10 Most Affordable Bachelor’s in Mathematics

Stu­dents inter­est­ed in a career in math­e­mat­ics may wor­ry about the price of earn­ing a math­e­mat­ics degree. For­tu­nate­ly, there are ways to min­i­mize the expense with an afford­able math degree. For one, a per­son should look for the cheap­est online math degree. Find­ing the cheap­est online math degree is as sim­ple as doing a search. Stu­dents look at the tuition rates for each one of the schools and com­pare to find the cheap­est online math degree. Small­er, region­al pub­lic uni­ver­si­ties and col­leges often offer the best tuition rates, while many small pri­vate col­leges, espe­cial­ly Chris­t­ian col­leges, are mak­ing afford­abil­i­ty at priority.

Once a per­son choos­es, a per­son can fur­ther reduce the cost by apply­ing for state and fed­er­al grants. This is free mon­ey toward a degree as long as a per­son com­pletes his or her degree. Some­one may also look into schol­ar­ships through the school and pri­vate orga­ni­za­tions. It’s also pos­si­ble to apply for grants through pri­vate orga­ni­za­tions as well. Anoth­er option is to look into tuition reim­burse­ment through a per­son­’s employer.

Methodology: How We Ranked the Most Affordable Mathematics Degree Programs

Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter takes pride in fea­tur­ing rep­utable insti­tu­tions, and for the rank­ing of the most afford­able degrees, only accred­it­ed, trust­ed col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties were con­sid­ered. For the actu­al rank­ing, though, one fac­tor is key — cost, as report­ed by IPEDS.

1. University of Missouri-St. Louis

Uni­ver­si­ty of Mis­souri St. Louis offers one of the most afford­able math degree options in under­grad­u­ate stud­ies paired with a high-qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion. Col­lege Fac­tion rates UMSL in the #14 slots of Best Col­leges for the Mon­ey in Mis­souri. UMSL’s Bachelor’s in Math­e­mat­ics is not only afford­able but it is also offered as one of the few accel­er­at­ed class­es in the metro St. Louis’ area for math­e­mat­ics. When stu­dents start to take the upper-class cred­its, they can mod­i­fy their degree to include their par­tic­u­lar inter­ests whether it be sta­tis­tics, com­put­er sci­ence or mathematics.

UMSL was found­ed in 1963 in the North­side of St. Louis. UMSL ranks as the #281 Best Nation­al Uni­ver­si­ty in US News & World Reports. St. Louis is locat­ed on the banks of the Mis­sis­sip­pi, bor­der­ing Illi­nois. In-state tuition is con­sid­ered a high val­ue, while out-of-state tuition dou­bles unless you are from Illi­nois where you get a 1.65% dis­count per cred­it hour, due to the prox­im­i­ty to St. Louis. Dead­line to apply to UMSL is sim­ple and done on a semes­ter basis. Next dead­line for 2020 is August 19th.

Degree: Math­e­mat­ics, BS

2. Arizona State University

Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty School of Math­e­mat­i­cal and Sta­tis­ti­cal Sci­ences is locat­ed in Tempe, AZ where they offer one of the most afford­able BA degrees in math­e­mat­ics. ASU is #1 uni­ver­si­ty in inno­va­tion accord­ing to US News & World Reports, and their afford­able math degree shows that with their options for stu­dents inter­est­ed in careers in glob­al busi­ness, requir­ing a good under­stand­ing of engi­neer­ing, life sci­ences, eco­nom­ics, and a for­eign language.

ASU is a pub­lic met­ro­pol­i­tan research uni­ver­si­ty with five cam­pus­es locat­ed across Phoenix that was found­ed in 1885. In 2019, ASU was esti­mat­ed to have over 90,000 cam­pus stu­dents and 38,000 online stu­dents, mak­ing it one of the largest uni­ver­si­ties in the US. The school is orga­nized into 17 col­leges with 350 degree options. They rank high in sev­er­al areas with US News & World Reports: #117 Nation­al Uni­ver­si­ties, #145 Best Val­ue, #1 Most Inno­v­a­tive, #53 Top Pub­lic Schools, and #147 Top Per­form­ers in Social Mobility.

Degree: Math­e­mat­ics BA, BS

Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty Math­e­mat­ics BA, BS

3. West Virginia University

West Vir­ginia Uni­ver­si­ty offers both a BA and BS in Math­e­mat­ics as an afford­able math degree on cam­pus. They take a STEM path­way with an area of empha­sis in Actu­ar­i­al Sci­ences. Their approach is very strate­gic in mak­ing a well-round­ed under­grad degree in math with a year of for­eign lan­guage, elec­tives, and cal­cu­lus. Sec­ond year intro­duces prob­a­bil­i­ty and sta­tis­tics with con­cepts in math­e­mat­ics. In your third and fourth year, while you start your inde­pen­dent study in an area that match­es your career, you will be intro­duced to math­e­mat­i­cal con­cepts as they apply to the glob­al world and diver­si­ty. This makes it an ide­al degree to enter every sec­tor of the world.

West Vir­ginia Uni­ver­si­ty was found­ed in 1867 as a pub­lic insti­tu­tion and now has an enroll­ment of close to 30,000 stu­dents total. It is in a small sub­ur­ban set­ting with a semes­ter-based cal­en­dar along the Monon­ga­hela Riv­er in the north­ern part of the state. The tuition is one of the low­est in-state tuitions that you can find while still attend­ing one of the Best Nation­al Uni­ver­si­ties, rank­ing at #228 with US New & World Reports.

Degree: Mathematics,BS & BA

4. North Carolina A&T University

North Car­oli­na A&T Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS in Math­e­mat­ics that is one of the most afford­able math­e­mat­ics degree options in the US. The BS in Pure Math­e­mat­ics is built from thou­sands of years in tra­di­tion­al math­e­mat­ics and insight to new meth­ods and for­mu­las. The afford­able math degree is designed specif­i­cal­ly for those that want a chal­leng­ing math degree that stud­ies the­o­ries and the works of math. Stu­dents inter­est­ed in seek­ing grad­u­ate degrees in math­e­mat­ics are ide­al for this pro­gram. The degree includes 60 hours in math, with com­put­er pro­gram­ming and a semes­ter of sci­ence. Stu­dents must main­tain an over­all GPA of 2.3.

North Car­oli­na A&T is a pub­lic research uni­ver­si­ty found­ed in 1890. It is the first col­lege for African Amer­i­cans in North Car­oli­na, orig­i­nal­ly offer­ing agri­cul­ture, hor­ti­cul­ture, and math­e­mat­ics as majors. With a stu­dent pop­u­la­tion of close to 13,000+ stu­dents, it is the largest his­tor­i­cal­ly black uni­ver­si­ty in Amer­i­ca. US News & World Report rec­og­nizes the uni­ver­si­ty as the 7th best HBCU and the 1st among pub­lic uni­ver­si­ties. Col­lege Fac­tu­al ranks it as the #11 Most Afford­able Col­lege in North Carolina.

Degree: Math­e­mat­ics, BS

North Car­oli­na A&T Uni­ver­si­ty Math­e­mat­ics, BS

5. Ferris State University

Fer­ris State Uni­ver­si­ty offers one of Michigan’s most afford­able math­e­mat­ics degree paths avail­able. Stu­dents choose from five dif­fer­ent con­cen­tra­tions, includ­ing Applied Math­e­mat­ics, Oper­a­tions Research, Sta­tis­tics, Com­put­er Sci­ence, and Actu­ar­i­al Sci­ence. The afford­able math degree offered on cam­pus at Fer­ris is known for its over­all appli­ca­tion in a career of your choice because of how well-round­ed it is for most busi­ness­es and industries.

Fer­ris State Uni­ver­si­ty was found­ed in Big Rapids, MI in 1884 as a pub­lic research uni­ver­si­ty. Big Rapids is a small­er col­lege town known for its lib­er­al col­lege envi­ron­ment and being just an hour away from Grand Rapids’ larg­er met­ro­pol­i­tan area. Student/faculty ratio is low at 16:1 and close to 15,000 stu­dents at all cam­pus loca­tions and online. The teach­ers are known for being high­ly-qual­i­fied pro­fes­sion­al instruc­tors rather than grad­u­ate stu­dents and many have grad­u­at­ed with a doc­tor­ate in edu­ca­tion from FSU. FSU is rat­ed the #209th Best Col­leges for Your Mon­ey in the US. Fun Fact: their ice hock­ey team is in the NCAA Divi­sion I and is one of the biggest sport­ing events in the area.

Degree: Applied Math­e­mat­ics, BS

Fer­ris State Uni­ver­si­ty Applied Math­e­mat­ics, BS

6. Oakland University

Oak­land Uni­ver­si­ty offers an afford­able math­e­mat­ics degree in one of their largest depart­ments of study: Math­e­mat­ics & Sta­tis­ti­cal Skills. Oak­land offers con­cen­tra­tions in oper­a­tions research, applied math­e­mat­ics, applied sta­tis­tics, sec­ondary edu­ca­tion, and ele­men­tary edu­ca­tion. Stu­dents may choose between an afford­able math degree on-cam­pus pro­gram for a BA or BS in math, which is eas­i­ly com­bined with a sec­ondary teach­ing certificate.

Oak­land Uni­ver­si­ty is a pub­lic research uni­ver­si­ty locat­ed in the sub­ur­ban town of Rochester, MI just 30 miles north­west of Detroit. The uni­ver­si­ty was found­ed in 1957 by Dodge heiress Matil­da Dodge Wil­son. Dodge also donat­ed the 4th largest man­sion in the US, which is a Nation­al His­toric Land­mark and one of America’s most pop­u­lar cas­tles. Oakland’s ath­let­ic teams all com­plete in Div­sion I of the NCAA as the Gold­en Grizzlies.

Degree: Math­e­mat­ics, BS/BA

Oak­land Uni­ver­si­ty Math­e­mat­ics, BS/BA

7. Southeast Missouri State University

South­east Mis­souri State Uni­ver­si­ty offers an afford­able math­e­mat­ics degree in Pure Math­e­mat­ics through their BS on cam­pus. The degree is intend­ed to lead to grad­u­ate school or jobs in major indus­tries and gov­ern­ment orga­ni­za­tions. Stu­dents may choose con­cen­tra­tions in alge­bra, geom­e­try, dis­crete math, or prob­a­bil­i­ty & sta­tis­tics. The fac­ul­ty pro­vides plen­ty of oppor­tu­ni­ties to do research work with them and inter­act in study groups. All Math majors are encour­aged to join the Math Club and com­pete in the Mis­souri Col­le­giate Math­e­mat­ics Com­pe­ti­tion or the Put­nam Exam.

SEMO is a pub­lic insti­tu­tion that was found­ed in 1873 as a nor­mal school in Cape Girardeau, MO. Cape Girardeau is locat­ed between Mem­phis and St. Louis in a sub­ur­ban set­ting along the Mis­sis­sip­pi Riv­er. First Lady Lau­ra Bush named it a Pre­serve Amer­i­ca Com­mu­ni­ty. SEMO is known for both being a great par­ty col­lege that is safe and being a con­ser­v­a­tive col­lege at the same time. Stu­dent enroll­ment is at 11,000 stu­dents. It is one of the most afford­able math degree val­ues on the list with plen­ty of career oppor­tu­ni­ties to stem from the degree both in town and near­by. It is ranked #16 in Top Pub­lic Schools and #290 out of 1500 uni­ver­si­ties as Best Nation­wide Col­leges for Your Money.

Degree: Pure Math­e­mat­ics, BS

South­east Mis­souri State Uni­ver­si­ty Pure Math­e­mat­ics, BS

8. Florida International University

Flori­da Inter­na­tion­al Uni­ver­si­ty School of Inte­grat­ed Sci­ence and Human­i­ties in Mia­mi, FL offers one of the most afford­able math­e­mat­ics degrees in the US. The on-cam­pus degree offers sev­er­al tracks for deep­er stud­ies and grad­u­ate school, includ­ing com­pre­hen­sive math, applied math, biol­o­gy, busi­ness, chem­istry, com­put­er sci­ence, eco­nom­ics, and physics. Upon admit­tance, stu­dents are accept­ed into their choice of majors.

FIU is a pub­lic space-grant research uni­ver­si­ty that was found­ed in Mia­mi, FL in 1965. The cam­pus is the largest in South Flori­da and 2nd largest in Flori­da, and the 4th largest in enroll­ment in the US. The research uni­ver­si­ty has a Very High Research by the Carnegie Foun­da­tion for the Advance­ment of Teach­ing clas­si­fi­ca­tion. It is con­sid­ered the 105th Best Uni­ver­si­ty in the US by US News and ranked in the top 500 of Most Afford­able Uni­ver­si­ties in the US with a high return of val­ue in career advancement.

Degree: Math­e­mat­ics, BS

Flori­da Inter­na­tion­al Uni­ver­si­ty Math­e­mat­ics, BS

9. Stephen F. Austin State University

Stephen F. Austin State Uni­ver­si­ty offers afford­able math­e­mat­ics degree options known for lead­ing to careers in sci­ence, engi­neer­ing, social sci­ence, and finance. SFA’s Math Depart­ment prizes ana­lyt­i­cal think­ing skills in all fields of human endeav­or. Stu­dents must com­plete 45 col­lege cred­its with a 2.0 GPA to be admit­ted into the Col­lege of Sci­ences and Math­e­mat­ics degree plan for a BS in Math­e­mat­ics on cam­pus. SFU’s under­grad­u­ate math­e­mat­ics degree is con­sid­ered Top 400 of Best Col­leges for Your Mon­ey by Col­lege Faction.

SFU is an inde­pen­dent pub­lic insti­tu­tion found­ed in 1923 in the old­est town in Texas–Nacogdoches. They oper­ate on a semes­ter-based cal­en­dar with above-aver­age sup­port and free tutor­ing for all stu­dents. Stu­dent pop­u­la­tion is 11,500+ and is con­sid­ered an extreme­ly good val­ue for the qual­i­ty of edu­ca­tion and tuition.

Degree: Math­e­mat­ics, BS

Stephen F. Austin State Uni­ver­si­ty Math­e­mat­ics, BS

10. Sam Houston State University

Sam Hous­ton State Uni­ver­si­ty is known for offer­ing one of the most com­plete and afford­able degrees in math­e­mat­ics on cam­pus in a BS or BA. Stu­dents explor­ing a degree in math­e­mat­ics must include a sug­gest­ed minor such as biol­o­gy, physics, com­put­er sci­ence, music, sta­tis­ti­cal the­o­ry, sta­tis­ti­cal meth­ods, chem­istry, or eco­nom­ics. Intern­ships oppor­tu­ni­ties are with some top research projects in the world, includ­ing NASA, Nation­al Secu­ri­ty Agency, and the oil indus­try. Stu­dent reten­tion is good with a high per­cent­age of stu­dents seek­ing grad­u­ate degrees.

SHSU or Sam is a pub­lic uni­ver­si­ty found­ed in 1879. It is rat­ed in the Top 200 of Best Col­leges for Your Mon­ey by Col­lege Fac­tion and top 300 Pub­lic Uni­ver­si­ties in US News & World Reports. They offer over 80 under­grad­u­ate degrees, 59 mas­ters, and 10 doc­tor­al pro­grams. Stu­dent pop­u­la­tion is around 20,500 and has a student/teacher ratio of 20:1. Their accep­tance rate is 74%.

Degree: Math­e­mat­ics, BS, BA

Sam Hous­ton State Uni­ver­si­ty Math­e­mat­ics BS or BA

Is Mathematics a Good Career?

A per­son may won­der if math­e­mat­ics is a good degree choice. For­tu­nate­ly, there are var­i­ous careers for a math major. Some careers for a math major may include an actu­ary, finan­cial plan­ner, sta­tis­ti­cian, invest­ment ana­lyst, or a math­e­mati­cian. Besides careers for math majors in finance, peo­ple may also find careers for a math major in the edu­ca­tion field. Indi­vid­u­als can find careers for math majors teach­ing math at a pri­ma­ry or sec­ondary edu­ca­tion lev­el, or a per­son may even be able to find teach­ing jobs in col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties if they obtain a master’s.

Many of these careers are grow­ing in num­ber, so peo­ple will eas­i­ly be able to find a career after school. Plus, some of them have a high pay rate, and a per­son can obtain a high salary with only hav­ing a bach­e­lor’s degree. Fur­ther­ing a per­son­’s edu­ca­tion in math­e­mat­ics can mean even high­er pay­ing jobs, and the poten­tial to teach math­e­mat­ics in a col­lege or university.

When com­par­ing the dif­fer­ent careers in math­e­mat­ics, a per­son should under­stand that many of the careers in math­e­mat­ics are expect­ed to grow over the course of the next eight years. This means there’s more poten­tial to find jobs with a math­e­mat­ics degree. Ulti­mate­ly, this means job sta­bil­i­ty for indi­vid­u­als who choose to earn a mas­ter’s degree in mathematics.

How Much Can I Make with a Bachelor’s in Mathematics?

Before com­plet­ing school, a per­son may won­der about the aver­age math majors salary. A math major salary varies great­ly depend­ing on the field a per­son choos­es as well as if a per­son decides to earn a grad­u­ate degree after obtain­ing his or her master’s.

An actu­ary, for exam­ple, only requires a per­son to have a bach­e­lor’s. The math majors salary for this career is an aver­age of $102,880 per year, as report­ed by the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics (BLS). This the same as $49.46 per hour.
The math major salary for a finan­cial advi­sor is $88,890 per year, which is the same as $42.73 per hour. This math majors salary is pos­si­ble with only hav­ing a bach­e­lor’s degree.

As men­tioned above, a per­son may become an econ­o­mist with a math degree. How­ev­er, a per­son needs to obtain a mas­ter’s degree to find jobs as an econ­o­mist. The math major salary for this degree is $104,345 per year, which is equal to $50.16 per hour.

Math major salaries for sta­tis­ti­cians and math­e­mati­cians are usu­al­ly around $88,190 annu­al­ly or $42.40 per hour. To earn these math major salaries though, a per­son usu­al­ly needs to have at least a mas­ter’s degree.

A math major may go into teach­ing, as not­ed above. The math major salaries for a pri­ma­ry school teacher is $57,980 per year. A math major jobs salary is high­er for those who teach in schools as pro­fes­sors. Post-sec­ondary teach­ers’ math major jobs salary is much high­er. A per­son earns an aver­age of $78,470 per year in one of these positions.

Will a Certification in Mathematics Help My Career?

A per­son may won­der if a cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in math­e­mat­ics will help their career. For­tu­nate­ly, it’s pos­si­ble to earn a math­e­mat­ics cer­ti­fi­ca­tion online. Often, a math­e­mat­ics cer­ti­fi­ca­tion online isn’t very expen­sive, espe­cial­ly when con­sid­er­ing the price of a degree.

First and fore­most, there are var­i­ous options to choose from when look­ing into a cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in math­e­mat­ics. A per­son can choose a cer­ti­fi­ca­tion in math­e­mat­ics to spe­cial­ize in a par­tic­u­lar area, which can open cer­tain career paths.
Some­times, a math­e­mat­ics cer­ti­fi­ca­tion is nec­es­sary to obtain a cer­tain job.

Besides get­ting a math­e­mat­ics cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, a per­son can chose to earn a teach­ing cer­tifi­cate. This qual­i­fies a per­son to teach math­e­mat­ics. Mid­dle school and high school teach­ing jobs are avail­able with a teach­ing cer­tifi­cate and a math­e­mat­ics degree. Even posi­tions teach­ing fourth and fifth grade are pos­si­ble with a teach­ing cer­tifi­cate and a math­e­mat­ics degree.

To work as a pro­fes­sor, a per­son does­n’t need a teach­ing cer­tifi­cate. How­ev­er, a per­son does need to under­go spe­cial­ized train­ing to teach math­e­mat­ics at that level.

Relat­ed Rankings: 

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Mathematics

15 Best Online Bach­e­lor’s in Mathematics

10 Fastest Online Bach­e­lor’s in Mathematics

15 Best Online Actu­ary Degree