Online Bachelor’s Degree Scholarships and Financial Aid 2025

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• Online learn­ing has surged by 900% since 2000 due to its afford­abil­i­ty, flex­i­bil­i­ty, and increas­ing qual­i­ty, mak­ing it a top choice in mod­ern high­er education.
• Despite poten­tial cost sav­ings, pur­su­ing an online bachelor’s degree can still be expen­sive, so access­ing finan­cial aid—including fed­er­al and state grants, schol­ar­ships, and employ­er assistance—is essential.
• Eli­gi­bil­i­ty for most finan­cial aid depends on enroll­ment in an accred­it­ed pro­gram and time­ly sub­mis­sion of appli­ca­tions like the FAFSA and schol­ar­ship forms.
• Max­i­miz­ing aid requires proac­tive plan­ning, using tools and data­bas­es to find oppor­tu­ni­ties, and care­ful­ly craft­ing and sub­mit­ting strong, time­ly applications.

Did you know that online learn­ing has grown 900% since 2000? Indeed, it’s the fastest-grow­ing sec­tor in the edu­ca­tion industry.

This isn’t sur­pris­ing because online learn­ing has many advan­tages, including:

• Afford­abil­i­ty. Save on tuition, trans­porta­tion, and book expens­es, among others.
• Flex­i­bil­i­ty. Access your learn­ing mate­ri­als any­time, any­where via an Inter­net-con­nect­ed com­put­er. Bal­anc­ing work, stud­ies, and fam­i­ly life becomes easier.
• Qual­i­ty. An online col­lege edu­ca­tion from an accred­it­ed insti­tu­tion is rec­og­nized by industries.

Anoth­er advan­tage is the grow­ing num­ber of online bach­e­lor’s degree schol­ar­ships. How­ev­er, these aren’t the only options in finan­cial aid for online stu­dents. You’ll also find fed­er­al and state aid as well as grants and employ­er assistance.

Here, we’ll help you find the best avail­able finan­cial aid to fund your online edu­ca­tion. So, read on and save mon­ey lat­er on.

Relat­ed:

• Top Schol­ar­ships for Nurs­ing Students
• Smart Mon­ey Tips for Stu­dents: Finan­cial­ly Plan­ning for your Bachelor’s Degree
• The Most Afford­able Online Degrees with High ROI
• Mil­i­tary and Vet­er­an Edu­ca­tion Ben­e­fits for Degree Completion

Understanding the Cost of Online Bachelor’s Degrees

The cost of atten­dance in an online bach­e­lor’s degree pro­gram depends on sev­er­al factors:

• Type of insti­tu­tion. Pub­lic uni­ver­si­ties are usu­al­ly more afford­able than pri­vate institutions.
• Res­i­den­cy sta­tus. Res­i­dent stu­dents usu­al­ly pay more afford­able tuition and fees than non-res­i­dent students.
• Field of study. STEM, health­care, and busi­ness pro­grams are more expen­sive than oth­er disciplines.

With that said, the aver­age tuition and fees for online bach­e­lor’s degree pro­grams is $200-$600/credit hour. So, online stu­dents can spend $24,000-$70,000 in aver­age tuition and fees for a four-year stay.

Find­ing tuition assis­tance for online degrees remains essen­tial due to the sig­nif­i­cant cost.

But online stu­dents can enjoy sig­nif­i­cant sav­ings, too. Many cam­pus-relat­ed costs aren’t on their cost of atten­dance, including:

• On-cam­pus hous­ing and meal plans
• Trans­porta­tion
• Cam­pus fees

These cam­pus-relat­ed costs can add $10,000 to $15,000 to the cost of attendance.

Even with these sav­ings, it’s still a great idea to explore the online degree finan­cial aid 2025 has to offer. Many stu­dents and their fam­i­lies still strug­gle with the cost of col­lege. Finan­cial aid makes col­lege more afford­able and, thus, accessible.

Federal Financial Aid for Online Students

The first option for finan­cial aid for online stu­dents, the Free Appli­ca­tion for Fed­er­al Stu­dent Aid (FAFSA), is an offi­cial form that serves as the gate­way for fed­er­al stu­dent aid.

How­ev­er, the FAFSA for online col­lege is only for accred­it­ed insti­tu­tions. Check if the online col­lege you’re inter­est­ed in has Title IV eli­gi­bil­i­ty and valid accred­i­ta­tion. Check the US Depart­ment of Edu­ca­tion’s list to be sure.

Sub­mit­ting a com­plete and accu­rate FAFSA on or before the dead­line is a must. Oth­er­wise, you’ll miss out on among the best options in online degree finan­cial aid 2025.

Here’s a basic step-by-step guide to apply­ing for FAFSA in 2025.

• Gath­er the required doc­u­ments (e.g., tax returns and Social Secu­ri­ty numbers).
• Cre­ate your FSA ID at the studentaid.gov website.
• Use your FSA ID and log in to the FAFSA form.
• Click on the 2025–2026 appli­ca­tion year.
• Fill in the required information.
• Check for com­plete­ness and accu­ra­cy of information.
• Sub­mit and con­firm your FAFSA submission.
• Check your SAR and fol­low the next steps.

The types of fed­er­al aid avail­able are:

• Pell Grants
• Sub­si­dized and unsub­si­dized loans
• Fed­er­al work-study

Under­stand their eli­gi­bil­i­ty require­ments so you can max­i­mize your time and finan­cial aid.

Grants for Online Bachelor’s Degree Students

Grants are a type of finan­cial aid for online stu­dents that don’t need to be repaid. Think of them as free mon­ey because you can do it as you wish or as the pro­gram requires.

Loans are dif­fer­ent from grants for online bach­e­lor’s degrees. You must repay the mon­ey you received through loans at a future time. Loans typ­i­cal­ly include inter­est charges, late pay­ment fees, and a spec­i­fied repay­ment period.

There are many types of grants, as well, depend­ing on the grantor.

Fed­er­al and state gov­ern­ments award grants like the:

• Fed­er­al Pell Grant
• FSEOG
• TEACH Grant
• Cal Grant (Cal­i­for­nia), Mass­Grant (Mass­a­chu­setts), and TAP (New York)

Insti­tu­tion­al and pri­vate grant-mak­ing orga­ni­za­tions include:

• Col­leges and universities
• Cor­po­ra­tions
• Non­prof­its and char­i­ta­ble foundations
• Pro­fes­sion­al associations/industry organizations

Explore your options because there are plen­ty of them wait­ing to be discovered.

Scholarships for Online College Students

Like grants, schol­ar­ships for online col­lege stu­dents are free mon­ey. Col­leges, cor­po­ra­tions, and pri­vate orga­ni­za­tions are among their grantors as well. Gov­ern­ment agen­cies, such as the VA and NSF, also offer them.

There are many types of schol­ar­ships, as follows:

• Mer­it-based schol­ar­ships online are based on aca­d­e­m­ic achieve­ment, lead­er­ship poten­tial, artis­tic tal­ents, or ath­let­ic skills.
• Need-based aid for online stu­dents is based on demon­strat­ed finan­cial need. The FAFSA is usu­al­ly used as the main ref­er­ence document.
• Iden­ti­ty-based schol­ar­ships wel­come appli­ca­tions from minor­i­ty groups, first-gen stu­dents, and women in STEM, among others.
• Field-spe­cif­ic schol­ar­ships are award­ed to online stu­dents pur­su­ing spe­cif­ic degrees. Nurs­ing, edu­ca­tion, and busi­ness schol­ar­ships are among the most common.

Schol­ar­ships can cov­er tuition and fees, as well as indi­rect costs (e.g., room and board, liv­ing expens­es). As a result, these free funds reduce the finan­cial bur­den of ris­ing col­lege costs.

Accredited Online College Scholarships in 2025

Again, accred­i­ta­tion is cru­cial for access­ing fed­er­al and state aid, as well as insti­tu­tion­al schol­ar­ships. Region­al accred­i­ta­tion is pre­ferred because of its uni­ver­sal accep­tance. Nation­al accred­i­ta­tion is also accept­able, but not all insti­tu­tions with it are Title IV eligible.

Here are well-known uni­ver­si­ties that offer online bach­e­lor’s degree scholarships:

• Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty Online
• Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty Global
• Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da Online
• Ore­gon State Uni­ver­si­ty Ecampus
• Uni­ver­si­ty of Mary­land Glob­al Campus

Get­ting as many accred­it­ed online col­lege schol­ar­ships as you can demands care­ful planning.

• Sub­mit your com­plete and accu­rate FAFSA on time.
• Use schol­ar­ship data­bas­es, such as Fast­Web, to explore your options.
• Vis­it your online col­lege’s finan­cial aid page. Talk to a finan­cial aid offi­cer about your options, too.
• Com­plete schol­ar­ship appli­ca­tions and sub­mit them on or before the deadline.
• Fol­low up on your applications.

Corporate and Employer Tuition Assistance

Many cor­po­ra­tions also offer tuition assis­tance for online degrees for their employ­ees. These schol­ar­ships are viewed as an invest­ment in their human resources.

These are among the best-known cor­po­rate tuition assis­tance pro­grams today:

• Ama­zon Career Choice
• Star­bucks Col­lege Achieve­ment Plan
• Wal­mart Live Bet­ter U
• UPS Earn & Learn

Here are use­ful tips to take advan­tage of these schol­ar­ships for online college.

• Ask your human resources offi­cer for information.
• Research your com­pa­ny’s edu­ca­tion ben­e­fits, too.
• Check if you’re an eli­gi­ble can­di­date. If not, ask how you can rem­e­dy it, if possible.
• Sub­mit your appli­ca­tion on or before the deadline.

Keep these tips in mind when talk­ing to your human resource depart­ment, too.

• Pre­pare spe­cif­ic ques­tions about the eli­gi­bil­i­ty require­ments, terms, and conditions.
• High­light your eli­gi­bil­i­ty and good fit. Dis­cuss the ben­e­fits that the com­pa­ny can enjoy through your edu­ca­tion, too.
• Be pro­fes­sion­al in your approach.

Private and Nonprofit Scholarship Sources

Find online bach­e­lor’s degree schol­ar­ships offered by nation­al and pri­vate orga­ni­za­tions, too, through:

• Bold.org
• Fast­web
• Col­lege Board Schol­ar­ship Search
• Niche
• Chegg Schol­ar­ships

Non­prof­its and char­i­ta­ble foun­da­tions also offer schol­ar­ships for online col­lege students.

• Gates Mil­len­ni­um Schol­ars Program
• Dell Schol­ars Program
• Jack Kent Cooke Foundation
• Hor­a­tio Alger Association
• The Coca-Cola Schol­ars Program

Here are tips on writ­ing strong schol­ar­ship essays and meet­ing deadlines:

• Start ear­ly so you have plen­ty of time to cre­ate a strong application.
• Answer the essay prompts clear­ly and directly.
• High­light your indi­vid­ual strengths and unique sto­ry. Use per­son­al insights and anecdotes.
• Seek feed­back from your teach­ers and mentors.
• Keep track of dead­lines through dig­i­tal apps. Set alerts and reminders.

State and Regional Aid Programs for Online Students

As pre­vi­ous­ly stat­ed, many states offer grants for online bach­e­lor’s degrees. Eli­gi­bil­i­ty require­ments vary. State res­i­den­cy and using only in-state online col­leges are common.

Oth­er notable exam­ples include:

• Hope Schol­ar­ship (Geor­gia)
• Texas Tuition Equal­iza­tion Grant (Texas)
• LEAP (Ari­zona)
• Bright Futures Schol­ar­ship (Flori­da)

Both mer­it-based and need-based aid for online stu­dents are avail­able under state grants.

Application Tips and Common Mistakes to Avoid

Yes, finan­cial aid for online stu­dents eas­es the finan­cial bur­den. How­ev­er, it also comes with chal­lenges, par­tic­u­lar­ly the stiff com­pe­ti­tion for free mon­ey. Cer­tain grants and schol­ar­ships, such as FSEOG and fed­er­al work-study, are on a first-come, first-served basis, too.

Here are appli­ca­tion tips that you can adopt to avoid com­mon mistakes.

• Start ear­ly to ensure you have ample time to com­plete the appli­ca­tion process.
• Keep track of dead­lines by using dig­i­tal tools. 
• Under­stand FAFSA for online col­lege and its appli­ca­tion process.
• Sub­mit tai­lored essays, a resume, and a per­son­al state­ment with every application.
• Dou­ble-check your appli­ca­tion form and its sup­port­ing doc­u­ments before submitting.
• Sub­mit before the dead­line, if pos­si­ble, so you’ll still have time to cor­rect mistakes.

Summary: Maximizing Aid for Online Degrees in 2025

Fed­er­al and state aid, schol­ar­ships, grants, and employ­er assis­tance are the best online degree finan­cial aid 2025 has to offer. Explore all pos­si­ble options — every cent counts.

Be sure, too, that you’re enrolled in an accred­it­ed pro­gram. Sub­mit­ting ear­ly appli­ca­tions is also essen­tial for increased suc­cess in online bach­e­lor’s degree schol­ar­ships and oth­er forms of finan­cial aid.

The more finan­cial aid you can get toward your col­lege edu­ca­tion, the less your stu­dent loan debt can be.