10 Fastest Online Bachelor’s in Supply Chain Management

If you are already work­ing in the field and need a degree to advance, or if you want to move into the work­force as quick­ly as pos­si­ble, you can get a lot of ben­e­fits from an accel­er­at­ed sup­ply chain man­age­ment degree or an accel­er­at­ed logis­tics degree. Either degree will help you build impor­tant skills. Sup­ply chain man­age­ment and logis­tics are both high­ly impor­tant fields. The US econ­o­my would­n’t work as well with­out them.

An accel­er­at­ed logis­tics degree or sup­ply chain man­age­ment degree can also help you climb up the career lad­der. Both fields come with a lot of oppor­tu­ni­ties for upward move­ment. But why get an accel­er­at­ed degree? Some stu­dents like the accel­er­at­ed for­mat because it gives them a stream­lined, effi­cient education.

Methodology: Ranking the Best Accelerated Supply Chain Management Degrees

The edi­tors at Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter know prospec­tive stu­dents want to see their edu­ca­tion­al invest­ment pay off, so we fea­ture only rep­utable, accred­it­ed schools. We have ranked pro­grams accord­ing to their tuition rate, stu­dent sat­is­fac­tion, and alum­ni salary.

1. Arizona State University

Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty has an accel­er­at­ed logis­tics degree that focus­es on sup­ply chain man­age­ment. Stu­dents learn how to pro­vide con­sumers and busi­ness­es with afford­able access to their brands. ASU’s accel­er­at­ed sup­ply chain man­age­ment degree shows learn­ers how to work effi­cient­ly and effec­tive­ly to man­age the sup­ply chain in var­i­ous indus­tries. This degree helps stu­dents obtain entry-lev­el jobs upon graduation.

Ari­zona State has approx­i­mate­ly 41,000 under­grad­u­ate stu­dents and is locat­ed in the Phoenix area. The school accepts 86% of stu­dents who apply, giv­ing appli­cants a good chance of study­ing here. Pop­u­lar majors include busi­ness, busi­ness sup­port ser­vices and biology.

What We Like: The school has an A rat­ing in areas such as diver­si­ty, aca­d­e­mics and val­ue for mon­ey. It also ranks num­ber one among Ari­zon­a’s best colleges.

Degree: BS in Sup­ply Chain Management

Ari­zona State University

2. American Public University

Amer­i­can Pub­lic Uni­ver­si­ty’s accel­er­at­ed sup­ply chain man­age­ment degree has a gen­er­ous trans­fer pol­i­cy, allow­ing stu­dents to trans­fer up to 90 cred­its obtained at anoth­er uni­ver­si­ty. The school’s accel­er­at­ed sup­ply chain man­age­ment degree helps stu­dents learn to bet­ter man­age the sup­ply chain for mil­i­tary and civil­ian logis­tics. This accel­er­at­ed logis­tics degree focus­es on reverse logis­tics, capac­i­ty plan­ning, demand man­age­ment, acqui­si­tion man­age­ment, trans­porta­tion, ware­house man­age­ment and oth­er logis­tics topics.

APU is a for-prof­it school with 2,400 under­grad­u­ate stu­dents. It accepts all stu­dents who apply, giv­ing expand­ed access to stu­dents who did­n’t grad­u­ate at the top of their class or do well on stan­dard­ized tests. Pop­u­lar majors include dis­as­ter man­age­ment and home­land security.

What We Like: APU ranks fourth among West Vir­gini­a’s best val­ue colleges.

Degree: BA in Sup­ply Chain Management

Amer­i­can Pub­lic University

3. Grand Canyon University

Grand Canyon Uni­ver­si­ty has an accel­er­at­ed sup­ply chain man­age­ment degree that teach­es stu­dents inno­va­tion, ser­vant lead­er­ship and busi­ness skills. This unique accel­er­at­ed logis­tics degree also focus­es on ser­vant lead­er­ship in the work­place. Stu­dents com­plete cours­es in lean oper­a­tions, enter­prise orga­ni­za­tion and busi­ness process man­age­ment. Oth­er cours­es include logis­tics and pro­cure­ment, and stu­dents learn about Lean Six Sig­ma Green Belt certification.

GCU has nine col­leges with 200 degrees avail­able, includ­ing busi­ness and logis­tics cours­es. More than 20,000 stu­dents attend at the under­grad­u­ate lev­el and there are 150 pro­grams ful­ly avail­able online.

What We Like: The school has a fair­ly high accep­tance rate of 77%, and 99% of stu­dents receive finan­cial aid.

Degree: BS in Sup­ply Chain Management

Grand Canyon University

4. Colorado Tech University

The accel­er­at­ed sup­ply chain man­age­ment degree at Col­orado Tech Uni­ver­si­ty helps stu­dents man­age the work­flow of get­ting prod­ucts from point A to point B. Both direct-to-con­sumer and busi­ness-to-busi­ness chan­nels are cov­ered in this accel­er­at­ed logis­tics degree. The fast for­mat of this pro­gram allows stu­dents to quick­ly learn how to ana­lyze sup­ply chains and com­plete their busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion degree with spe­cial­iza­tions in either sup­ply chain man­age­ment or logistics.

Col­orado Tech is a for-prof­it uni­ver­si­ty with 15,000 under­grad­u­ate stu­dents. The school accepts all stu­dents who apply, giv­ing stu­dents in remote areas an oppor­tu­ni­ty to com­plete their course­work online. Pop­u­lar majors include law enforce­ment and infor­ma­tion technology.

What We Like: With a 100% accep­tance rate, Col­orado Tech pro­vides an oppor­tu­ni­ty for stu­dents to fur­ther their edu­ca­tion. Addi­tion­al­ly, 92% of stu­dents receive some kind of finan­cial aid.

Degree: BSBA in Logis­tics and Sup­ply Chain Management

Col­orado Tech University

5. California Baptist University

The 16-month accel­er­at­ed sup­ply chain man­age­ment degree at Cal­i­for­nia Bap­tist Uni­ver­si­ty results in a bach­e­lor’s of arts in busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion and stu­dents can increase their com­pen­sa­tion in a cur­rent career or enter the logis­tics field for the first time. Grad­u­ates go on to work in jobs man­ag­ing prod­uct life­cy­cles and mate­r­i­al allo­ca­tion. The cur­ricu­lum cov­ers design­ing effec­tive strate­gies to man­age costs and opti­mize logis­tics in var­i­ous indus­tries. This accel­er­at­ed logis­tics degree pro­vides par­tic­i­pants with the skills need­ed to orga­nize com­plex infor­ma­tion and pro­vide advice to senior lead­er­ship. After tak­ing this pro­gram, stu­dents often go on to com­plete grad­u­ate stud­ies or accept jobs and mate­ri­als and sup­ply chain management.

Cal­i­for­nia Bap­tist Uni­ver­si­ty is a faith-based uni­ver­si­ty that includes Christ-cen­tered beliefs in its cur­ricu­lum. CBU helps stu­dents gain the aca­d­e­m­ic and spir­i­tu­al pro­fi­cien­cy need­ed to become enlight­ened lead­ers in today’s busi­ness organizations.

What We Like: Cal­i­for­nia Bap­tist Uni­ver­si­ty ranks num­ber ten among Amer­i­ca’s best online col­leges, giv­ing grad­u­ates valu­able name recog­ni­tion when apply­ing for employment.

Degree: BABA in Logis­tics and Operations

Cal­i­for­nia Bap­tist University

6. DeSales University

DeSales University’s accel­er­at­ed sup­ply chain man­age­ment degree results in a bac­calau­re­ate degree in sup­ply chain man­age­ment. This accel­er­at­ed logis­tics degree helps stu­dents orga­nize prod­ucts in ware­hous­es, in tran­sit to retail­ers and to cus­tomers’ front doors. Every com­pa­ny requires indi­vid­u­als with knowl­edge regard­ing the effi­cient man­age­ment of its sup­ply chain.

DeSales is a Catholic Uni­ver­si­ty locat­ed in the Allen­town area of Penn­syl­va­nia. The small insti­tu­tion has few­er than 2,000 under­grad­u­ates. Admis­sions to the uni­ver­si­ty is some­what com­pet­i­tive but near­ly four out of five stu­dents who apply get the green light for study­ing at DeSales. The school also grad­u­ates 69% of stu­dents in majors such as nurs­ing, health pro­fes­sions and business.

What We Like: The school’s 100% accep­tance pol­i­cy makes edu­ca­tion wide­ly avail­able to stu­dents inside and out­side of West Virginia.

Degree: BS in Sup­ply Chain Management

DeSales Uni­ver­si­ty

7. Grantham University

Grantham Uni­ver­si­ty has an accel­er­at­ed sup­ply chain man­age­ment degree that can help adult stu­dents take their careers to the next lev­el. With an accel­er­at­ed logis­tics degree, grad­u­ates can pur­sue super­vi­so­ry-lev­el posi­tions and enhance their earn­ing poten­tial. The BBA in Logis­tics and sup­ply chain man­age­ment is avail­able online and takes 38 months to com­plete. It’s an IACBE-accred­it­ed degree that adds val­ue to career aspi­ra­tions in near­ly any industry.

Grantham Uni­ver­si­ty has over 60 degree choic­es and also offers sev­er­al cer­tifi­cate pro­grams. It attempts to align its aca­d­e­m­ic pro­grams with the needs of the mar­ket. Grantham Uni­ver­si­ty has high-qual­i­ty, flex­i­ble pro­gram­ming in areas such as nurs­ing, busi­ness, com­put­er sci­ence, crim­i­nal jus­tice and technology.

What We Like: Of stu­dents sur­veyed, 96% say it’s easy to get the class­es they want to take and 92% say that their aca­d­e­m­ic work­load is manageable.

Degree: BBA in Logis­tics and Sup­ply Chain Management

Grantham Uni­ver­si­ty

8. Florida State College at Jacksonville

Flori­da State Col­lege at Jack­sonville also offers an accel­er­at­ed sup­ply chain man­age­ment degree. This pro­gram takes 20 months to com­plete online. Grad­u­ates obtain a BAS in logis­tics and this accel­er­at­ed logis­tics degree gives stu­dents the expe­ri­ence and edu­ca­tion need­ed to pur­sue jobs in trans­porta­tion man­age­ment, oper­a­tions man­age­ment, dis­tri­b­u­tion man­age­ment, ware­house man­age­ment and oth­er logis­tics lead­er­ship posi­tions. Sub­jects range from logis­tics tech­nolo­gies to sup­ply chain man­age­ment. Stu­dents learn about glob­al oper­a­tions and the finan­cial impli­ca­tions of var­i­ous parts of the sup­ply chain. Grad­u­ates with a logis­tics edu­ca­tion can also devel­op their crit­i­cal think­ing and writ­ing skills in this program.

Flori­da State Col­lege at Jack­sonville offers afford­able tuition for local, nation­al and inter­na­tion­al stu­dents. Many stu­dents receive gen­er­ous finan­cial aid pack­ages to make it pos­si­ble to con­cen­trate on their stud­ies. How­ev­er, stu­dents can also take hybrid pro­grams that have some course­work avail­able online.

What We Like: The school’s flex­i­ble pro­gram­ming allows stu­dents to get the best of both worlds, class­room edu­ca­tion and online learn­ing that allows them to study in their own time.

Degree: BAS in Logistics

Flori­da State College

9. Colorado Christian University

Col­orado Chris­t­ian Uni­ver­si­ty has an accel­er­at­ed sup­ply chain man­age­ment degree that offers flex­i­bil­i­ty and speed for those look­ing to change careers or com­plete their degrees start­ed at anoth­er insti­tu­tion. Stu­dents can trans­fer up to 90 cred­its towards a BS in logis­tics and sup­ply chain man­age­ment. With an accel­er­at­ed logis­tics degree, stu­dents gain the knowl­edge they need in a fast-paced pro­gram that helps them retain the infor­ma­tion and apply it to entry-lev­el or man­age­ment jobs in logistics.

Col­orado Chris­t­ian Uni­ver­si­ty offers intern­ships and oth­er oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents who wish to gain real-world expe­ri­ence. the uni­ver­si­ty works with major employ­ers to help grad­u­ates land jobs at Home Depot, Delta, FedEx, AT&T and Coca-Cola, among oth­er employers.

What We Like: Col­orado Chris­t­ian Uni­ver­si­ty is among the top eight col­leges and Colorado.

Degree: BS in Logis­tics and Sup­ply Chain Management

Col­orado Chris­t­ian University

10. Southern New Hampshire University

South­ern New Hamp­shire Uni­ver­si­ty also has an accel­er­at­ed sup­ply chain man­age­ment degree that’s among the best in the coun­try. Grad­u­ates earn a bac­calau­re­ate of sci­ence in oper­a­tions man­age­ment, spe­cial­iz­ing in logis­tics and trans­porta­tion. This accel­er­at­ed logis­tics degree is designed for mil­i­tary ser­vice mem­bers and pro­fes­sion­als who want to learn more about sup­ply chain man­age­ment and oper­a­tional strate­gies. Stu­dents trans­fer­ring from oth­er pro­grams can trans­fer up to 90 cred­its toward their degree at South­ern New Hamp­shire University.

South­ern New Hamp­shire Uni­ver­si­ty has 3,000 stu­dents who attend class­es on cam­pus but has a huge online stu­dent body at 135,000 stu­dents. It’s one of the fastest-grow­ing uni­ver­si­ties in the coun­try and traces its roots back to 1932. SNHU offers 200 pro­grams rang­ing from under­grad­u­ate to doc­tor­al degrees in areas such as social sci­ences, edu­ca­tion, lib­er­al arts, and sci­ence and mathematics.

What We Like: South­ern New Hamp­shire Uni­ver­si­ty accepts all stu­dents who apply, and all stu­dents receive some sort of finan­cial aid.

Degree: BS in Oper­a­tions Man­age­ment Online — trans­fer 90 credits

South­ern New Hamp­shire University

What Will I Learn in a Supply Chain Management Program?

A degree in sup­ply chain man­age­ment (some­times called logis­tics man­age­ment) is very sim­i­lar to oth­er busi­ness areas like project man­age­ment. You’ll take the fun­da­men­tals, like busi­ness core col­lege cred­its, and elec­tives that allow you to expand your com­pe­ten­cies and spe­cial­ize. You’ll also take more spe­cif­ic course like glob­al logis­tics or glob­al sup­ply chain man­age­ment, infor­ma­tion sys­tems, and human resources.

You will learn about skills spe­cif­ic to sup­ply chain, like ware­hous­ing, qual­i­ty con­trol, and raw mate­ri­als. You’ll also prac­tice broad skills like deci­sion-mak­ing. You’ll learn about sup­ply chain logis­tics, sus­tain­abil­i­ty, and the glob­al economy.

For a bach­e­lor of sci­ence, you may have to com­plete a cap­stone project.

Accord­ing to the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics, there are ample career oppor­tu­ni­ties in sup­ply chain man­age­ment. Logis­ti­cians are in high demand, but you can’t get there with just a high school diplo­ma or even a asso­ciate degree. A bach­e­lor of busi­ness or an online sup­ply chain man­age­ment degree is the kind of cre­den­tial mod­ern employ­ers want for a pur­chas­ing man­ag­er or qual­i­ty man­age­ment pro­fes­sion­al. A master’s degree can put you above your com­pe­ti­tion. HIgh­er edu­ca­tion busi­ness pro­grams can help you get a degree that every com­pa­ny needs.

What If I Don’t Want a Full Degree?

Earn­ing a bach­e­lor’s degree is the best way to get start­ed in sup­ply chain man­age­ment. How­ev­er, thanks to sup­ply chain man­age­ment cer­tifi­cates, you may not nec­es­sar­i­ly need a full degree to get started.

If you already have some sup­ply chain expe­ri­ence and career con­nec­tions, sup­ply chain man­age­ment cer­tifi­cates can make a dif­fer­ence in get­ting you where you want to go. A cer­tifi­cate in sup­ply chain man­age­ment and logis­tics will cov­er the skills you need for your career, but it won’t include any gen­er­al edu­ca­tion courses.

Just like with a col­lege degree, if you pur­sue a cer­tifi­cate in sup­ply chain man­age­ment and logis­tics, you should choose an accred­it­ed pro­gram. You’ll want to make sure that your cer­tifi­cate is worth the time and effort you put into it. Accred­i­ta­tion lets you know that you’re learn­ing rel­e­vant skills for your career. Accred­it­ed sup­ply chain man­age­ment cours­es will help you be tak­en seri­ous­ly dur­ing your job search.

There are two main sources for accred­it­ed sup­ply chain man­age­ment cours­es. The first is col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties. Some accred­it­ed school offer pro­grams for those who want a cer­tifi­cate in logis­tics and sup­ply chain man­age­ment. Many of those cer­tifi­cate pro­grams are avail­able ful­ly online.

You can also earn a cer­tifi­cate in logis­tics and sup­ply chain man­age­ment from a pro­fes­sion­al orga­ni­za­tion. For exam­ple, the Asso­ci­a­tion for Sup­ply Chain Man­age­ment has three cer­ti­fi­ca­tion options:

• Cer­ti­fied in Plan­ning and Inven­to­ry Man­age­ment (CPIM)
• Cer­ti­fied Sup­ply Chain Pro­fes­sion­al (CSCP)
• Cer­ti­fied in Logis­tics, Trans­porta­tion, and Dis­tri­b­u­tion (CLTD)

Any one of these cer­ti­fi­ca­tions can look great on a resume.

Will I Make More Money with a Supply Chain Certification?

Cer­ti­fi­ca­tions in sup­ply chain man­age­ment can cer­tain­ly help you earn more mon­ey. Remem­ber the exam­ple of sup­ply chain man­ag­er cer­ti­fi­ca­tion from the ASCM. After a sur­vey of 1700 sup­ply chain man­age­ment pro­fes­sion­als, the ASCM report­ed that the aver­age salary for pro­fes­sion­als with one of their cer­ti­fi­ca­tions in sup­ply chain man­age­ment was 25% high­er than the aver­age for those with­out sup­ply chain man­ag­er certification.

What makes cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in logis­tics and sup­ply chain man­age­ment so valu­able? Why is the sup­ply chain man­age­ment cer­ti­fi­ca­tion salary high­er than the salary for those with­out certification?

It’s because when you have a sup­ply chain man­age­ment and logis­tics cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, you can prove that you have spe­cial­ized skills. Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion can make you more valu­able in the workforce.

Thank­ful­ly, you can earn cer­ti­fi­ca­tion from your home. Though you may go to a test­ing cen­ter to take your exam, you can study for your cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in sup­ply chain man­age­ment online. There are sev­er­al online sup­ply chain man­age­ment cer­ti­fi­ca­tion cours­es avail­able. Plus, sev­er­al col­leges have their own sup­ply chain man­age­ment cer­ti­fi­ca­tion online programs.

How Much Can I Make in Logistics and Supply Chain Management?

The aver­age logis­tics and sup­ply chain man­age­ment salary is $111,500 per year. On the low­er end, you can find a logis­tic and sup­ply chain man­age­ment salary as low as $85,709. On the upper end, salaries can reach up to $144,551.

Why is there such a big range for logis­tics and sup­ply chain man­age­ment salary? It’s most­ly because there’s such a wide range of careers. The high­er salaries gen­er­al­ly go to the high­er-end jobs that require the most train­ing and experience.

The wide gap in the salary range also comes from the fact that this field offers so much room to grow. Again, you can have lots of oppor­tu­ni­ty to rise through the ranks. The longer you stay in the indus­try, the more like­ly it is that you’ll get pro­mo­tions and rais­es. You may start out with an entry-lev­el sup­ply chain man­age­ment and logis­tics salary. How­ev­er, with more expe­ri­ence, you may see your salary grow substantially.

Of course, oth­er fac­tors like loca­tion can play a role in the aver­age sup­ply chain and oper­a­tions man­ag­er salary. In larg­er met­ro­pol­i­tan areas, for exam­ple, the aver­age oper­a­tions and sup­ply chain man­age­ment salary will be high­er than you could expect elsewhere.

Can I Get a Job with an Online Supply Chain Management Certificate?

With a pro­fes­sion­al online sup­ply chain man­age­ment cer­tifi­cate, you can cer­tain­ly increase your career pos­si­bil­i­ties. If you earn your sup­ply chain man­age­ment online cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, you can prove that you have the knowl­edge you need for spe­cif­ic sup­ply chain careers.

But can you get a job with a sup­ply chain man­age­ment online cer­tifi­cate in place of a full degree? The answer is still yes. When you earn you cer­tifi­cate in sup­ply chain man­age­ment online, you get a lot of the same knowl­edge that you would have got­ten from earn­ing a degree.

That being said, an online cer­tifi­cate in sup­ply chain man­age­ment and logis­tics isn’t the same thing as a bach­e­lor’s degree. Though it does take effort and com­mit­ment to earn a sup­ply chain man­age­ment cer­ti­fi­ca­tion online, you’d get more cours­es from a bach­e­lor’s degree pro­gram than you would get from an online sup­ply chain man­age­ment cer­tifi­cate pro­gram. An online cer­tifi­cate in sup­ply chain man­age­ment would­n’t cov­er cours­es like lan­guage, writ­ing, and oth­er gen­er­al things. Some peo­ple earn a sup­ply chain man­age­ment cer­tifi­cate online because they’d rather not take those cours­es, but keep in mind that those cours­es can improve crit­i­cal think­ing and com­mu­ni­ca­tion, both of which are vital in logistics.

Also, keep in mind that you may need to com­bine your cer­tifi­cate with oth­er fac­tors, like con­nec­tions and expe­ri­ence, to get a job in sup­ply chain management.

Relat­ed Rankings:

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Sup­ply Chain Management

15 Best Online Bach­e­lor’s in Sup­ply Chain Management

10 Most Afford­able Bach­e­lor’s in Sup­ply Chain Management

15 Best Engi­neer­ing Man­age­ment Bach­e­lor Degree Online