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These days, there’s a pletho­ra of ways to save mon­ey on a degree or pro­fes­sion­al train­ing pro­gram. Some of those ways are prac­ti­cal and day-to-day. How­ev­er, start­ing with afford­able train­ing and devel­op­ment degree pro­grams to begin with goes a long way toward ensur­ing a stu­dent can save mon­ey while also receiv­ing a qual­i­ty education.

One major way to cut costs is to find afford­able train­ing and devel­op­ment degree pro­grams online. An online degree pro­gram is typ­i­cal­ly more afford­able under many cir­cum­stances. This isn’t always the case, but odds are it’s eas­i­er for an appli­cant to find a less cost­ly online pro­gram than one that takes place in a more tra­di­tion­al setting.

Related:

Methodology: Ranking the Most Affordable Training and Development Degree Programs

The Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter rank­ing of the most afford­able train­ing and devel­op­ment degree pro­grams online fea­tures accred­it­ed, legit­i­mate col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties. Pro­grams are pre­sent­ed in order of tuition cost, using cur­rent IPEDS data.

1. Louisiana State University

Louisiana State Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS in Learn­ing Expe­ri­ence Design and Inno­va­tion (LXDI), which is among the most afford­able train­ing and devel­op­ment degree pro­grams in Louisiana and the south­ern US. This 120 cred­it bachelor’s pro­gram can be com­plet­ed entire­ly online and include these cut­ting edge class­es ‑Elearn­ing Expe­ri­ence Design, prin­ci­ples of human resource, adult learn­ing, work­er stress, and health and applied lead­er­ship, to name a few. Poten­tial careers for grad­u­ates include learn­ing spe­cial­ists, instruc­tion­al design­ers, and edu­ca­tion­al admin­is­tra­tors, among others.

Louisiana State Uni­ver­si­ty (LSU) was estab­lished in 1853 as a sem­i­nary of learn­ing for the state. The university’s Baton Rouge cam­pus along the Mis­sis­sip­pi Riv­er and online plat­form serve more than 23,150 stu­dents each year.

What We Like: Louisiana State Uni­ver­si­ty oper­ates as the state’s flag­ship cam­pus and space, sea, and land-grant high­er learn­ing institution.

Degree: BS in Learn­ing Expe­ri­ence Design and Innovation

Louisiana State University

2. University of North Carolina at Greensboro

The Uni­ver­si­ty of North Car­oli­na at Greens­boro offers a BS in Human Devel­op­ment & Fam­i­ly Stud­ies that can be fin­ished 100% online – most­ly asyn­chro­nous­ly. Appli­cants to UNC’s afford­able train­ing and devel­op­ment degree pro­grams must hold an Asso­ciate of Applied Sci­ence degree from an accred­it­ed North Car­oli­na com­mu­ni­ty col­lege. US News and World Report rank UNC’s human devel­op­ment pro­gram among the best in the nation. Sam­ple class­es include fam­i­lies and close rela­tion­ships, issues in par­ent­ing, and fam­i­ly diver­si­ty, among others.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of North Car­oli­na at Greens­boro was char­tered as a teacher’s train­ing and indus­tri­al school in the ear­ly 1890s. UNC’s Greensboro’s urban cam­pus and online plat­form is home to more than 19,550 under­grad­u­ate and post­grad­u­ate students.

What We Like: UNCG is orga­nized into ten colleges/schools offer­ing pro­grams in nurs­ing, health, per­form­ing arts, busi­ness, nanoscience, edu­ca­tion, and art/sciences, among others.

Degree: BS in Human Devel­op­ment and Fam­i­ly Studies

Uni­ver­si­ty of North Car­oli­na at Greensboro 

3. Granite State College

Gran­ite State Col­lege offers a BS in Applied Stud­ies in Edu­ca­tion and Train­ing that has been designed for stu­dents who already hold an asso­ci­at­ed degree in an applied field. Stu­dents grad­u­at­ing from GSC’s afford­able train­ing and devel­op­ment degree pro­grams find reward­ing careers as a facil­i­ty edu­ca­tor, a senior train­ing spe­cial­ist, or a train­ing & devel­op­ment con­sul­tant. Fea­tured class­es include the learn­ing work­place, and teach­ing & learn­ing in adult­hood, to name a few.

Gran­ite State Col­lege is a mem­ber school of New Hampshire’s uni­ver­si­ty sys­tem that was found­ed in the ear­ly 1970s. Wash­ing­ton Month­ly has ranked Gran­ite State Col­lege among the top school in New Eng­land. The col­lege main­tains a sec­ond facil­i­ty in Manchester.

What We Like: Gran­ite State Col­lege pri­mar­i­ly offers course­work and pro­grams designed to serve adult learners.

Degree: BS in Applied Stud­ies – Edu­ca­tion and Training

Gran­ite State College

4. University of Central Florida

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Cen­tral Flori­da offers a BS in Career and Tech­ni­cal Edu­ca­tion that is among the lead­ing afford­able train­ing and devel­op­ment degree pro­grams in the Sun­shine State. This 120-cred­it unit under­grad­u­ate degree from UCF pre­pares stu­dents for reward­ing careers as a learn­ing devel­op­ment spe­cial­ist, cor­po­rate train­ers, or pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment train­er, to name a few. Stu­dents explore the fun­da­men­tals of cur­ricu­lum cre­ation, career edu­ca­tion, and more.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Cen­tral Flori­da is a research insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion that was char­tered in the ear­ly 1960s as Flori­da Tech UCF’s main cam­pus is a dozen miles from Orlan­do and a half-hour from Cape Canaver­al. More than 71 850 under­grad­u­ate and post­grad­u­ate stu­dents each year.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of Cen­tral Flori­da main­tains sev­er­al region­al cam­pus­es in Lake Nona, down­town Orland

Degree: BS in Career and Tech­ni­cal Education

Uni­ver­si­ty of Cen­tral Florida

5. Indiana State University

Indi­ana State Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS in Human Resource Devel­op­ment for High­er Edu­ca­tion & Indus­try (BSHRD) that ranks among Indiana’s lead­ing afford­able train­ing and devel­op­ment degree pro­grams. Appli­cants to Indi­ana State University’s human resource devel­op­ment pro­gram must hold an asso­ciate degree in a relat­ed dis­ci­pline to be eli­gi­ble for admis­sion. Fea­tured class­es for this under­grad­u­ate degree include work-life inte­gra­tion, devel­op­ing occu­pa­tion­al and train­ing pro­grams, adult learn­ers in high­er ed, and indus­tri­al-orga­ni­za­tion­al psy­chol­o­gy, among others.

Indi­ana State Uni­ver­si­ty is a pub­lic space-grant school that was found­ed as a nor­mal school in the mid-1860s. The university’s Terre Haute cam­pus and dis­tance-learn­ing plat­form serve more than 12,050 stu­dents each year.

What We Like: Indi­ana State Uni­ver­si­ty is orga­nized into six colleges/schools in pro­fes­sion­al edu­ca­tion stud­ies, tech­nol­o­gy, busi­ness, health, and tech­nol­o­gy, among others.

Degree: BS in Human resource devel­op­ment for high­er edu­ca­tion and industry

Indi­ana State University

6. Western Governors University

West­ern Gov­er­nors Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS in Human Resource Man­age­ment that is ranked among the most afford­able train­ing and devel­op­ment degree pro­grams by Best Val­ue Schools for eight years straight. This ful­ly online SHRM-aligned human resource degree is typ­i­cal­ly com­plet­ed in about 3.5 years. Course­work for West­ern Gov­er­nors University’s online human resource degree includes cas­es in advanced human resource man­age­ment, employ­ment law, train­ing and devel­op­ment, tech­nol­o­gy appli­ca­tions in health­care, and change man­age­ment, to name a few.

West­ern Gov­er­nors Uni­ver­si­ty oper­ates as a non­prof­it high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tion offer­ing exclu­sive online pro­gram­ming. The uni­ver­si­ty was born of the idea devel­oped by 19 gov­er­nors in 1997. The school’s stu­dent enroll­ment nears 120,000.

What We Like: West­ern Gov­er­nors Uni­ver­si­ty is orga­nized into four colleges/schools offer­ing class­es and diplo­mas in busi­ness, teach­ing, infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy, and health.

Degree: BS Human Resource Management

West­ern Gov­er­nors University

7. Appalachian State University

Appalachi­an State Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS in Work­force Lead­er­ship and Devel­op­ment that can be com­plet­ed by full-time or part-time stu­dents – entire­ly online. Appalachi­an State Uni­ver­si­ty under­grad­u­ate pro­gram in Work­force Lead­er­ship and Devel­op­ment is rec­og­nized to be among North Carolina’s most afford­able train­ing and devel­op­ment degree pro­grams. Degree can­di­dates must com­plete 120-semes­ter units to meet Appalachi­an State University’s grad­u­ate cri­te­ria. Poten­tial careers for grad­u­ates of this degree include cor­po­rate train­er, career coun­selor, or work­force edu­ca­tor, among others.

Appalachi­an State Uni­ver­si­ty (App State) is a pub­lic insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion that was found­ed in 1899. ASU’s col­lege-town cam­pus is home to more than 20,350 under­grad­u­ate and post­grad­u­ate stu­dents. Appalachi­an State offers more than 120 aca­d­e­m­ic degree pro­grams at the under­grad­u­ate grad­u­ate level.

What We Like: Appalachi­an State Uni­ver­si­ty is a mem­ber school of North Carolina’s uni­ver­si­ty system.

Degree: BS in Work­force Lead­er­ship and Development

Appalachi­an State University

8. Pittsburg State University

Pitts­burg State Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS in Work­force Devel­op­ment that is designed for stu­dents who already have earned an Asso­ciate of Sci­ence or Arts degree. Pitts­burg State University’s afford­able train­ing and devel­op­ment degree pro­grams can be com­plet­ed entire­ly online. Poten­tial careers for Pitts­burgh State University’s grad­u­ates include human resources man­ag­er, pro­gram coor­di­na­tor, direc­tor of employ­ee engage­ment, or train­ing & devel­op­ment spe­cial­ists, to name a few. This PSU pro­gram offers these aca­d­e­m­ic con­cen­tra­tions – super­vi­sion and lead­er­ship, hos­pi­tal­i­ty man­age­ment, and human resources.

Pitts­burg State Uni­ver­si­ty is a pub­lic space-grant school that was found­ed in 1903 as an aux­il­iary train­ing school for teach­ers. The school’s rur­al cam­pus and online plat­form serve more than 5,900 stu­dents each year.

What We Like: PSU also main­tains a cam­pus in Kansas City and offers degree pro­grams in con­junc­tion with the Sali­na Area Tech­ni­cal College.

Degree: BS in Work­force Development

Pitts­burg State University

9. University of Maryland Global Campus

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Mary­land Glob­al Cam­pus offers a BS in Human Resource Man­age­ment that requires degree can­di­dates to com­plete at least 120 cred­its, with up to 90 cred­its avail­able for trans­fer toward pro­gram require­ments, if eli­gi­ble. Fea­tured class­es for UM’s afford­able train­ing and devel­op­ment degree pro­grams include labor rela­tions, employ­ee train­ing and devel­op­ment, finance for non­fi­nance majors, orga­ni­za­tion­al cul­ture and change, human resource man­age­ment, and employ­ment law for busi­ness, to name a few.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Mary­land Glob­al Cam­pus was devel­oped as UM’s Uni­ver­si­ty Col­lege in the late 1940s. The school serves more than 90,000 stu­dents across the globe, mak­ing it one of the largest dis­tance-learn­ing schools in the world.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of Mary­land Glob­al Cam­pus offers more than 100 aca­d­e­m­ic pro­grams at the under­grad­u­ate and grad­u­ate levels.

Degree: BS Human Resource Management

Uni­ver­si­ty of Mary­land Glob­al Campus 

10. University of New Mexico

The Uni­ver­si­ty of New Mex­i­co offers a BS in Instruc­tion­al Tech­nol­o­gy & Train­ing that is con­sid­ered among the lead­ing afford­able train­ing and devel­op­ment degree pro­grams in New Mex­i­co and beyond. This under­grad­u­ate degree in train­ing and devel­op­ment requires stu­dents to com­plete a min­i­mum of 121 cred­it units, with 45 cred­its pulled from the rain­ing and devel­op­ment cur­ricu­lum. Sam­ple course­work includes online learn­ing and strate­gies for suc­cess, cre­ativ­i­ty, and tech­ni­cal design, and lead­ing the train­ing orga­ni­za­tion, among others.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of New Mex­i­co (UMN) is rec­og­nized as the flag­ship cam­pus of the state. It was found­ed in the late 1880s. This space-grant school’s urban man cam­pus in Albu­querque and satel­lite cam­pus­es in Taos, Los Lunas, Gallup, Rio Ran­cho, and Los Alam­os) serve more than 25,250 stu­dents each year.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of New Mex­i­co holds the dis­tinc­tion of hav­ing one of the largest pop­u­la­tions of His­pan­ic and Native Amer­i­can stu­dents and fac­ul­ty in the nation.

Degree: BS in Instruc­tion­al Tech­nol­o­gy & Training

Uni­ver­si­ty of New Mexico

How Do I Save Money on a Bachelor’s in Training and Development?

Afford­able train­ing and devel­op­ment degree pro­grams only rep­re­sent one aspect of the process that some­one must go through to earn their edu­ca­tion. Often, it’s the small­er costs that can add up and bal­loon the over­all cost of earn­ing a degree.

For exam­ple, a stu­dent will still need some­where to sleep, food to eat, and pos­si­bly dai­ly trans­porta­tion. Every­one will have dif­fer­ent needs depend­ing on their spe­cif­ic sit­u­a­tion, but no mat­ter what, those small costs can become a problem.

In addi­tion, an online pro­gram can also help to cut some of those small­er costs. For exam­ple, stu­dents of online pro­grams usu­al­ly don’t need to com­mute or pay to move and stay some­where on or clos­er to campus.

Online degree pro­grams also help a great deal for adults who work, take care of chil­dren, or oth­er­wise have a life to live that they can’t abrupt­ly stop to attend a reg­u­lar class each day. Still, afford­able train­ing and devel­op­ment degree pro­grams exist both on and offline. So, appli­cants can still plan based on their own goals and circumstances.

If the pro­gram has vet­ting and prop­er accred­i­ta­tion, it doesn’t mat­ter what path an appli­cant choos­es to earn their degree. The degree will still have the same weight and respect if it comes from a rep­utable and accred­it­ed program.

The ques­tion of afford­abil­i­ty comes up often when con­sid­er­ing high­er edu­ca­tion. Appli­cants should look at what they can do to mit­i­gate those costs in every way pos­si­ble. An afford­able train­ing and devel­op­ment degree pro­gram is only one place to start.

Appli­cants should look into grants, loans, schol­ar­ships, and any local, state, or fed­er­al pro­grams that will help with any num­ber of finances or ser­vices. There’s a lot of help avail­able, but it’s typ­i­cal­ly on the appli­cant to do the leg­work to find those things that might help them to help them­selves earn their education.

How Much Can I Make with a Bachelor’s in Training and Development?

The amount a train­ing and devel­op­ment spe­cial­ist can earn will vary based on the typ­i­cal fac­tors such as edu­ca­tion, expe­ri­ence, loca­tion, and all the oth­er inci­den­tals that con­trol job mar­kets. How­ev­er, it’s pos­si­ble to earn a good salary in this field, even entry-lev­el train­ing and devel­op­ment salary can look good, depend­ing on the job seeker’s goals.

With only a bachelor’s degree, the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics reports that the medi­an pay for train­ing and devel­op­ment spe­cial­ists sits at $62.7k across the nation. How­ev­er, that medi­an num­ber changes depend­ing on the indus­try the spe­cial­ist works in.

For exam­ple, those who work in sci­ence and tech have a medi­an salary of $73.69k. It’s also impor­tant to keep in mind that salary can change wide­ly based on the employ­er and the title of the job.

Not all train­ing and devel­op­ment jobs fall under the title of train­ing and devel­op­ment spe­cial­ist. The same edu­ca­tion can some­times lead to man­age­ment roles or oth­er titles that come with high­er salaries attached.

Expe­ri­ence also mat­ters. An entry-lev­el train­ing and devel­op­ment salary can grow a great deal for some­one with some expe­ri­ence in the field they’re now try­ing to work in at a high­er capacity.

Will a Certification Help My Career?

There are var­i­ous types of cer­ti­fi­ca­tions for train­ing and devel­op­ment. How­ev­er, cer­ti­fi­ca­tions in train­ing and devel­op­ment aren’t always nec­es­sary, nor are they always easy to obtain.

Nev­er­the­less, there are sev­er­al pro­fes­sion­al train­ing and devel­op­ment cer­ti­fi­ca­tion paths some­one can take. Some pro­grams even offer cer­ti­fi­ca­tions for train­ing and devel­op­ment with graduation.

In almost all cas­es, cer­ti­fi­ca­tions in train­ing and devel­op­ment will help. Cer­ti­fi­ca­tions show the pro­fes­sion­al takes their career seri­ous­ly and has the will­ing­ness to do the extra required to prove it. Some employ­ers may require spe­cif­ic or niche cer­ti­fi­ca­tion to prove the appli­cant knows that indus­try or busi­ness well enough to per­form train­ing and devel­op­ment duties with­in it.

Some of the more com­mon train­ing and devel­op­ment cer­ti­fi­ca­tion test­ing and pro­grams come from SHRM and ATD. How­ev­er, these aren’t absolute­ly necessary.

Appli­cants should ask around where they want to work what type of cer­ti­fi­ca­tions the local busi­ness­es expect from their train­ing and devel­op­ment spe­cial­ists, man­agers, and HR personnel.