor. This content was created by the AAAP and has been used with permission. The course consists of one 1-hour session for healthcare providers who wish to enhance their effectiveness in treating high-risk...
14. The Business of Health Care
This Specialization was designed to help you keep pace with the rapidly changing world of health and health care. Through partnership with Wharton and Penn Medicine, you’ll learn from experts in business acumen, health care management, and health care policy to develop the skills you’ll need to successfully navigate the quickly evolving landscape of this fast-growing field.* By the end of this specialization, you will have a strong foundational understanding of the American health care system,...
15. Patient Safety
Preventable patient harms, including medical errors and healthcare-associated complications, are a global public health threat. Moreover, patients frequently do not receive treatments and interventions known to improve their outcomes. These shortcomings typically result not from individual clinicians’ mistakes, but from systemic problems -- communication breakdowns, poor teamwork, and poorly designed care processes, to name a few.\n\nThe Patient Safety & Quality Leadership Specialization covers...
16. Trauma Emergencies and Care
Welcome to Trauma Emergencies and Care. In this course, you will learn about some of the mechanics and physics of trauma on the human body, and how this can cause injury. You will continue to expand your new vocabulary with medical terminology, and learn how to describe the different injuries you may see. You will also learn about the trauma system itself- and when it is important to transport patients to a trauma center. Then we will dive into specific injuries based on what part of the body...
17. Health Care Delivery in Healthcare Organizations
Have you ever needed health care and thought that there must be better ways to get or deliver health care? For example, have you found yourself thinking that there should be a way to get a diagnostic test or treatment at home? Or do you work in a healthcare organization and find yourself thinking that there must be better ways to deliver health care? If you have, this course is for you. Course content includes an overview of health care delivery including healthcare consumerism, the patient's...
18. Palliative Care Always
Palliative Care Always is a specialization for health care practitioners, patients and caregivers. We’ve designed this specialization to demonstrate how palliative medicine integrates with patient care, and to help you develop primary palliative care skills. Over the next five courses, you will develop skills in symptom management, goals of care and effective communication to improve the quality of life for patients and families suffering with serious illness. Our hope is that you feel...
19. Understanding Prostate Cancer
Welcome to Understanding Prostate Cancer. My name is Ken Pienta, Professor of Urology and Oncology at the Johns Hopkins School of Medicine. I have been studying prostate cancer and treating patients with prostate cancer for over 25 years. Over 1,000,000 men worldwide and 230,000 men in the United States are diagnosed with prostate cancer every year. Three hundred thousand men worldwide and 30,000 men in the US are dying from prostate cancer every year. As people live longer, the incidence of...
20. Kids with Cancer Still Need School: The Providers Role
This course will help you understand and address the challenges parents and families face regarding schooling after a cancer diagnosis. When a child is diagnosed with cancer, families can be overwhelmed learning about and managing this new and frightening reality. As they adjust to the new normal of ongoing treatment, school may be the farthest thing from their mind. However, as their oncology health care provider, you have a critical role in starting conversations about schooling. Even for...
Top 10 most affordable universities for navigators
The most affordable schools for navigators are California State University - Bakersfield, hunter college of the city university of new york, and california state university - long beach.
If the best universities for navigators are out of your price range, check out these affordable schools. After factoring in in-state tuition and fees, the average cost of attendance, admissions rate, average net price, and mean earnings after six years, we found that these are the most affordable schools for navigators.
1. California State University - Bakersfield
Bakersfield, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$7,309
Cost of attendance
16,714
2. Hunter College of the City University of New York
New York, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$7,182
Cost of attendance
13,998
3. California State University - Long Beach
Long Beach, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$6,798
Cost of attendance
18,306
4. California State University - Dominguez Hills
Carson, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$6,942
Cost of attendance
14,469
5. University of South Florida
Tampa, FL • Private
In-state tuition
$6,410
Cost of attendance
20,456
6. Brigham Young University
Provo, UT • Private
In-state tuition
$5,620
Cost of attendance
18,136
7. California State University - Los Angeles
Los Angeles, CA • Private
In-state tuition
$6,749
Cost of attendance
14,823
8. Florida International University
Miami, FL • Private
In-state tuition
$6,556
Cost of attendance
19,434
9. Florida State University
Tallahassee, FL • Private
In-state tuition
$5,656
Cost of attendance
21,623
10. Lehman College of the City University of New York
Bronx, NY • Private
In-state tuition
$7,210
Cost of attendance
14,359
Top 10 hardest universities to get into for navigators
The hardest universities for navigators to get into are University of Pennsylvania, Columbia University in the City of New York, and Northwestern University.
Some great schools for navigators are hard to get into, but they also set your career up for greater success. The list below shows the most challenging universities to get into for navigators based on an institution's admissions rates, average SAT scores accepted, median ACT scores accepted, and mean earnings of students six years after admission.
1. University of Pennsylvania
Philadelphia, PA • Private
Admissions rate
8%
SAT average
1,492
2. Columbia University in the City of New York
New York, NY • Private
Admissions rate
6%
SAT average
1,512
3. Northwestern University
Evanston, IL • Private
Admissions rate
8%
SAT average
1,508
4. New York University
New York, NY • Private
Admissions rate
20%
SAT average
1,419
5. University of Southern California
Los Angeles, CA • Private
Admissions rate
13%
SAT average
1,445
6. Johns Hopkins University
Baltimore, MD • Private
Admissions rate
11%
SAT average
1,513
7. University of Michigan - Ann Arbor
Ann Arbor, MI • Private
Admissions rate
23%
SAT average
1,434
8. Duke University
Durham, NC • Private
Admissions rate
9%
SAT average
1,516
9. Washington University in St Louis
Saint Louis, MO • Private
Admissions rate
15%
SAT average
1,506
10. Boston College
Chestnut Hill, MA • Private
Admissions rate
28%
SAT average
1,429
Top 10 easy-to-apply-to universities for navigators
The easiest schools for navigators to get into are Mount Saint Mary's University, barry university, and nyack college.
Some schools are much easier to get into. If you want to start your career as a navigator without much hassle, check out the list of schools where you will be accepted in no time. We compiled admissions rates, average SAT scores, average ACT scores, and average salary of students six years after graduation to uncover which were the easiest schools to get into for navigators.
1. Mount Saint Mary's University
Los Angeles, CA • Private
Admissions rate
84%
SAT average
1,031
2. Barry University
Miami, FL • Private
Admissions rate
91%
SAT average
1,006
3. Nyack College
New York, NY • Private
Admissions rate
98%
SAT average
999
4. Oklahoma Wesleyan University
Bartlesville, OK • Private
Admissions rate
68%
SAT average
964
5. Kean University
Union, NJ • Private
Admissions rate
86%
SAT average
991
6. D'Youville College
Buffalo, NY • Private
Admissions rate
100%
SAT average
1,072
7. Presentation College
Aberdeen, SD • Private
Admissions rate
97%
SAT average
1,050
8. Bluefield College
Bluefield, VA • Private
Admissions rate
95%
SAT average
980
9. The University of Texas Permian Basin
Odessa, TX • Private
Admissions rate
91%
SAT average
1,046
10. Notre Dame College
Cleveland, OH • Private
Admissions rate
90%
SAT average
994
Average navigator salary by education level
| Navigator education level | Navigator salary |
|---|---|
| Master's Degree | $46,646 |
| High School Diploma or Less | $35,503 |
| Bachelor's Degree | $43,322 |
| Doctorate Degree | $44,485 |
| Some College/ Associate Degree | $36,154 |
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Updated January 8, 2025
Updated January 8, 2025