10 Most Affordable Bachelor’s in Supply Chain Management

Many stu­dents today are pay­ing their own way through school, and that’s espe­cial­ly true of work­ing adults in the sup­ply chain and logis­tics field, so find­ing an afford­able sup­ply chain man­age­ment degree can make a big difference. 

There are many dif­fer­ent ways to save mon­ey on a sup­ply chain man­age­ment degree. From look­ing for a cheap­er uni­ver­si­ty sup­ply chain man­age­ment degree pro­gram to apply­ing for schol­ar­ships and grants, you have options that will help you defray the costs of your edu­ca­tion. It’s impor­tant to find a degree that meets your edu­ca­tion­al needs. Once you know how much it will cost, you can begin look­ing for ways to pay for it. Many stu­dents choose to enroll in online degree pro­grams so they can find a job while they are fin­ish­ing their education.

You should also check into small­er region­al col­leges and com­mu­ni­ty col­leges. They are some­times cheap­er than the larg­er uni­ver­si­ties. If you are already work­ing, talk­ing to your employ­er about an employ­er reim­burse­ment pro­gram is also an option. Even though you may have to pay for your edu­ca­tion upfront, all you need to do is suc­cess­ful­ly pass each course and your employ­er will reim­burse you for all of your fees and edu­ca­tion­al expenses.

Methodology: Ranking the Most Affordable Supply Chain Management Degree Programs

The Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter rank­ing of the most afford­able sup­ply chain man­age­ment degree pro­grams presents pro­grams in order of tuition rate, based on cur­rent IPEDS data. How­ev­er, stu­dents want to know their degree will pay off, so we fea­ture only accred­it­ed, trust­ed col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties.

1. Middle Georgia State University

Mid­dle Geor­gia State Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS in Avi­a­tion — Logis­tics Man­age­ment that pre­pares stu­dents to engage in strate­gic plan­ning to move goods from one loca­tion to the oth­er, stor­age of inven­to­ries dur­ing their trans­porta­tion, and deliv­er­ing the goods to the cus­tomer. Class­es include Sup­ply Chain Man­age­ment, Trans­porta­tion, Appli­ca­tion of Tech­nol­o­gy in Logis­tics, Human Fac­tors, Reg­u­la­tions, and more. Stu­dents who live in Alaba­ma, Flori­da, North Car­oli­na, South Car­oli­na, and Ten­nessee can apply for an out-of-state waiv­er to pay tuition at an in-state rate.

Mid­dle Geor­gia State Uni­ver­si­ty is locat­ed in Macon, Geor­gia, and is a pub­lic uni­ver­si­ty that’s part of the Uni­ver­si­ty Sys­tem of Geor­gia. It offers pro­fes­sion­al cer­tifi­cates, asso­ciate, bach­e­lor’s, mas­ter’s, and doc­tor­ate degrees through its 17 depart­ments spread across six schools. The school’s sports teams par­tic­i­pate in the Nation­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Inter­col­le­giate Ath­let­ics (NAIA) and in the South­ern States Ath­let­ics Con­fer­ence (SSAC).

Degree: BS in Avi­a­tion — Logis­tics Management

Mid­dle Geor­gia State University

2. University of Washington — Seattle

The Depart­ment of Infor­ma­tion Sys­tems & Oper­a­tions Man­age­ment at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wash­ing­ton offers a BABA in Oper­a­tions and Sup­ply Chain Man­age­ment to all under­grad­u­ates and offers three cur­ricu­lums includ­ing one in Oper­a­tions and Sup­ply Chain Man­age­ment (OSCM). The objec­tive of the OSCM pro­gram is to teach stu­dents how to use an ana­lyt­i­cal and empir­i­cal approach to solv­ing prob­lems faced by the sup­ply chain indus­try. Under­grad­u­ates can select the OSCM pro­gram to incor­po­rate into their busi­ness degree. Stu­dents engage in class­es that include project man­age­ment, busi­ness ana­lyt­ics, inven­to­ry and sup­ply chain man­age­ment, and more.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Wash­ing­ton (UW or Wash­ing­ton) is a pub­lic flag­ship research uni­ver­si­ty with a space-grant and sea-grant affil­i­a­tion among oth­ers. It has a Carnegie Clas­si­fi­ca­tion of “R1: Doc­tor­al Uni­ver­si­ties — Very high research activ­i­ty”. The school is well known for its research in the health, engi­neer­ing and sci­en­tif­ic fields along with its high­ly com­pet­i­tive com­put­er sci­ence, engi­neer­ing, and busi­ness schools. Its ath­let­ics teams par­tic­i­pate in the NCAA Divi­sion I FBS — Pac-12 division.

Degree: BABA in Oper­a­tions and Sup­ply Chain Management

Uni­ver­si­ty of Washington

3. University of Texas at Dallas

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Texas at Dal­las offers a BS in Sup­ply Chain Man­age­ment through the Naveen Jin­dal School of Man­age­ment. The pro­gram is con­sid­ered as a source of grad­u­ates who go on to work as great prob­lem-solvers in the indus­try, and is ranked at 15 on the U.S. News & World Report under­grad­u­ate busi­ness pro­gram rank­ings. Stu­dents engage in an edu­ca­tion that instructs them in the art of prob­lem-solv­ing tech­niques in a wide range of posi­tions in the sup­ply chain indus­try. Some top­ics stu­dents learn about include sup­ply chain man­age­ment infor­ma­tion sys­tems, Lean and Six Sig­ma process­es, pur­chas­ing and con­tract man­age­ment, glob­al logis­tics and inven­to­ry man­age­ment, and more.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Texas at Dal­las (UTD) is the largest uni­ver­si­ty in The Uni­ver­si­ty of Texas Sys­tem, and began as a research divi­sion of Texas Instru­ments. The school has a Carnegie Clas­si­fi­ca­tion of “High­est Research Activ­i­ty” and fea­tures research in Space Sci­ence, Behav­ioral and Brain Sci­ences, Cyber­se­cu­ri­ty, Bio­engi­neer­ing and more. The school’s ath­let­ics teams par­tic­i­pate in the NCAA Divi­sion III — Amer­i­can South­west Con­fer­ence and also fea­tures an Esports program.

Degree: BS in Sup­ply Chain Management

Uni­ver­si­ty of Texas at Dallas

4. Murray State University

Mur­ray State Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BSB in Logis­tics and Sup­ply Chain Man­age­ment through its Arthur J. Bauern­feld Col­lege of Busi­ness. The pro­gram pre­pares stu­dents to coor­di­nate and man­age the flow of mate­ri­als, sup­plies, prod­ucts and infor­ma­tion among dif­fer­ent orga­ni­za­tions involved in a sup­ply chain. Stu­dents fol­low a course of study that com­bines core busi­ness class­es as they relate to the field of sup­ply chain man­age­ment. Suc­cess­ful com­ple­tion of the pro­gram will qual­i­fy stu­dents to work in careers such as logis­tics man­ag­er, oper­a­tions man­ag­er, sup­ply chain man­ag­er, and logis­tics analyst.

Mur­ray State Uni­ver­si­ty (MSU) is a pub­lic research uni­ver­si­ty locat­ed in Mur­ray, Ken­tucky. It fea­tures a space-grant affil­i­a­tion and offers under­grad­u­ate cer­tifi­cates, asso­ciate degrees, bach­e­lor’s degrees, grad­u­ate cer­tifi­cates, mas­ter’s degrees and spe­cial­ist pro­grams, and doc­tor­al degree pro­grams. MSU has mul­ti­ple col­leges offer­ing edu­ca­tions in sci­ence, engi­neer­ing, agri­cul­ture, tech­nol­o­gy, nurs­ing, busi­ness and more. Its ath­let­ics teams par­tic­i­pate in the NCAA Divi­sion I — OVC conference.

Degree: BSB in Logis­tics and Sup­ply Chain Management

Mur­ray State University

5. University of West Florida

The Uni­ver­si­ty of West Flori­da offers a BSBA in Sup­ply Chain Logis­tics Man­age­ment that pre­pares stu­dents to work in the com­plex world of glob­al sup­ply chain and logis­tics man­age­ment. The pro­gram teach­es stu­dents the core knowl­edge they need to under­stand and com­pre­hend their role as a sup­ply chain and logis­tics man­ag­er. Course­work is designed to expose stu­dents to top­ics such as logis­tics strat­e­gy, freight for­ward­ing, inter­modal logis­tics, export freight man­age­ment and more. Stu­dents also engage in col­lab­o­ra­tions with pro­fes­sion­als who work in indus­tries such as bev­er­age dis­tri­b­u­tion, man­u­fac­tur­ing, port man­age­ment and more for an insight into how real-world logis­tics man­agers do their work.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of West Flori­da (UWF) is a pub­lic uni­ver­si­ty and is part of the State Uni­ver­si­ty Sys­tem of Flori­da. The school fea­tures a space-grant affil­i­a­tion and overs over 110 cer­tifi­cates, minors, majors, and grad­u­ate pro­grams through­out its five col­leges. The school has a strong research com­po­nent and has a pro­gram to send stu­dents abroad in search of infor­ma­tion. The school’s ath­let­ic teams par­tic­i­pate in the NCAA Divi­sion II — Gulf South division.

Degree: BSBA in Sup­ply Chain Logis­tics Management

Uni­ver­si­ty of West Florida

6. Purdue University

The Kran­nert School of Man­age­ment at Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS in Sup­ply Chain Infor­ma­tion and Ana­lyt­ics designed for stu­dents who are inter­est­ed in solv­ing prob­lems and want to make a career out of it. Stu­dents learn how to han­dle the col­lec­tion of data and how to ana­lyze it in use of cre­at­ing greater effi­cien­cies in logis­tics. Upon grad­u­a­tion, stu­dents will have exper­tise in sup­ply chains and oper­a­tions and their man­age­ment. An inter­na­tion­al expe­ri­ence is avail­able for stu­dents who want to learn more about glob­al sup­ply chains and analytics.

Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty is the flag­ship cam­pus of the Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty sys­tem and fea­tures a sea-grant and space-grant affil­i­a­tion. It holds a Carnegie Clas­si­fi­ca­tion of “R1: Doc­tor­al Uni­ver­si­ties — Very high research activ­i­ty.” Its alum­ni have gone on to earn pres­ti­gious awards includ­ing Nobel lau­re­ates, Tur­ing Award, Pulitzer Prize, Nation­al Medal of Tech­nol­o­gy and Inno­va­tion, Pres­i­den­tial Medal of Free­dom, and many have gone on to hold polit­i­cal office. The school’s ath­let­ic teams par­tic­i­pate in the NCAA Divi­sion 1 — Big Ten conference.

Degree: BS in Sup­ply Chain Infor­ma­tion and Analytics

Pur­due University

7. University of North Carolina at Charlotte

The Uni­ver­si­ty of North Car­oli­na at Char­lotte offers a BSBA in Oper­a­tions and Sup­ply Chain Man­age­ment through its Belk Col­lege of Busi­ness. The BSBA degree pro­gram teach­es stu­dents how to use infor­ma­tion and resources to ensure the deliv­ery of goods and sup­plies from point A to point B and beyond. Stu­dents gain skills and knowl­edge in the areas of oper­a­tions and sup­ply chain tech­nol­o­gy, man­age day-to-day oper­a­tions, sched­ul­ing equip­ment and per­son­nel, man­age inven­to­ry, and work with sup­pli­ers. Upon grad­u­a­tion, stu­dents are qual­i­fied to work as secu­ri­ty super­vi­sors, risk ana­lysts, qual­i­ty con­trol offi­cer, inven­to­ry man­ag­er, mate­ri­als con­troller, and more.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of North Car­oli­na at Char­lotte (UNC Char­lotte) is a pub­lic research uni­ver­si­ty and is part of the Uni­ver­si­ty of North Car­oli­na Sys­tem. It has a Carnegie Clas­si­fi­ca­tion of “R2: Doc­tor­al Uni­ver­si­ties — High research activ­i­ty”. The school offers 79 bach­e­lor’s, 66 mas­ter’s, and 24 doc­tor­al degree pro­grams. The school enrolls about 62,000 stu­dents each aca­d­e­m­ic semes­ter, and is the sec­ond-largest school in the sys­tem in terms of enroll­ment. The school’s ath­let­ic teams par­tic­i­pate in the NCAA Divi­sion I — C‑USA.

Degree: BSBA in Oper­a­tions and Sup­ply Chain Management

Uni­ver­si­ty of North Car­oli­na at Charlotte

8. University of Wisconsin-Whitewater

The Col­lege of Busi­ness at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin White­wa­ter offers an Eco­nom­ics BBA in Sup­ply Chain and Oper­a­tions Man­age­ment pro­gram that teach­es stu­dents how to employ indus­try tech­nol­o­gy, how to plan, solve prob­lems, and com­mu­ni­cate. Stu­dents have the option to tai­lor their degree and their emphases in the area of sup­ply chain and oper­a­tions man­age­ment in areas that include project man­age­ment, logis­tics ana­lyt­ics, and glob­al sourc­ing. The pro­gram offers intern­ships, career ser­vices, and the pro­gram has a 100% place­ment rate for stu­dents with­in six months of graduation.

Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin-White­wa­ter is pat of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin Sys­tem, and offers 47 under­grad­u­ate degrees and 13 grad­u­ate pro­grams. It enrolls around 12,000 stu­dents each aca­d­e­m­ic year who are in pur­suit of a degree from one of the six col­leges on cam­pus. The col­leges include: Col­lege of Arts and Com­mu­ni­ca­tion, Col­lege of Busi­ness and Eco­nom­ics, Col­lege of Edu­ca­tion and Pro­fes­sion­al Stud­ies, Col­lege of Let­ters and Sci­ences, Col­lege of Inte­grat­ed Stud­ies, and the School of Grad­u­ate Studies.

Degree: BBA in Sup­ply Chain and Oper­a­tions Management

Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin Whitewater

9. Indiana University — Bloomington

The Kel­ly School of Busi­ness at Indi­ana Uni­ver­si­ty — Bloom­ing­ton offers a BSB — Oper­a­tions or Sup­ply Chain Man­age­ment degree con­cen­tra­tion in the Oper­a­tions & Deci­sions Tech­nolo­gies depart­ment. Stu­dents are required to declare a major in either Oper­a­tions Man­age­ment or Sup­ply Chain Man­age­ment, but are not allowed to declare them in con­junc­tion with one anoth­er. The pro­gram is a 21 cred­it hour major and cours­es are tak­en at the 300/400 lev­els. Both con­cen­tra­tions pre­pare stu­dents to work in the sup­ply chain field, but each con­cen­tra­tion has a dif­fer­ent focus in terms of the type of employ­ment a grad­u­ate will seek out.

Indi­ana Uni­ver­si­ty Bloom­ing­ton (IU Bloom­ing­ton or IU) is the flag­ship cam­pus of the Indi­ana pub­lic uni­ver­si­ty sys­tem and is known for its research activ­i­ties. It has a Carnegie Clas­si­fi­ca­tion of “R1: Doc­tor­al Uni­ver­si­ties — Very high research activ­i­ty”, and has a space-grant affil­i­a­tion. Alum­ni and staff at the school include nine Nobel lau­re­ates, 17 Rhodes schol­ars, 17 Mar­shall Schol­ars, and five MacArthur fel­lows. The schools sports teams par­tic­i­pate in the NCAA Divi­sion I — Big Ten conference.

Degree: BSB — Oper­a­tions and Sup­ply Chain Management

Indi­ana University

10. East Carolina University

East Car­oli­na Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS in Indus­tri­al Dis­tri­b­u­tion and Logis­tics pro­gram that com­bines expe­ri­ence in a lab set­ting with class­room edu­ca­tion to pre­pare stu­dents to work effec­tive­ly as a sup­ply chain man­ag­er. Stu­dents who suc­cess­ful­ly com­plete the pro­gram will be pre­pared to step into an indus­try that’s in need of trained pro­fes­sion­als with a broad base of skills. The Indus­tri­al Dis­tri­b­u­tion Sim­u­la­tion Lab­o­ra­to­ry gives stu­dents hands-on expe­ri­ence with solv­ing prob­lems that are sim­i­lar to ones they will face in a real-world set­ting. Top­ics cov­ered by the course include sup­ply chain man­age­ment, ware­hous­ing, indus­tri­al sales, inven­to­ry man­age­ment, strate­gic pric­ing and purchasing.

East Car­oli­na Uni­ver­si­ty (ECU) is a pub­lic research uni­ver­si­ty and is the fourth largest uni­ver­si­ty in North Car­oli­na. It fea­tures a Carnegie Clas­si­fi­ca­tion of “R2: Doc­tor­al Uni­ver­si­ties — High research activ­i­ty” and a sea-grant affil­i­a­tion. The school offers bach­e­lor’s, mas­ter’s, and doc­tor­ate degrees. ECU is home to four his­tor­i­cal­ly black soror­i­ties, five his­tor­i­cal­ly black fra­ter­ni­ties, one Native Amer­i­can fra­ter­ni­ty, and one Native Amer­i­can soror­i­ty. The ath­let­ics teams par­tic­i­pate in the NCAA Divi­sion I (FBS) — The Amer­i­can Ath­let­ic Conference.

Degree: BS in Indus­tri­al Dis­tri­b­u­tion and Logistics

East Car­oli­na University

Can I Get a Supply Chain Management Degree for Free?

You can get a sup­ply chain man­age­ment degree for free if you know what schol­ar­ships and grants to apply for. Schol­ar­ships and grants are offered to stu­dents who meet the eli­gi­bil­i­ty require­ments. Many uni­ver­si­ties offer schol­ar­ships for stu­dents who fall into spe­cif­ic guide­lines. Grants are nor­mal­ly offered by larg­er orga­ni­za­tions or cor­po­ra­tions to stu­dents who are able to meet strict cri­te­ria and are will­ing to com­mit to their education.

Anoth­er way to get your edu­ca­tion for free is to have your employ­er pay for it. By work­ing with your employ­er to devel­op an employ­er reim­burse­ment pro­gram, you will be able to earn your degree at lit­tle to no cost to you. While you will have to pay your tuition and fees up front, you will be reim­bursed for those expens­es once you com­plete each course and pro­vide your employ­er with your tran­script that shows you passed suc­cess­ful­ly. There may be a few expens­es you must pay for on your own, but the major­i­ty of your edu­ca­tion will be covered.

What are Some Entry-Level Jobs in Supply Chain Management?

Sup­ply chain man­age­ment involves many dif­fer­ent types of work. Trans­porta­tion jobs such as dis­patch­ing, logis­tics, and deliv­ery ser­vices are all impor­tant. Many of these occu­pa­tions have entry-lev­el posi­tions that will allow you to get a job and start to learn the ropes and gain the expe­ri­ence you will need to keep mov­ing for­ward. With many online degree pro­grams, you can con­tin­ue to work and go to school at the same time. This gives you the flex­i­bil­i­ty to take new employ­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties as they come along.

Ship­ping and receiv­ing posi­tions are some­times con­sid­ered to be entry-lev­el, but you will have more of an oppor­tu­ni­ty for advance­ment. Ship­ping and receiv­ing allows you to learn the more intri­cate oper­a­tions that take place pri­or to a ship­ment being trans­port­ed. It involves fill­ing the orders, load­ing and unload­ing, as well as being respon­si­ble for the var­i­ous types of paper­work that is involved with trans­port­ing dif­fer­ent types of prod­ucts. Learn­ing this side of the sup­ply chain busi­ness is essen­tial if you want to be successful.

How Much Can I Make Right Out of School?

If you have been work­ing in an entry-lev­el posi­tion, earn­ing a Bach­e­lor’s degree in sup­ply chain man­age­ment will allow you to earn between $60,000 and $80,000, depend­ing on the lev­el of expe­ri­ence you bring to the table. If you have been attend­ing school online and work­ing at the same time, the expe­ri­ence you gain will be extreme­ly valu­able. It can make the dif­fer­ence between start­ing at the low end of the scale or being offered a much high­er wage.

As part of your wages, you may be offered prof­it-shar­ing options or bonus­es at the end of the year. By com­plet­ing a sup­ply chain man­age­ment degree pro­gram, you will be able to move ahead faster and stay ahead of the crowd who are look­ing to advance. The more edu­ca­tion and expe­ri­ence you have, the bet­ter off you will be. Return­ing to school to com­plete your edu­ca­tion is an option that will serve you well over time. Even if you have a Bach­e­lor’s degree, there is still much more you can learn to help you get ahead. A cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­gram will help you learn new tech­no­log­i­cal advance­ments that will ben­e­fit you at your cur­rent job. It may even give you a boost in terms of new opportunities.

Relat­ed Rankings:

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Sup­ply Chain Management

15 Best Online Bach­e­lor’s in Sup­ply Chain Management

10 Fastest Online Bach­e­lor’s in Sup­ply Chain Management

15 Best Engi­neer­ing Man­age­ment Bach­e­lor Degree Online