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Work­ing para­le­gals who want to increase their cre­den­tials with a bachelor’s degree have their pri­or­i­ties, but for many, the pri­or­i­ty is get­ting their degree and reap­ing the ben­e­fits fast. That’s why accel­er­at­ed online para­le­gal pro­grams and online legal degrees are so valu­able. Of course, an accel­er­at­ed para­le­gal degree pro­gram is short­er than a nor­mal col­lege pro­gram. But the ways in which an accel­er­at­ed pro­gram is sped up vary from pro­gram to pro­gram. Some pro­grams may even use mul­ti­ple meth­ods to allow stu­dents to grad­u­ate much more quick­ly than they would nor­mal­ly — as lit­tle as two years or less.

One com­mon char­ac­ter­is­tic of an accel­er­at­ed degree pro­gram is inten­sive class­es. These class­es cram a great deal of con­tent into one course. Such class­es may even count for more than the tra­di­tion­al three cred­its. Anoth­er com­mon com­po­nent of accel­er­at­ed degrees may be short terms. The stan­dard col­lege term is about 16 weeks long. These short­er terms may be as short as 8 weeks. Oth­er ways that col­leges accel­er­ate pro­grams include gen­er­ous trans­fer cred­it poli­cies and offer­ing cred­it for work expe­ri­ence. Most col­leges will only accept a max­i­mum of 90 cred­its. How­ev­er, some col­leges, espe­cial­ly online schools, may be will­ing to accept more as part of their accel­er­at­ed degree programs.

Methodology: Ranking the Best Accelerated Online Paralegal Programs

For our rank­ing of the fastest online para­le­gal pro­grams, Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter edi­tors start­ed with the best online legal degrees, focus­ing on accred­it­ed, legit­i­mate insti­tu­tions of all kinds. But the fastest rank­ing requires an extra ingre­di­ent — the schools con­sid­ered had to pro­vide some means to speed up the process. Final­ly, pro­grams are ranked accord­ing to five key stan­dards, because speed isn’t every­thing: Cost, Employ­ment Rate, Grad­u­a­tion Rate, Poten­tial Salary, and Stu­dent Reviews. Data comes from Niche, IPEDS, and Col­lege Scorecard.

1. Purdue University Global

For stu­dents who are pur­su­ing a degree that will accept trans­fer cred­it, Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty Global’s online BS in Legal Sup­port and Ser­vices may be the right pro­gram. For stu­dents who are pur­su­ing this accel­er­at­ed para­le­gal degree, they can trans­fer up to sev­en­ty-five per­cent of their pro­gram in the Bach­e­lor’s pro­gram. Because Pur­due Glob­al has a rep­u­ta­tion for its legal pro­gram offer­ings, stu­dents decide to pur­sue this pro­gram. Accept­ing pre­vi­ous edu­ca­tion allows stu­dents to thor­ough pur­sue their career goals, and makes this pro­gram one of the most desir­able online legal degrees.

At Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty Glob­al, stu­dents receive a cur­ricu­lum that is equipped to give them a thor­ough under­stand­ing of the law and the dif­fer­ent legal fields found in the pro­fes­sion. Grad­u­ates of this pro­gram have gone to excel in the law pro­fes­sion, with many pur­su­ing posi­tions such as para­le­gals, legal assis­tants, title exam­in­ers, and legal sec­re­taries. Oth­ers have tak­en this degree and con­tin­ued to grad­u­ate school to pur­sue their career.

Pro­gram: BS in Legal Sup­port and Services

Learn more about this fast para­le­gal degree program!

2. University of Maryland University College

At the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mary­land Uni­ver­si­ty Col­lege, stu­dents who want to trans­fer their Asso­ciate degree into a Bach­e­lor’s have the option to do so with UMUC’s online BS in Legal Stud­ies. With the option to trans­fer up to 90 cred­its in this 120 cred­it accel­er­at­ed para­le­gal degree, stu­dents are only required to com­plete their last 30 hours with the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mary­land Uni­ver­si­ty Col­lege for grad­u­a­tion pur­pos­es. Because of this max­i­mum trans­fer­abil­i­ty, stu­dents are able to afford their Bach­e­lor pro­gram, mak­ing this one of the most desired online legal degrees in Maryland.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Mary­land Uni­ver­si­ty Col­lege has world-class fac­ul­ty mem­bers avail­able to teach and men­tor the stu­dents in the BS in Legal Stud­ies pro­gram. These fac­ul­ty mem­bers have first­hand expe­ri­ence of the legal pro­fes­sion and have held sev­er­al posi­tions in their career before mov­ing to Acad­e­mia. Uni­ver­si­ty of Mary­land Uni­ver­si­ty Col­lege is accred­it­ed by the Mid­dle States Com­mis­sion on High­er Edu­ca­tion which is region­al accreditation.

Pro­gram: BS in Legal Studies

Learn more about this fast para­le­gal degree program!

3. Eastern Kentucky University

The online BS in Para­le­gal Sci­ence at East­ern Ken­tucky Uni­ver­si­ty accepts 90 trans­fer cred­its to their pro­gram, with stu­dents com­plet­ing the remain­ing 30 hours with East­ern Ken­tucky Uni­ver­si­ty. Ten of those remain­ing thir­ty hours are spent on cam­pus. Over 90 per­cent of grad­u­ates in this accel­er­at­ed para­le­gal degree pro­gram find them­selves employed in the legal field with­in six months after grad­u­a­tion, or find them­selves enrolled in grad­u­ate school. Because of this high return on invest­ment, this pro­gram is one of the lead­ers in online Para­le­gal programs.

The staff and fac­ul­ty at East­ern Ken­tucky Uni­ver­si­ty are com­mit­ted to the suc­cess of their stu­dents. Pri­or to grad­u­a­tion, stu­dents are met with the resources to assist them with job place­ment. All of the fac­ul­ty in this pro­gram holds either a J.D. or a Ph.D. before instruct­ing a course. This BS in Para­le­gal Sci­ence has been ranked as one of the Best Online Pro­grams from the U.S. News and World Report for 2019.

Pro­gram: BS in Para­le­gal Science

Learn more about this fast para­le­gal degree program!

4. Peirce College

Many stu­dents are tak­ing advan­tage of Peirce Col­lege’s online BS in Para­le­gal Stud­ies pro­gram that allows up to 90 hours to trans­fer into the pro­gram. Because of this, stu­dents are able to get a well-estab­lished degree from Pierce Col­lege at an afford­able rate. The afford­abil­i­ty and flex­i­bil­i­ty offered in this accel­er­at­ed para­le­gal degree pro­gram have this BS in Para­le­gal Stud­ies as one of the best online Para­le­gal programs.

Pierce Col­lege sets the bar high for aca­d­e­m­ic excel­lence in their pro­grams, includ­ing the BS in Para­le­gal Stud­ies. This pro­gram is approved by the Amer­i­can Bar Asso­ci­a­tion, allow­ing stu­dents to obtain a qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion at a frac­tion of the cost. Stu­dents even have the option to obtain their Para­le­gal cer­tifi­cate fol­low­ing grad­u­a­tion. Pierce Col­lege is also region­al­ly accred­it­ed by the Mid­dle States Com­mis­sion on High­er Edu­ca­tion, and is rec­og­nized by the U.S. Sec­re­tary of Education.

Pro­gram: BS in Para­le­gal Studies

Learn more about this fast para­le­gal degree program!

5. Liberty University

One of the most pop­u­lar online para­le­gal pro­grams is the online BS in Para­le­gal Stud­ies through Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty. This pro­gram allows up to 75 per­cent trans­fer cred­it to the pro­gram, allow­ing stu­dents to get fin­ish out the bachelor’s pro­gram at an afford­able rate com­pared to peers at oth­er insti­tu­tions. The cur­ricu­lum in this accel­er­at­ed para­le­gal degree pro­gram gives stu­dents a foun­da­tion they need to imme­di­ate­ly enter the legal pro­fes­sion or con­tin­ue their stud­ies at the grad­u­ate lev­el. Because of this afford­able and qual­i­ty cur­ricu­lum, stu­dents are choos­ing Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty as one of the more desired online para­le­gal programs.

Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty is a region­al­ly accred­it­ed insti­tu­tion by the South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­lege and Schools Com­mis­sion on Col­leges (SACSCOC), which is found at insti­tu­tions across the south­east region. Stu­dents have the option to begin this pro­gram at any point through­out the school year, and can take as many or as lit­tle cours­es as they need based upon their cur­rent responsibilities.

Pro­gram: BS in Para­le­gal Studies

Learn more about this fast para­le­gal degree program!

6. Regent University

At Regent Uni­ver­si­ty, the online BS in Para­le­gal Stud­ies is becom­ing one of the more pop­u­lar pro­grams, with stu­dents able to trans­fer in up to 90 cred­it hours of pre­vi­ous insti­tu­tion work to their cur­rent pro­gram. With the max­i­mum trans­ferred in, stu­dents will only need to take the remain­ing 30 cred­it hours with Regent Uni­ver­si­ty. This allows stu­dents to gain a pos­i­tive return on invest­ment, as they are able to seek out career oppor­tu­ni­ties such as legal assis­tant and Para­le­gals upon grad­u­a­tion, mak­ing the accel­er­at­ed para­le­gal degree one of the most pop­u­lar online Para­le­gal programs.

Regent Uni­ver­si­ty has received awards for being one of the Top 20 Most Inno­v­a­tive Law School, Top 16 Tri­al Advo­ca­cy Cur­ricu­lum in the nation, and one of the Military’s Top Col­leges and Uni­ver­si­ties in the nation.

Pro­gram: BS in Para­le­gal Studies

Learn more about this fast para­le­gal degree program!

7. Southern New Hampshire University

At South­ern New Hamp­shire Uni­ver­si­ty, stu­dents not only enjoy some of the most afford­able tuition rates in the nation, but also the abil­i­ty to trans­fer in up to 90 cred­it hours for SNHU’s online BS in Crim­i­nal Jus­tice – Legal Stud­ies and Advo­ca­cy pro­gram, mak­ing it an afford­ably attrac­tive pro­gram to stu­dents who are look­ing at pro­gram costs. This accel­er­at­ed para­le­gal degree pro­gram pre­pares stu­dents for careers in the law pro­fes­sion, whether work­ing as a legal assis­tant or in the field as a police offi­cer. Because of this flex­i­bil­i­ty and afford­abil­i­ty, this is one of the lead­ing online legal degrees in the nation.

South­ern New Hamp­shire Uni­ver­si­ty is con­stant­ly grow­ing as one of the lead­ing online insti­tu­tions for online degrees. They have a region­al accred­i­ta­tion of the New Eng­land Com­mis­sion of High­er Edu­ca­tion which accred­its all of their pro­grams. Grad­u­ates of South­ern New Hamp­shire Uni­ver­si­ty can be found across the globe excelling in a vari­ety of career fields with the use of their education.

Pro­gram: BS in Crim­i­nal Jus­tice — Legal Stud­ies and Advocacy

Learn more about this fast para­le­gal degree program!

8. Post University

The online BS in Legal Stud­ies from Post Uni­ver­si­ty has stu­dents who are striv­ing to turn their pre­vi­ous edu­ca­tion into a bachelor’s degree look­ing their way. Stu­dents have the option to trans­fer up to 90 cred­it hours to their accel­er­at­ed para­le­gal degree pro­gram. With relat­able work expe­ri­ence, these stu­dents can also trans­fer 45 cred­its for work expe­ri­ence out of the 90 trans­ferred. For stu­dents with an Asso­ciate degree and work expe­ri­ence, this gives them the edge they need to pur­sue their Bach­e­lor degree in a sin­gle year or only 30 addi­tion­al cred­its. Accept­ing valu­able work expe­ri­ence as cred­it hours is one of the rea­sons work­ing stu­dents are con­sid­er­ing this pro­gram as one of the top options for online legal degrees.

Post Uni­ver­si­ty is a region­al­ly accred­it­ed insti­tu­tion through the New Eng­land Com­mis­sion on High­er Edu­ca­tion, as well as the state of Con­necti­cut, through the Office of High­er Edu­ca­tion. Oth­er pro­grams found at Post Uni­ver­si­ty have spe­cial­ized accred­i­ta­tions that val­i­date the aca­d­e­m­ic excel­lence in the mis­sion of Post University.

Pro­gram: BS in Legal Studies

Learn more about this fast para­le­gal degree program!

9. Hodges University

The online BS in Legal Stud­ies at Hodges Uni­ver­si­ty offers trans­fer cred­it from oth­er insti­tu­tions for this pro­gram, as well as a ver­i­fied mil­i­tary ser­vice expe­ri­ence. Active and vet­er­an mil­i­tary stu­dents who have spent time work­ing in spe­cial­ized posi­tions deserve recog­ni­tion for that expe­ri­ence. Because of their thor­ough review and accep­tance of mil­i­tary expe­ri­ence, many stu­dents find them to be one of the lead­ing insti­tu­tions for the online para­le­gal pro­grams available.

Hodges Uni­ver­si­ty is one of the award-win­ning insti­tu­tions found from the var­i­ous rep­utable acco­lades. They have been award­ed as one of the top 100 “Best Online Schools” by the Best Schools and list­ed as 2019 Best Online Bach­e­lor Law Degrees in the state of Flori­da. Hodges Uni­ver­si­ty is accred­it­ed by SACSCOC. Stu­dents who pur­sue a pro­gram through their insti­tu­tion can expect to receive an edu­ca­tion that is afford­able and accredited.

Pro­gram: BS in Legal Studies

Learn more about this fast para­le­gal degree program!

10. Berkeley College

Stu­dents who pur­sue the online BS in Legal Stud­ies at Berke­ley Col­lege have the option to include trans­fer work in their pro­gram. If they have enough trans­fer­able cred­it, they can bring in a max­i­mum of 75 per­cent to cov­er the largest por­tion of their BS in Legal Stud­ies, requir­ing them to only pay for 25 per­cent of their pro­gram. This flex­i­bil­i­ty and afford­abil­i­ty make this accel­er­at­ed para­le­gal degree one of the more afford­able online legal degrees for stu­dents look­ing to pur­sue their edu­ca­tion in this field.

Berke­ley Col­lege has ranked in the top 20 Best Online Pro­grams for Vet­er­ans from 2014 – present by the U.S. News and World Report. They have also gained acco­lades from the com­mu­ni­ty as they have received the Part­ner­ship in Car­ing Award in 2018, as well as the Excel­lence in Com­mu­ni­ty Ser­vice. This insti­tu­tion strives to enhance not only the aca­d­e­mics of their stu­dents but also devel­op their civil­i­ty with­in their communities.

Pro­gram: BS in Legal Studies

Learn more about this fast para­le­gal degree program!

What If I Don’t Want an Accelerated Paralegal Degree?

Many peo­ple are inter­est­ed in legal stud­ies but do not have the time or incli­na­tion to do a full bach­e­lor’s degree. Thank­ful­ly, many col­leges offer legal stud­ies cer­tifi­cate pro­grams online for peo­ple in this sit­u­a­tion. Whether you already have a bach­e­lor’s degree in anoth­er field or sim­ply want to sup­ple­ment your cre­den­tials, a legal stud­ies cer­tifi­cate is a great option.

There are even accred­it­ed online para­le­gal cer­tifi­cate pro­grams avail­able to inter­est­ed stu­dents. These pro­grams, because they are offered by accred­it­ed schools, are worth much more than sim­i­lar online para­le­gal cer­tifi­cate pro­grams to employ­ers. Employ­ers in the legal field gen­er­al­ly do check into their employ­ee’s cre­den­tials, so it is vital that legal stu­dents enroll in accred­it­ed online para­le­gal cer­tifi­cate programs.

Gen­er­al­ly, legal stud­ies degrees are the most com­mon type of cre­den­tials among para­le­gals. This is because many col­leges did not offer a bach­e­lor’s degree in para­le­gal stud­ies until recent­ly. In recent years, quite a few insti­tu­tions, espe­cial­ly online edu­ca­tion-focused insti­tu­tions, have offered para­le­gal stud­ies pro­grams online at the bach­e­lor degree lev­el.

Com­par­ing legal stud­ies vs para­le­gal stud­ies pro­grams can be a lit­tle tricky. Often, these pro­grams are very sim­i­lar. The most com­mon dif­fer­ence is that para­le­gal stud­ies pro­grams are aimed at this spe­cif­ic legal occu­pa­tion. Para­le­gal stud­ies bach­e­lor’s degree usu­al­ly even include para­le­gal cer­ti­fi­ca­tion, which legal stud­ies bach­e­lor degrees usu­al­ly don’t. The thing that often jumps out when com­par­ing legal stud­ies vs para­le­gal stud­ies pro­grams is the more gen­er­al focus of legal stud­ies programs.

One thing that is impor­tant to keep in mind when com­par­ing these two types of pro­grams is the def­i­n­i­tion of para­le­gal. Many dif­fer­ent legal pro­fes­sion­als are col­lo­qui­al­ly called para­le­gals. How­ev­er, only cer­ti­fied pro­fes­sion­als are tech­ni­cal­ly para­le­gals. This def­i­n­i­tion of para­le­gal applies to para­le­gal stud­ies pro­grams, because these pro­grams do incor­po­rate the cer­ti­fi­ca­tion that clas­si­fies legal pro­fes­sion­als as paralegals.

An ABA-approved para­le­gal edu­ca­tion will typ­i­cal­ly include course­work in:

  • legal research
  • crim­i­nal law
  • legal doc­u­ments
  • fam­i­ly law
  • intel­lec­tu­al property
  • legal ser­vices
  • legal sys­tem
  • legal tech­nol­o­gy
  • legal writ­ing
  • torts
  • civ­il lit­i­ga­tion and civ­il procedure
  • per­son­al injury law

In addi­tion to elec­tives, stu­dents may also take intern­ships in law firms, law office, real estate firms, and oth­er busi­ness­es. You may study full-time or part-time. If you’re tak­en care of pre­req­ui­sites at com­mu­ni­ty col­lege with a para­le­gal asso­ciate of arts or a para­le­gal stud­ies cer­tifi­cate, you may qual­i­fy for a degree com­ple­tion pro­gram. That way, you can fin­ish your bach­e­lor of arts or bach­e­lor of sci­ence in just a year to start your para­le­gal career.

Keep in mind, as a licensed para­le­gal, you will need to con­tin­ue your pro­fes­sion­al devel­op­ment. The para­le­gal pro­fes­sion changes over time, so to keep your para­le­gal job, you’ll need to keep up.

Quite a few col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties offer both crim­i­nal jus­tice and legal stud­ies pro­grams. It can be con­fus­ing for prospec­tive stu­dents who are plan­ning to go into the legal sec­tor and need to com­pare legal stud­ies vs crim­i­nal jus­tice. The legal stud­ies vs crim­i­nal jus­tice com­par­i­son is fur­ther com­pli­cat­ed by the fact that some crim­i­nal jus­tice pro­grams actu­al­ly have a spe­cial­iza­tion in legal studies.

The sim­plest way to explain the dif­fer­ence between legal stud­ies and crim­i­nal jus­tice is that legal stud­ies if for peo­ple who want to go into law, and crim­i­nal jus­tice is for peo­ple who want to go into law enforce­ment. Many peo­ple say that legal stud­ies is for lawyers and crim­i­nal jus­tice is for cops, but this is an over­sim­pli­fi­ca­tion. There are many dif­fer­ent pro­fes­sions that these degrees can pre­pare a grad­u­ate for.

It is pos­si­ble to get a degree in legal stud­ies and become a police offi­cer or anoth­er type of law enforce­ment offi­cer. In fact, many law enforce­ment offi­cers work­ing for gov­ern­ment agen­cies actu­al­ly have legal stud­ies degrees. It is more com­mon for reg­u­lar police offi­cers to have crim­i­nal jus­tice degrees, but many police depart­ments do not require a crim­i­nal jus­tice degree. A legal stud­ies degree would actu­al­ly be a good option for a police offi­cer who wants to move into a man­age­ment posi­tion with­in the police depart­ment, which may require respon­si­bil­i­ties rel­e­vant to a legal stud­ies degree.

Just as a legal stud­ies degree does not bar any­one from becom­ing a police offi­cer, a crim­i­nal jus­tice degree does not keep any­one from going into the legal indus­try. In fact, a crim­i­nal jus­tice degree may be a good choice. Some­one who plans on becom­ing a pub­lic pros­e­cu­tor, for exam­ple, may want to think about a crim­i­nal jus­tice degree instead of a legal stud­ies degree.

Relat­ed Rankings:

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Para­le­gal Degree Pro­grams
15 Best Online Para­le­gal Degree Bach­e­lor’s Pro­grams
10 Most Afford­able Para­le­gal Degree Bach­e­lor Programs