2024 Most Affordable Online Bachelor's Degrees

Online learners comprise a significant portion of total undergraduate students in the U.S., with 34% taking at least some online courses and 14% taking exclusively online courses. The COVID-19 pandemic drove many traditional campus students into distance education in 2020, an experience that may spur colleges to both increase and improve their online offerings. Online education is clearly here to stay. But what can students expect from an online bachelor's program?

Most colleges design bachelor's degrees to take four years (usually 120 semester credits), whether they're offered online or in person. The admissions requirements include a high school diploma or equivalent, a minimum GPA, and possibly a minimum score on either the ACT or SAT (though not all schools require admissions tests).

Students may wonder what the online learning environment will be like. In contrast to traditional classrooms, where students and faculty gather for lectures, discussions, and exams, most online programs offer asynchronous coursework and instruction. Students view lectures and complete coursework at convenient times rather than live. Faculty are still required to hold office hours, though meetings may take place over the phone or video conference.

If you decide that the online learning environment seems like a good fit for you, there are three types of institutions where you can earn an online bachelor's degree: public, private non-profit, or private for-profit colleges.

• Public colleges receive part of their budget from state taxes and funnel the money they earn back into the school after covering operating expenses.
• Private non-profit colleges also channel earnings back into the school.
• Private for-profit colleges pay money to shareholders and are run more like businesses. They made early headway in the distance learning space, but the others are catching up.

There are two ways to get a bachelor's degree in just two years online: attending a school with an accelerated option or transferring credits from an associate degree program.

Some schools structure online degrees to have eight-week terms instead of traditional 15-week semesters, which allows students to complete more classes per year. To finish in two years at a school with eight-week terms, the college also needs to allow students to take three courses at a time, which is more than the typical course load. It takes discipline to complete a degree on this accelerated schedule, along with the means to study full time.

If you've earned an associate degree at an accredited school, you may be able to complete online bachelor's degree requirements in two years. Some schools allow students to transfer up to 90 credits, so check the credit transfer policy for each school you're considering.

Of the schools we researched in order to rank the most affordable online bachelor's degrees, the median annual tuition is $11,728 at public schools and $13,950 at private institutions.

In general, online tuition is lower than tuition for on-campus programs at both private and public institutions because schools can increase their enrollment without making large infrastructure upgrades. In addition, public schools sometimes charge the in-state tuition rate regardless of an online student's residency (e.g., at #2 Clayton State University).

During a school search, you can estimate the total price by calculating the tuition cost per credit hour at a given school and multiplying this by the total number of hours needed to graduate (usually 120 for bachelor's degrees). Then add any fees noted on a school's website, such as technology fees, e-books, or equipment rental — you'll often find these fees in the tution or financial aid sections of a school's site. Financial aid can help alleviate some costs.

In general, earning a degree will set you up for a higher paying job. Professionals with bachelor's degrees earn more than those without (a median of $500 more a week than workers with a high school education).

Payscale's College Salary Report details the high salary potential of a bachelor's degree in any type of engineering, with petroleum engineering strong in both early-career and mid-career pay. Operations research and business computing graduates tend to land high-paying jobs early in their careers as well.

The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) also breaks down the highest paying occupations by the level of education required for entry. This might be a helpful resource, but the data on the bachelor's degree chart requires some nuance. BLS lists chief executives and several types of business managers among the highest earning jobs requiring a bachelor's degree for entry, but people in these positions often earn master's degrees and work for years before reaching the highest levels of pay.

Bachelor's degrees lead to higher wages and reduced unemployment over the course of a career, and the stigma around online education is decreasing as more schools create accredited online-only programs. The COVID-19 crisis could accelerate this process, but HR managers were warming to online degrees even before the pandemic forced college students into remote learning: a 2019 survey reported that 61% viewed online and in-person degrees equally. Still, most colleges understand the lingering perception of low-quality online degrees, so many of them use identical transcripts and diplomas for online and traditional students (e.g., Southern Utah University).

Any degree requires a significant upfront investment in money and time, even if the salary and employment security benefits pay off in the end. If you do decide to earn a degree, your learning style may not be conducive to remote education or you may be admitted to an on-campus program that you feel is a better fit. Undergraduate degrees can confer many benefits, but you have a wealth of choice in where and how you study — only you can decide whether an online program is worth it for you.