10 Cheapest Online Bachelor’s Degrees

arrow_drop_up
  • 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.

There is no doubt that the face of high­er edu­ca­tion is chang­ing in our world. With the ris­ing cost of col­lege, more stu­dents are opt­ing out of the tra­di­tion­al col­lege expe­ri­ence in favor of online education. 

“Online Report Card: Track­ing Online Edu­ca­tion in the Unit­ed States” is the annu­al sur­vey of high­er edu­ca­tion by the Bab­son Sur­vey Research Group. The team dis­cov­ered an inverse rela­tion­ship between dwin­dling high­er edu­ca­tion enroll­ment and soar­ing online enrollments.

The num­ber of stu­dents tak­ing online cours­es grew to 5.4 mil­lion nation­al­ly, con­tin­u­ing a growth trend that has been con­sis­tent for 13 years. More than a quar­ter of high­er edu­ca­tion stu­dents (25.8 per­cent) are enrolled in at least one online course.

“The trend of increas­ing dis­tance edu­ca­tion enroll­ments in the face of declin­ing over­all high­er ed enroll­ments sug­gests an impor­tant shift in the Amer­i­can high­er edu­ca­tion land­scape, with con­tem­po­rary learn­ers lean­ing into online options,” said Kath­leen S. Ives, chief exec­u­tive offi­cer and exec­u­tive direc­tor of the Online Learn­ing Con­sor­tium. “The major­i­ty of aca­d­e­m­ic lead­ers rec­og­nize this and under­stand online learn­ing is crit­i­cal to their insti­tu­tion’s long-term strategy.”

Col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties are forced to adjust to this trend and offer online class­es and degrees. In the past, online degrees were con­sid­ered “less than” diplo­mas earned on cam­pus. How­ev­er, the trend in online edu­ca­tion con­tin­ues to grow, and most Amer­i­can uni­ver­si­ties now offer online degrees that are aca­d­e­m­i­cal­ly equiv­a­lent to their brick-and-mor­tar counterparts. 

What are the most beneficial aspects of learning online?

One of the major ben­e­fits of online edu­ca­tion is it tends to be more afford­able and acces­si­ble than on-cam­pus diplo­mas. Stu­dents can often work at their own pace and with­in their own time frame, mak­ing online degrees one of the best and most afford­able ways to earn a degree.

Online degrees are espe­cial­ly appeal­ing to work­ing adults who need to com­plete their col­lege degrees. On aver­age, 95% of new appli­cants have pre­vi­ous­ly tak­en col­lege cred­its and the aver­age age of online stu­dents is 34. This is the case for many rea­sons, but there is lit­tle doubt that online edu­ca­tion is the way of the future, espe­cial­ly for the work­ing adult. 

As schools strive to out-com­pete one anoth­er, their course and degree offer­ings expand, flex­i­ble options grow, and the cost comes down. There is no bet­ter time to be an online student.

Degree-Spe­cif­ic Most Afford­able Rankings

Methodology

We have com­piled a list of the 10 Most Afford­able Online Bachelor’s Degrees in the nation. The list was com­piled pure­ly by tuition per cred­it hour, addi­tion­al fees were not cal­cu­lat­ed into the cost. Data was col­lect­ed from the Nation­al Cen­ter for Edu­ca­tion Sta­tis­tics and school websites. 

Only non-prof­it schools were cho­sen, and in order for a school to have made the list, they had to offer a vari­ety of bachelor’s degrees. It should also be not­ed that online edu­ca­tion require­ments change from state to state, and options may be lim­it­ed depend­ing on the insti­tu­tion cho­sen and your state of residence. 

We hope this list is valu­able to you as you search for the most afford­able path to your col­lege degree!

1. CLAYTON STATE UNIVERSITY

For those who are inter­est­ed in dis­tance edu­ca­tion, Clay­ton State Uni­ver­si­ty offers the most afford­able online bach­e­lor’s degrees in the nation. The low cost of only $169.33 per cred­it hour is hard to beat. 

  • Loca­tion: Mor­row, GA
  • Cost per Cred­it Hour: $169.33 eTu­ition
  • Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dent Pop­u­la­tion: 3,680
  • Degrees Offered: Less than one year cer­tifi­cate, two year cer­tifi­cate, asso­ciate degree, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Mas­ter’s degree
  • Deliv­ery For­mat: Ful­ly Online
  • Accred­i­ta­tion: South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools, Com­mis­sion on Col­leges as well as sev­er­al oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

There are many online options, includ­ing sev­er­al dif­fer­ent Bach­e­lor of Applied Sci­ence, Bach­e­lor of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion, many dif­fer­ent Bach­e­lor of Arts and Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence, and they even have a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Den­tal Hygiene.

Stu­dents inter­act with their pro­fes­sors through the Learn­ing Man­age­ment Sys­tem, Bright­Space. The major­i­ty of cours­es take place over a tra­di­tion­al 16-week semes­ter, how­ev­er, some cours­es may fol­low an 8‑week schedule. 

Through­out the pro­gram, there may be sched­uled online meet­ings required. The low cost of atten­dance com­bined with many degree options ensures Clay­ton State Uni­ver­si­ty is at the top of the list.

2. Fort Hays State University

Fort Hays State Uni­ver­si­ty is one of the lead­ing uni­ver­si­ties in the Mid­west. The uni­ver­si­ty offers cer­tifi­cate and degree pro­grams at the asso­ciate, bach­e­lor’s, and mas­ter’s lev­els through 31 aca­d­e­m­ic departments.

  • Loca­tion: Hays, KS
  • Cost Per Cred­it Hour: $242.76
  • Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dent Pop­u­la­tion: 10,427
  • Degrees Offered: Asso­ciate degree, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al practice
  • Deliv­ery For­mat: Ful­ly Online
  • Accred­i­ta­tion: High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion as well as sev­er­al oth­er accred­it­ing bodies

Known as the “Vir­tu­al Col­lege,” the online pro­grams at Fort Hays are top-notch. Designed specif­i­cal­ly for adult learn­ers, there are over 50 online degrees to choose from. With the low cost of only $242.76 per cred­it hour for a bach­e­lor’s degree, Fort Hays is one of the best in the nation. 

All of the online degrees are accred­it­ed by the High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion ensur­ing stu­dents that they are receiv­ing a qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion. Stu­dents can choose from 34 bach­e­lor’s degrees; addi­tion­al­ly, the Uni­ver­si­ty offers online cer­tifi­cate and mas­ter’s degree programs. 

While the degree options are lined out in their scope and sequence, Fort Hays offers some­thing more flex­i­ble, and inno­v­a­tive for the stu­dent who is look­ing for some­thing a bit broad­er. The Bach­e­lor of Gen­er­al Stud­ies degree allows stu­dents to cus­tomize a pro­gram of study that best meets their needs.

3. Arkansas State University

The sec­ond-largest uni­ver­si­ty in Arkansas, ASU is a doc­tor­al-lev­el nation­al insti­tu­tion with more than 150 areas of study and a diverse stu­dent body from across the nation and the world. The online pro­gram is one of the old­est online degree pro­grams in Arkansas.

  • Loca­tion: Jones­boro, AR
  • Cost Per Cred­it Hour: $249.78
  • Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 8,201
  • Degrees Offered: Less than one year cer­tifi­cate, One but less than two years cer­tifi­cate, Asso­ciate degree, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post­bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree-research/schol­ar­ship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al practice
  • Deliv­ery For­mat: 100% online
  • Accred­i­ta­tion: High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

One of the most afford­able online degree pro­grams on the list, an online bach­e­lor’s degree at Arkansas State Uni­ver­si­ty is a mere $249.78 per cred­it hour. 

There are sev­er­al online bachelor’s degrees offered through Arkansas State. Here is a sampling: 

  • B.A. in Criminology
  • Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Studies
  • Soci­ol­o­gy
  • Polit­i­cal Science
  • Strate­gic Communication
  • Dis­as­ter Preparedness/Emergency Management
  • B.G.S. in Gen­er­al Studies
  • B.A.S. in Applied Science

Addi­tion­al­ly, the Uni­ver­si­ty offers numer­ous online grad­u­ate pro­grams. There are cur­rent­ly over 5,000 online stu­dents earn­ing their degrees through Arkansas State, mak­ing it one of the largest pro­grams in the state.

4. Ohio University

In line with the mis­sion state­ment “Reli­gion, moral­i­ty, and knowl­edge being nec­es­sary to good gov­ern­ment and the hap­pi­ness of mankind, schools and the means of edu­ca­tion shall for­ev­er be encour­aged,” Ohio Uni­ver­si­ty offers an excel­lent online education. 

  • Loca­tion: Athens, OH
  • Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 17,860
  • Cost Per Cred­it Hour: $307
  • Degrees Offered: Less than one year cer­tifi­cate, One but less than two years cer­tifi­cate, Asso­ci­ate’s degree, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post­bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree-research/schol­ar­ship, Doc­tor’s degree-pro­fes­sion­al practice
  • Deliv­ery For­mat: Ful­ly online
  • Accred­i­ta­tion: High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

Work­ing in part­ner­ships with local com­mu­ni­ty col­leges, the Uni­ver­si­ty pro­vides stu­dents with the oppor­tu­ni­ty to build on course­work pre­vi­ous­ly com­plet­ed. There are nine online bach­e­lor’s degrees avail­able at Ohio University: 

  • Applied Com­mu­ni­ca­tion
  • Applied Man­age­ment
  • Crim­i­nal Justice
  • Cus­tomer Ser­vice Leadership
  • Inte­grat­ed Health­care Studies
  • Psy­chol­o­gy
  • RN to BSN
  • Tech­ni­cal and Applied Studies
  • Tech­ni­cal Oper­a­tions Management

Whether you are trans­fer­ring in cred­its from an associate’s degree or just begin­ning your edu­ca­tion, Ohio University’s afford­able price and ulti­mate flex­i­bil­i­ty are an excel­lent online option.

5. University of Alaska Fairbanks

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Alas­ka-Fair­banks has nine col­leges and schools that offer 147 degrees and 31 cer­tifi­cates in 114 dis­ci­plines. Many of these degrees are eas­i­ly accessed through the cel­e­brat­ed online pro­gram estab­lished at UAF.

  • Loca­tion: Fair­banks, AK
  • Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 5,850
  • Cost Per Cred­it Hour: $289
  • Degrees Offered: Less than one year cer­tifi­cate, One but less than two years cer­tifi­cate, Asso­ci­ate’s degree, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post­bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree-research/schol­ar­ship
  • Deliv­ery Format: 
  • Accred­i­ta­tion: North­west Com­mis­sion on Col­leges and Uni­ver­si­ties as well as sev­er­al oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

Fre­quent­ly rec­og­nized as one of the best and most afford­able online pro­grams in the nation, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Alas­ka-Fair­banks eCam­pus offers numer­ous online bachelor’s degrees. The Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Gen­er­al Stud­ies pro­gram is worth mentioning. 

The pro­gram offers a path­way to a degree for stu­dents who have earned 100 col­lege cred­its or more but have not com­plet­ed a par­tic­u­lar major. This pro­gram is a great fit for stu­dents who have: 

  • trans­ferred sev­er­al times
  • have changed majors
  • are return­ing to school after a break
  • are just look­ing to fin­ish their bachelor’s degree as effi­cient­ly as possible

Stu­dents can choose class­es that they want to take based on their inter­ests and goals. 

Stu­dents in this pro­gram receive per­son­al atten­tion and com­pre­hen­sive advis­ing to ensure that their cred­its are max­i­mized and that their path to grad­u­a­tion is clear and focused.

6. Central Methodist University

Cen­tral Methodist Uni­ver­si­ty is a pri­vate, lib­er­al arts uni­ver­si­ty that was found­ed in 1854. Although the Uni­ver­si­ty is asso­ci­at­ed with the Unit­ed Methodist Church, it wel­comes stu­dents of all faiths and beliefs. 

  • Loca­tion: Fayette, MO
  • Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 1,651
  • Cost Per Cred­it Hour: $100
  • Degrees Offered: Asso­ci­ate’s degree, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Mas­ter’s degree
  • Deliv­ery For­mat: Ful­ly online via Zoom
  • Accred­i­ta­tion: High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion as well as sev­er­al oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

The main cam­pus is home to 1,100 stu­dents, while the grow­ing online school enrolls over 4,000 stu­dents from across Mis­souri and the nation. One of the val­ues that makes Cen­tral Methodist unique is it “affirms its Wes­leyan her­itage and its unique place as the only Unit­ed Methodist-relat­ed Uni­ver­si­ty in Missouri.”

Online stu­dents expe­ri­ence the same high-qual­i­ty instruc­tion as the on-site CMU cours­es but with the flex­i­bil­i­ty and con­ve­nience of online. 

Under­grad­u­ate pro­grams are avail­able in the fol­low­ing areas of study: 

  • Account­ing
  • Applied Behav­ior Analysis
  • Applied Sci­ence in Management
  • Busi­ness
  • Child Devel­op­ment
  • Com­put­er Science
  • Crim­i­nal Justice
  • Ear­ly Child­hood Education
  • Edu­ca­tion­al Studies
  • Ele­men­tary Education
  • Health Sci­ences
  • Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Studies
  • Nurs­ing — RN to BSN
  • Pub­lic Administration
  • Psy­chol­o­gy
  • Soci­ol­o­gy
  • Sports Man­age­ment

There is no doubt that Cen­tral Methodist Uni­ver­si­ty offers a vari­ety of pro­grams at a low cost.

7. Kennesaw State University

One of the 50 largest pub­lic research uni­ver­si­ties in the coun­try, Ken­ne­saw State Uni­ver­si­ty has been ele­vat­ed to an R3 clas­si­fi­ca­tion – a doc­tor­al insti­tu­tion with mod­er­ate research activ­i­ty – by the Carnegie Clas­si­fi­ca­tion of Insti­tu­tions of High­er Learn­ing. The Uni­ver­si­ty offers more than 150 degrees through 13 col­leges. It is the third-largest uni­ver­si­ty in the state.

  • Loca­tion: Ken­ne­saw, GA
  • Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents:
  • Cost Per Cred­it Hour: $185.40 e‑Tuition per cred­it hour, there are sav­ings depend­ing on the num­ber of cred­it hours taken
  • Degrees Offered: Less than one year cer­tifi­cate, One but less than two years cer­tifi­cate, Asso­ci­ate’s degree, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post­bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s cer­tifi­cate, Doc­tor’s degree-research/schol­ar­ship
  • Deliv­ery For­mat: 100% online
  • Accred­i­ta­tion: South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools, Com­mis­sion on Col­leges as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies

Ken­ne­saw State Uni­ver­si­ty is home to a vir­tu­al cam­pus that offers over 70 online degree, cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, and endorse­ment pro­grams and over 500 online cours­es. Grad­u­ates receive the same degree and are taught by the same fac­ul­ty as on-cam­pus stu­dents. KSU offers 15 online bachelor’s degree majors, 17 online minors, and eight online under­grad­u­ate cer­tifi­cate options. 

Addi­tion­al­ly, there are online grad­u­ate pro­grams as well as con­tin­u­ing edu­ca­tion oppor­tu­ni­ties. Online cours­es fol­low the same semes­ter sched­ul­ing as the on-cam­pus programs.

Fall and Spring semes­ters are approx­i­mate­ly 16 weeks long, and Sum­mer is approx­i­mate­ly eight weeks long.

8. Western Governors University

West­ern Gov­er­nors Uni­ver­si­ty began as an idea in 1995 by 19 Unit­ed States gov­er­nors who want­ed to change the way that mod­ern edu­ca­tion oper­ates. They desired to “rein­vent high­er edu­ca­tion with the pow­er­house com­bo of inter­net tech­nol­o­gy and com­pe­ten­cy-based education.” 

  • Loca­tion: Salt Lake City, UT
  • Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 112,807
  • Cost Per Cred­it Hour: $51
  • Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post­bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree
  • Deliv­ery For­mat: Ful­ly Online
  • Accred­i­ta­tion: Dis­tance Edu­ca­tion Accred­it­ing Com­mis­sion, North­west Com­mis­sion on Col­leges and Uni­ver­si­ties as well as sev­er­al oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

Com­posed of four col­leges West­ern Gov­er­nors Uni­ver­si­ty offers 55 bach­e­lor’s, mas­ter’s, and post-bac­calau­re­ate degree pro­grams, as well as teacher endorse­ment prepa­ra­tion pro­grams. Stu­dents at WGU are assigned a Pro­gram Men­tor who works with the stu­dent to devel­op a per­son­al­ized degree plan. 

Each student’s plan is tai­lored to their indi­vid­ual needs tak­ing into account goals, aca­d­e­m­ic back­ground, career expe­ri­ence, com­fort with inde­pen­dent learn­ing, and the amount of time allot­ted to study. This unique rela­tion­ship is cru­cial for every stu­dent as the Pro­gram Men­tor serves as an aca­d­e­m­ic advi­sor, coach, and support. 

Eas­i­ly one of the top 10 uni­ver­si­ties on the list, WGU pro­vides a large vari­ety and num­ber of degree options, low cost, and one-on-one attention.

9. Southeast Missouri State University

The uni­ver­si­ty offers more than 145 under­grad­u­ate majors, 100 minors, and more than 75 grad­u­ate pro­grams to near­ly 12,000 stu­dents. SMSU takes pride in per­son­al­ized edu­ca­tion and rel­e­vant train­ing for our cur­rent marketplace.

  • Loca­tion: Cape Girardeau, MO
  • Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 4,992
  • Cost Per Cred­it Hour: Per the web­site: “Assessed per cred­it hour for all cours­es to off­set instruc­tion­al costs of the course.”
  • Degrees Offered: One but less than two years cer­tifi­cate, Asso­ci­ate’s degree, Two but less than 4 years cer­tifi­cate, Bach­e­lor’s degree, Post­bac­calau­re­ate cer­tifi­cate, Mas­ter’s degree, Post-mas­ter’s certificate
  • Deliv­ery For­mat: Online via Can­vas learn­ing platform
  • Accred­i­ta­tion: High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion as well as numer­ous oth­er accred­it­ing bodies.

South­east Mis­souri State offers 12 bachelor’s degrees online. With choic­es such as: 

  • Busi­ness Administration
  • Infor­ma­tion Technology
  • Gen­er­al Studies
  • Crim­i­nal Justice
  • Health­care Management
  • Nurs­ing

SMSU online pro­vides an effec­tive way to jump-start your career. 

Nota­bles of online edu­ca­tion at South­east include instruc­tion from the same uni­ver­si­ty fac­ul­ty as tra­di­tion­al brick-and-mor­tar learn­ing, 100 per­cent online learn­ing, and their sim­ple tuition rate that makes it one of the most afford­able options in the country. 

Not only is the price right, but SMSU’s online rep­u­ta­tion is also gold­en. U.S. News ranked it as #1 for Best Online Bachelor’s.

10. Athens State University

Athens State Uni­ver­si­ty offers sev­er­al online bachelor’s degree pro­grams as well as numer­ous minors and cer­tifi­cates. There are also two online grad­u­ate pro­grams offered. Most of the online bachelor’s degrees are offered through either the Col­lege of Edu­ca­tion or the Col­lege of Busi­ness, but they also offer a B.A. in Religion. 

  • Loca­tion: Athens, AL
  • Total Under­grad­u­ate Stu­dents: 2,520
  • Cost Per Cred­it Hour: $226
  • Degrees Offered: Bach­e­lor’s degree, Mas­ter’s degree
  • Deliv­ery For­mat: Entire­ly online
  • Accred­i­ta­tion: South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools, Com­mis­sion on Colleges

Inter­est­ing­ly, this is a degree that was cen­tral to the found­ing of the insti­tu­tion, as the study of Reli­gion has been cen­tral for almost a cen­tu­ry. The Reli­gion major was ini­ti­at­ed in 1938 and con­tin­ues the long tra­di­tion of prepar­ing stu­dents for their cho­sen voca­tions into this new century. 

The Reli­gious Stud­ies and Ethics pro­gram of study offers cours­es in: 

  • The­ol­o­gy
  • World Reli­gions
  • Reli­gious Ethics
  • Reli­gious History
  • Reli­gion and Culture
  • Bib­li­cal Stud­ies
  • Reli­gious Education

Con­clu­sion

Col­lege rank­ings can’t make your deci­sion for you. Before you com­mit, learn about FAFSA fed­er­al finan­cial aid, stu­dent loans, in-per­son vs online learn­ing, in-state tuition costs, part-time vs full-time options, for-prof­it vs pub­lic schools, and ben­e­fits for out-of-state online learn­ers vs in-state students. 

Dis­tance learn­ers can seek out the cheap­est online col­leges, and the most afford­able online col­leges include some of the best col­leges in the nation.