• Find a bachelor's degree




    Bachelors Degree Center is an advertising-supported site. Featured or trusted partner programs and all school search, finder, or match results are for schools that compensate us. This compensation does not influence our school rankings, resource guides, or other editorially-independent information published on this site.

Key Infor­ma­tion:

  • Brigham Young Uni­ver­si­ty — Ida­ho is the #1 school for an afford­able online com­put­er sci­ence bach­e­lor’s degree.
  • Despite their low­er cost, these pro­grams pre­pare grad­u­ates for high-demand careers in the tech industry.
  • Com­put­er sci­ence pro­grams in this rank­ing offer com­pet­i­tive tuition rates and are offered online mak­ing them acces­si­ble to a wide range of students.

Com­put­er sci­ence majors are ide­al for learn­ing the pro­gram­ming skills to devel­op cre­ative tech­nol­o­gy solu­tions that solve com­put­ing prob­lems. Trans­lat­ing ques­tions into com­mands that com­put­er machin­ery can eas­i­ly fol­low is what com­put­er sci­ence is all about.

This arti­cle was orig­i­nal­ly pub­lished in July 2016 and was last updat­ed in Feb­ru­ary 2024.

Many online col­leges offer com­put­er sci­ence degrees to make this rig­or­ous, sci­en­tif­ic major acces­si­ble and afford­able. Invest­ing in a com­put­er sci­ence pro­gram can pro­vide sig­nif­i­cant returns in the tech-dri­ven job market.

Com­put­er Sci­ence-Relat­ed Rank­ings and Valu­able Information:

Methodology

Since col­lege tuition prices are often astro­nom­i­cal, we’d like to rec­og­nize the top 10 cheap­est online Bach­e­lor’s of Com­put­er Sci­ence degrees. 

Thanks to the NCES Col­lege Nav­i­ga­tor tool, we weed­ed out online uni­ver­si­ties con­fer­ring bach­e­lor’s pro­grams with aver­age in-state tuition under $10,000. Poten­tial col­leges had to pro­vide a com­put­er sci­ence degree pri­mar­i­ly online with hands-on tech practice. 

Dis­claimer: All tuition rates are sub­ject to change and also are defined by the terms of your expe­ri­ence at any par­tic­u­lar col­lege. For exam­ple: How many cred­it hours you take per semes­ter changes the cost of our “per cred­it hour” val­ues below each school.

Every prospec­tive school had to be region­al­ly accred­it­ed rather than nation­al­ly accred­it­ed. Extra brown­ie points were bestowed to uni­ver­si­ties with pub­lished recog­ni­tion for top-rank­ing edu­ca­tion. Oth­er impor­tant fac­tors were finan­cial aid, cred­it trans­fer, stu­dent-fac­ul­ty ratio, job place­ment, and curriculum. 

Last­ly, we orga­nized the list from cheap­est to slight­ly more expen­sive. That said, here are the Top 10 Cheap­est Online Bach­e­lor of Com­put­er Sci­ence Degrees.

1. Brigham Young University — Idaho

Degree: Com­put­er Sci­ence (B.S.)
Tuition: $174 per cred­it hour
Cred­its Required: 120 cred­its
Fac­ul­ty to Stu­dent Ratio: 20:1
Accep­tance Rate: 97%
Grad­u­a­tion Rate: 51%
Relat­ed Majors Offered:

  • Com­put­er Infor­ma­tion Technology
  • Com­put­er Engineering

High­light­ed Career Paths:

  • Appli­ca­tions Developer
  • Game Devel­op­er
  • Foren­sic Com­put­er Analyst

This 120-cred­it pro­gram devel­ops tech-savvy grad­u­ates for design­ing, devel­op­ing, and man­ag­ing com­put­er sys­tems. Online Com­put­er Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy cours­es are sup­ple­ment­ed with a senior practicum and a cap­stone project.

2. University of Florida

Degree: Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence with a major in Com­put­er Sci­ence
Tuition: $129.18 per cred­it hour
Cred­its Required: 120 cred­its
Fac­ul­ty to Stu­dent Ratio: 17:1
Accep­tance Rate: 30%
Grad­u­a­tion Rate: 88%
Relat­ed Majors Offered: 

  • Bach­e­lor’s in Com­put­er and Infor­ma­tion Sci­ence and Engineering
  • Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Busi­ness Administration–Information System

High­light­ed Career Paths:

  • Busi­ness Intel­li­gence Analyst
  • Com­put­er Programmer
  • Com­put­er Sys­tems Analyst
  • Data­base Administrator
  • Infor­ma­tion Secu­ri­ty Analyst
  • Infor­ma­tion Sys­tems Manager
  • Net­work Sys­tems Administrator
  • Soft­ware Appli­ca­tions Developer
  • Tech­ni­cal Sup­port and IT
  • Web Devel­op­er

The Accred­i­ta­tion Board for Engi­neer­ing and Tech­nol­o­gy (ABET) accred­it­ed Her­bert Wertheim Col­lege of Engi­neer­ing offers its Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Com­put­er Sci­ence online. 

For 120 cred­its, the cur­ricu­lum tai­lors to inter­ests in mobile appli­ca­tions, soft­ware engi­neer­ing, pro­gram­ming, and more. The eighth semes­ter is devot­ed to a cul­mi­nat­ing senior project.

3. Fort Hays State University

Degree: Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Com­put­er Sci­ence
Tuition: $242.76 per cred­it hour
Cred­its Required: 120 cred­its
Fac­ul­ty to Stu­dent Ratio: 15:1
Accep­tance Rate: 90%
Grad­u­a­tion Rate: 68%
Relat­ed Majors Offered: 

  • Bach­e­lor’s Degree (B.S. or B.A.) in Infor­ma­tion Net­work­ing and Telecommunications
  • Bach­e­lor’s Degree (B.S. or B.A.) in Infor­ma­tion Net­work­ing and Telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions, Infor­ma­tion Systems

High­light­ed Career Paths:

  • Com­put­er Engineers
  • Net­work Architects
  • Web Devel­op­ers
  • Cyber­se­cu­ri­ty Analysts

Fort Hays State Uni­ver­si­ty’s Bach­e­lor’s in Com­put­er Sci­ence cours­es are taught by ded­i­cat­ed pro­fes­sors with Ph.D degrees in the fields of com­put­er sci­ence and applied mathematics.

4. California State University, Monterey Bay

Degree: Com­put­er Sci­ence BS
Tuition: $525 per semes­ter unit
Cred­its Required: 120 cred­its
Fac­ul­ty to Stu­dent Ratio: 23:1
Accep­tance Rate: 93%
Grad­u­a­tion Rate: 81%
Con­cen­tra­tions Offered: 

  • Data Sci­ence 
  • Game Devel­op­ment
  • Soft­ware Engineering
  • Net­work and Security

High­light­ed Career Paths:

  • Soft­ware Engineer
  • Mobile App Developer
  • Tech­nol­o­gy Project Manager

The School of Com­put­ing & Design offers a Com­put­er Sci­ence Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree com­ple­tion pro­gram online. Asso­ciate degree hold­ers must trans­fer 60+ semes­ter credits. 

Online cours­es blend com­put­er sci­ence the­o­ry with hands-on prac­tice in soft­ware engi­neer­ing and the “Tech­nol­o­gy Tutors” ser­vice-learn­ing project.

5. Thomas Edison State University

Degree: Bach­e­lor’s degree in Com­put­er Sci­ence
Tuition: $419 per cred­it reg­is­tered
Cred­its Required: 120 cred­its
Fac­ul­ty to Stu­dent Ratio: 15:1
Accep­tance Rate: 100%
Grad­u­a­tion Rate: 39%

Cours­es include:

  • Dis­crete Mathematics
  • Com­put­er Architecture
  • Data Struc­tures

Requir­ing 120 cred­its, the online degree mix­es lib­er­al arts dis­ci­plines with tech­nol­o­gy and pro­gram­ming lan­guages. Up to 80 cred­its can be trans­ferred, includ­ing CLEP exams.

6. University of Maryland Global Campus

Degree: BS in Com­put­er Sci­ence
Tuition: $499 per cred­it hour
Cred­its Required: 120 cred­its
Fac­ul­ty to Stu­dent Ratio: 18:1
Accep­tance Rate: 100%
Grad­u­a­tion Rate: 28%
Course Top­ics:

  • Think­ing Like a Hacker
  • Risk Man­age­ment in Cloud Com­put­ing Video

Minors Avail­able:

  • Cyber­se­cu­ri­ty
  • Dig­i­tal Media
  • Infor­ma­tion Systems

For mas­ter­ing Java and C++, UMUC offers its Com­put­er Sci­ence Bach­e­lor’s Degree 100 per­cent online. 

This 120-cred­it pro­gram devel­ops mod­ern com­put­ing knowl­edge for indus­try cer­ti­fi­ca­tions like Microsoft Cer­ti­fied Solu­tions Expert. 

7. Troy University

Degree: Bach­e­lor’s in Com­put­er Sci­ence
Tuition: $145 per cred­it hour
Cred­its Required: 120 cred­its
Fac­ul­ty to Stu­dent Ratio: 16:1
Accep­tance Rate: 95%
Grad­u­a­tion Rate: 45%
Cours­es include:

  • Data­base Systems
  • Machine Learn­ing
  • Arti­fi­cial Intelligence
  • Soft­ware Engineering

Relat­ed Programs:

  • Bach­e­lor’s in Applied Com­put­er Science
  • Bach­e­lor’s in Cyber Security
  • B.A.S. in Resource and Tech­nol­o­gy Management

With a one-on-one tutor­ing pro­gram, his 36-cred­it major devel­ops real-world net­work­ing skills to solve com­put­er sys­tem prob­lems. On aver­age, bach­e­lor’s grad­u­ates from Troy obtain a $76,000 start­ing salary.

8. Dakota State University

Degree: Com­put­er Sci­ence (BS)
Tuition: $354.75 per cred­it hour
Cred­its Required: 120 cred­its
Fac­ul­ty to Stu­dent Ratio: 18:1
Accep­tance Rate: 86%
Grad­u­a­tion Rate: 42%
Relat­ed Programs:

  • BS in Com­put­er Game Design
  • BS in Cyber Operations
  • BS in Net­work and Secu­ri­ty Administration

Cours­es include:

  • Data Struc­tures
  • Foun­da­tion of Computation
  • Soft­ware Security

Dako­ta State Uni­ver­si­ty is a pub­lic, tech-cen­tric “lap­top” insti­tu­tion edu­cat­ing around 3,000 stu­dents in the Mount Rush­more State. 

Using DSUnix, stu­dents log into this 120-cred­it pro­gram and enrich their knowl­edge of com­put­er appli­ca­tions. Online learn­ers could also earn a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Com­put­er Game Design or B.S. in Cyber Operations.

9. Trident University International

Degree: BSCS
Tuition: $567 per cred­it hour
Cred­its Required: 120 cred­its
Fac­ul­ty to Stu­dent Ratio: 20:1
Accep­tance Rate: 49%
Grad­u­a­tion Rate: 33%
Con­cen­tra­tion Offered:

  • Cyber­se­cu­ri­ty

Cours­es include:

  • Tech­nol­o­gy in Society
  • Net­work­ing Fundamentals
  • Com­put­er Sys­tem Architecture
  • Infor­ma­tion Security

This case-based, 120-cred­it pro­gram pro­duces com­put­er sci­en­tists with or with­out a Cyber Secu­ri­ty Con­cen­tra­tion. Designed for trans­fer stu­dents, the degree is tra­di­tion­al­ly com­plet­ed in 48 months.

10. Rasmussen College

Degree: Com­put­er Sci­ence Online Bach­e­lor’s Degree
Tuition: $248 per cred­it hour
Cred­its Required: 60 cred­its
Fac­ul­ty to Stu­dent Ratio: 16:1
Accep­tance Rate: 100%
Grad­u­a­tion Rate: 46%

Pre­pares You To Become:

  • Soft­ware Sys­tems Developer
  • Soft­ware Devel­op­ment Engineer
  • Java Devel­op­er
  • Com­put­er Programmer
  • e‑commerce Devel­op­er
  • Soft­ware Appli­ca­tions Developer

The School of Tech­nol­o­gy awards an 18-month, online degree com­ple­tion pro­gram for the Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Com­put­er Science. 

The 60-cred­it cur­ricu­lum offers mobile appli­ca­tion spe­cial­iza­tions for Apple iOS or Microsoft Uni­ver­sal Win­dows. Ras­mussen grad­u­ates have achieved suc­cess with Xerox, Ver­i­zon, Cit­rix, Best Buy, and more.

Frequently Asked Questions

Why Should I Get a Com­put­er Sci­ence Degree Online?

Com­put­er sci­ence is one of the most valu­able majors, offer­ing com­pet­i­tive and in-demand career oppor­tu­ni­ties today. It has 23 per­cent 10-year job growth, 377,500 annu­al open­ings, and $100,530 annu­al medi­an salaries. Most of these com­put­er-relat­ed posi­tions require at least a four-year bach­e­lor’s degree.

What Do You Learn in Com­put­er Sci­ence Online Pro­grams?

The spe­cif­ic cur­ricu­lum varies. Com­mon cours­es in online com­put­er sci­ence pro­grams include Soft­ware Devel­op­ment, Algo­rithms, Data Struc­tures, Oper­at­ing Sys­tems, Com­put­er Archi­tec­ture, Com­put­er Net­work Fun­da­men­tals, Data Sci­ence, and Oper­at­ing Sys­tems. Stu­dents also have oppor­tu­ni­ties to spe­cial­ize in areas such as Python, Arti­fi­cial Intel­li­gence, and Human-Com­put­er Interaction.

Can you Get a Good Com­put­er Sci­ence Degree Online?

Yes, online com­put­er sci­ence degrees adhere to the same rig­or­ous stan­dards as their cam­pus-based coun­ter­parts. You’ll still gain the same valu­able, ver­sa­tile cod­ing skills. Before pur­su­ing an online degree, ensure it has earned accred­i­ta­tion and offers net­work­ing and career sup­port oppor­tu­ni­ties to have a high-qual­i­ty learn­ing experience.

What is the Aver­age Cost of a Com­put­er Sci­ence Degree?

Accord­ing to the Nation­al Cen­ter for Edu­ca­tion Sta­tis­tics, a bach­e­lor’s in com­put­er sci­ence costs an aver­age of $17,545 annu­al­ly. Online pro­grams are cheap­er because they elim­i­nate cam­pus fees and charge a per-cred­it-hour rate instead of by semes­ter or quar­ter. The cost ranges from $100 to $600 per cred­it hour.

Is It Worth Get­ting a Cheap Online Com­put­er Sci­ence Degree?

Rep­utable and accred­it­ed cheap online com­put­er sci­ence degrees are worth it. The main pur­pose of obtain­ing a degree is to break into the job mar­ket with a more com­pet­i­tive edge. In the com­put­er and infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy field, skills are more val­ued than how you earn your degree.