The 10 Best Online Bachelor Degree Programs

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.


Fin­ish­ing a bach­e­lor’s degree is a momen­tous step­ping stone to open­ing high­er-skilled and bet­ter-pay­ing jobs in today’s com­pet­i­tive mar­ket! Research has sup­port­ed that bach­e­lor’s-lev­el work­ers enjoy improved job secu­ri­ty, eco­nom­ic sta­bil­i­ty, and satisfaction.

This arti­cle was orig­i­nal­ly pub­lished in July 2023 and last updat­ed in March 2024.

The Amer­i­can Jour­nal of Pub­lic Health even showed that earn­ing a bach­e­lor’s boosts your health. Not all bach­e­lor’s pro­grams are cre­at­ed equal though. Online stu­dents need to care­ful­ly watch out for so-called diplo­ma mills offer­ing unac­cred­it­ed education. 

Although fol­low­ing your dreams is impor­tant, side­step­ping col­lege majors with low grad­u­ate prospects is equal­ly so. In this arti­cle, we’ll high­light the Top 10 Online Bach­e­lor’s Degree Pro­grams offer­ing qual­i­ty prepa­ra­tion for grow­ing industries.

In the Unit­ed States, more than 2.6 mil­lion stu­dents are enrolled exclu­sive­ly in online cours­es. Study­ing in an online bach­e­lor’s pro­gram is an excel­lent way to fit col­lege class­es with­in your jam-packed schedule. 

With the best online bach­e­lor’s pro­grams, you’ll gain 24/7 access to course­work and an inter­ac­tive vir­tu­al class­room for self-paced learn­ing. Whether you’re a recent high school grad­u­ate, trans­fer stu­dent, or career chang­er, con­sid­er pur­su­ing one of these online bach­e­lor’s degrees on our Top 10 Online Bach­e­lor’s Degree Pro­grams to ensure you max­i­mize your bach­e­lor’s degree edu­ca­tion and experience! 

We fea­ture only online edu­ca­tion insti­tu­tions accred­it­ed by the Col­leges and Schools Commission.

Methodology: The Best Online Bachelor’s Degree Programs

To cre­ate our rank­ing, we began by review­ing Forbes’ list of the bach­e­lor’s degrees with the high­est salary poten­tial. We focused on fields where mid-career income is above-aver­age for a good return on investment. 

Since job prospects after grad­u­a­tion are cru­cial, we then looked for fields with fast employ­ment growth accord­ing to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. 

Next, we con­sult­ed the U.S. News and World Report’s sur­vey of online bach­e­lor’s pro­grams. We scoured these high-rank­ing col­leges for 100 per­cent online under­grad­u­ate degrees in lucra­tive, in-demand majors. For afford­abil­i­ty, we nixed any pro­grams cost­ing above $2,000 per credit. 

We also focused on online uni­ver­si­ties with aver­age reten­tion rates bet­ter than 35% to judge stu­dent satisfaction.

With­out fur­ther delay, here are our picks of the Top 10 Online Bach­e­lor’s Degree Programs.

1. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

Degree at a Glance

Online Pro­gram Offered: Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Engi­neer­ing Tech­nol­o­gy
Cred­its Required to Grad­u­ate: 122
Costs per Cred­it Hour: $1,767
Accep­tance Rate: 72%
Grad­u­a­tion Rate: 62%
Reten­tion Rate: 82%

Rec­og­nized for Amer­i­ca’s #1 online bach­e­lor’s pro­grams, Embry-Rid­dle Aero­nau­ti­cal Uni­ver­si­ty is locat­ed in Day­tona Beach and is the largest avi­a­tion-focused col­lege glob­al­ly. The 122-cred­it Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Engi­neer­ing Tech­nol­o­gy is par­tic­u­lar­ly notable for using vir­tu­al labs to pre­pare for the Fun­da­men­tals of Engi­neer­ing exam. In-demand con­cen­tra­tions are offered like: 

  • Avi­a­tion Safety
  • Man­age­ment Infor­ma­tion Systems
  • Occu­pa­tion­al Health
  • Unmanned Aer­i­al Systems

What makes this pro­gram great is qual­i­ty aca­d­e­mics in a lucra­tive career field that pre­pares online learn­ers for the Nation­al Coun­cil of Exam­in­ers for Engi­neer­ing and Sur­vey­ings Fun­da­men­tals of Engi­neer­ing exam.

2. Penn State World Campus

Degree at a Glance

Online Pro­gram Offered: Bach­e­lor of Arts in Ener­gy and Sus­tain­abil­i­ty Pol­i­cy
Cred­its Required to Grad­u­ate: 120
Costs per Cred­it Hour: $626
Accep­tance Rate: 54%
Grad­u­a­tion Rate: 70%
Reten­tion Rate: 62%

Enrolling over 100,000 glob­al learn­ers, Penn­syl­va­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty is a pre­mier pri­vate, research insti­tu­tion with the nation’s sec­ond top online bach­e­lor’s degrees. The World Cam­pus offers the Bach­e­lor of Arts in Ener­gy and Sus­tain­abil­i­ty Pol­i­cy, a pro­gram that won the Sloan‑C Out­stand­ing Pro­gram Award. 

Online stu­dents com­plete 120 cred­its to pre­pare for fast-grow­ing “green” jobs pro­tect­ing the envi­ron­ment with sus­tain­abil­i­ty in a rapid­ly grow­ing indus­try. Com­ple­tion of this pro­gram pro­vides the edu­ca­tion­al basis need­ed to per­form with­in both gov­ern­men­tal and pri­vate agen­cies, ener­gy com­pa­nies, and ener­gy trade commissions/organizations.

The Sloan Con­sor­tium des­ig­na­tion as an Out­stand­ing Online Pro­gram proves this is a great learn­ing oppor­tu­ni­ty with­in a dynam­ic major.

3. Western Kentucky University

Degree at a Glance

Online Pro­gram Offered: B.S. in Com­put­er Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy
Cred­its Required to Grad­u­ate: 120
Costs per Cred­it Hour: $551
Accep­tance Rate: 99%
Grad­u­a­tion Rate: 48%
Reten­tion Rate: 92%

Locat­ed in Bowl­ing Green, West­ern Ken­tucky Uni­ver­si­ty is an accred­it­ed pub­lic col­lege serv­ing over 21,000 stu­dents. The U.S. News ranked West­ern Ken­tucky Uni­ver­si­ty third for online pro­grams, includ­ing its B.S. in Com­put­er Infor­ma­tion Technology. 

This 120-cred­it degree opens doors for high-tech careers like net­work engi­neer­ing, com­put­er secu­ri­ty, web devel­op­ment, and data­base admin­is­tra­tion. There’s a 2+2 track for online stu­dents with an asso­ciate tech­nol­o­gy degree who want to advance to high­er degree fields. 

All pro­grams at West­ern Ken­tucky Uni­ver­si­ty are accred­it­ed by the South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools Com­mis­sion on Col­leges and all online bach­e­lor pro­grams ranked #55 for the Best Online Bach­e­lor’s of 2022 by the U.S. News and World Report.

4. Arizona State University

Degree at a Glance

Online Pro­gram Offered: Online Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Engi­neer­ing in Elec­tri­cal Engi­neer­ing
Cred­its Required to Grad­u­ate: 120
Costs per Cred­it Hour: $561–$1,343 per cred­it hour depend­ing on the pro­gram cho­sen
Accep­tance Rate: 88%
Grad­u­a­tion Rate: 66%
Reten­tion Rate: 68%

Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty is a met­ro­pol­i­tan, pub­lic RU/VH research insti­tu­tion edu­cat­ing over 13,750 online stu­dents from its sun­ny Tempe cam­pus. Among the nation’s 11th best online pro­grams is the B.S.E. in Elec­tri­cal Engi­neer­ing. The ABET-accred­it­ed pro­gram uses sim­u­la­tion tools to equip stu­dents for lucra­tive jobs in pow­er production. 

Over 10 terms, online learn­ers take tech­ni­cal elec­tives from dig­i­tal cir­cuits to wire­less com­mu­ni­ca­tions. Pro­grams avail­able online at Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty are accred­it­ed by the High­er Learn­ing Com­mis­sion of the North Cen­tral Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools. 

Addi­tion­al­ly, the B.S.E. in Elec­tri­cal Engi­neer­ing is accred­it­ed by the Engi­neer­ing Accred­i­ta­tion Com­mis­sion of ABET.

5. Pace University

Degree at a Glance

Online Pro­gram Offered: B.B.A. in Busi­ness Stud­ies
Cred­its Required to Grad­u­ate: 120
Costs per Cred­it Hour: $1,075
Accep­tance Rate: 88%
Grad­u­a­tion Rate: 57%
Reten­tion Rate: 73%

Found­ed in 1906, Pace Uni­ver­si­ty is a pri­vate, non-sec­tar­i­an insti­tu­tion in New York City with 12,700 stu­dents which is in a tie for Amer­i­ca’s 11th Best Online Bach­e­lor’s Pro­gram per the US World & News Report. 

With­in the Asso­ci­a­tion to Advance Col­le­giate Schools of Busi­ness (AACSB) accred­it­ed Lubin School of Busi­ness, there’s a 100% online B.B.A. in Busi­ness Stud­ies suit­able for every stu­dent inter­est­ed in an online degree. 

Con­cen­tra­tions Available:

  • Mar­ket­ing and Management
  • Finance

Orig­i­nal­ly designed for asso­ciate busi­ness degree hold­ers, this three-year part-time degree pro­gram, teach­es online stu­dents the research and crit­i­cal think­ing skills to assess con­sumer behav­ior as well as the the­o­ries for fast-grow­ing mar­ket­ing jobs.

6. Regent University

Degree at a Glance

Online Pro­gram Offered: B.S. in Cyber­se­cu­ri­ty
Cred­its Required to Grad­u­ate: 120+
Costs per Cred­it Hour: $395
Accep­tance Rate: 41%
Grad­u­a­tion Rate: 29%
Reten­tion Rate: 77%

Giv­en an “A” rat­ing from the Amer­i­can Coun­cil of Trustees and Alum­ni (ACTA,) Regent Uni­ver­si­ty is an accred­it­ed pri­vate, non-prof­it Chris­t­ian insti­tu­tion serv­ing over 6,000 diverse stu­dents from Vir­ginia Beach. The U.S. News rec­og­nizes Regent for the 17th Top Online Bach­e­lor’s Studies. 

One par­tic­u­lar­ly in-demand pro­gram is the Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Cyber­se­cu­ri­ty. This 120-cred­it, online cur­ricu­lum trains stu­dents as dig­i­tal foren­sics experts to safe­guard net­works against cybercrime. 

Par­tic­i­pants learn, through eth­i­cal prin­ci­ples, the the­o­ret­i­cal and crit­i­cal think­ing skills need­ed to cre­ate, exe­cute, and pro­tect the integri­ty of data through a dig­i­tal secu­ri­ty strategy. 

7. University of Nebraska — Omaha

Degree at a Glance

Online Pro­gram Offered: Bach­e­lor of Gen­er­al Stud­ies in Geron­tol­ogy Online
Cred­its Required to Grad­u­ate: 121
Costs per Cred­it Hour: $268
Accep­tance Rate: 87%
Grad­u­a­tion Rate: 49%
Reten­tion Rate: 77%

Con­cen­tra­tions Offered: 

  • Geron­tol­ogy: Administration
  • Healthy Aging
  • Pre-Health

Serv­ing over 12,200 stu­dents, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Nebras­ka-Oma­ha is a pub­lic, urban doc­tor­al-grant­i­ng research insti­tu­tion hous­ing the coun­try’s 17th Best Online Bach­e­lor’s per the U.S. News and World Report. The Divi­sion of Con­tin­u­ing Stud­ies offers a Bach­e­lor of Gen­er­al Stud­ies in Geron­tol­ogy online. 

This 120-cred­it inter­dis­ci­pli­nary major pre­pares stu­dents for fast-grow­ing human ser­vice jobs with aging baby boomers. At least 156 practicum hours are arranged in local place­ment agen­cies guar­an­tee­ing the real-life work expe­ri­ences need­ed to advance as a pro­fes­sion­al after graduation.

8. University of Central Florida

Degree at a Glance

Online Pro­gram Offered: Online Health Ser­vices Admin­is­tra­tion, BS
Cred­its Required to Grad­u­ate: 120
Costs per Cred­it Hour: $179.19
Accep­tance Rate: 41%
Grad­u­a­tion Rate: 76%
Reten­tion Rate: 90%

Endowed for $155 mil­lion, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Cen­tral Flori­da has the Unit­ed States’ largest under­grad­u­ate enroll­ment with 52,500 pupils study­ing in Orlan­do and online. The B.S. Health Ser­vices Admin­is­tra­tion stands out among the coun­try’s 20th online bach­e­lor’s programs. 

Upper-divi­sion stu­dents in this 120-cred­it pro­gram devel­op man­age­r­i­al skills for prof­itable careers man­ag­ing health orga­ni­za­tions. The Asso­ci­a­tion of Uni­ver­si­ty Pro­grams in Health Admin­is­tra­tion (AUPHA) approved degree includes one on-cam­pus, real-life work expe­ri­ence-based internship.

9. Fort Hays State University

Degree at a Glance

Online Pro­gram Offered: Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Com­put­er Sci­ence
Cred­its Required to Grad­u­ate: 120
Costs per Cred­it Hour: $242.76
Accep­tance Rate: 90%
Grad­u­a­tion Rate: 68%
Reten­tion Rate: 78%

Relat­ed Degrees Offered:

  • Bach­e­lor’s Degree (B.S. or B.A.) in Infor­ma­tion Net­work­ing and Telecommunications
  • Bach­e­lor’s Degree (B.S. or B.A.) in Infor­ma­tion Net­work­ing and Telecom­mu­ni­ca­tions, Infor­ma­tion Systems

Gov­erned by the Kansas Board of Regents, Fort Hays State Uni­ver­si­ty is a pub­lic, co-ed col­lege edu­cat­ing over 11,200 stu­dents and grant­i­ng Amer­i­ca’s 24th Best Online Bach­e­lor’s Degrees. The Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Com­put­er Sci­ence will be online with an empha­sis on tracks in Busi­ness or Networking. 

The 120-cred­it pro­gram devel­ops the tech­ni­cal know-how for the thriv­ing com­put­ing industry.

10. Indiana University

Degree at a Glance

Online Pro­gram Offered: Online Bach­e­lor of Arts in Eng­lish
Cred­its Required to Grad­u­ate: 120
Costs per Cred­it Hour: $
Accep­tance Rate: 85%
Grad­u­a­tion Rate: 79%
Reten­tion Rate: 91%

Con­cen­tra­tion Offered:

  • Tech­ni­cal and Pro­fes­sion­al Writing

Named Newsweek’s “Hottest Big State School” in 2005, Indi­ana Uni­ver­si­ty serves over 7,300 stu­dents ful­ly online in over 100 online pro­grams, includ­ing the coun­try’s 39th Best Online Bachelor’s. 

The Tech­ni­cal and Pro­fes­sion­al Writ­ing B.A. is a unique degree com­ple­tion pro­gram teach­ing stu­dents to write with accu­ra­cy, clar­i­ty, and finesse. Unlike most Eng­lish majors, this 20-course pro­gram focus­es on the fast-grow­ing demand for tech­ni­cal writers.

Why Are Some Bachelor’s Degrees Better Suited to Online Learning Than Others?

If you have been search­ing for degree pro­grams to meet your needs, you will soon find that schools do not offer every degree with an online option. The rea­son for this is that some degrees are sim­ply bet­ter suit­ed to an online mod­el than oth­ers. There can be a few dif­fer­ent fac­tors that con­tribute to this.

Degrees that do not require any prac­ti­cals or clin­i­cals are often con­sid­ered the best online degree pro­grams. Prac­ti­cals and clin­i­cals will require stu­dents to spend time out­side of the class­room get­ting on-site train­ing. This is often seen with teach­ing degrees and med­ical degrees. If you are look­ing for the best online degrees, you will want to find pro­grams that do not require this type of addi­tion­al training.

Many stu­dents want to com­plete their entire degree online and this is pos­si­ble with some of the best online bach­e­lor degrees from rep­utable online universities.

Many stu­dents want to com­plete their entire degree online and this is pos­si­ble with some of the best online bach­e­lor degrees from rep­utable online uni­ver­si­ties. High­er edu­ca­tion doesn’t just have to be full-time, in-state, and in-per­son — the best online col­leges offer four-year and grad­u­ate degree pro­grams for all. Start with a diplo­ma or an asso­ciate degree. 

Online school can be asyn­chro­nous for out-of-state dis­tance learn­ers and still be high-qual­i­ty. Whether you want a pub­lic uni­ver­si­ty or a pri­vate non­prof­it, there is an online mas­ter’s or bach­e­lor’s pro­gram for you. Social sci­ences, busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion, social work, minors, and any spe­cial­iza­tion you can imag­ine are available.

What Makes a Good Online Degree Program?

Some of the best online bach­e­lor’s degree pro­grams will have cer­tain char­ac­ter­is­tics in com­mon. You will want to look for a degree pro­gram that is offered by a rep­utable school. 

Usu­al­ly, a rep­utable school will have a phys­i­cal cam­pus in oper­a­tion as well as online class­es. On-cam­pus stu­dents are one way of rec­og­niz­ing a rep­utable col­lege. You will also want to look for a school that is ful­ly accred­it­ed for under­grad­u­ate stu­dents. This will ensure that the edu­ca­tion you are get­ting will trans­late into a degree that is respect­ed and rec­og­nized by employers.

You also want to find a school that works with fed­er­al finan­cial aid pro­grams. A school that does not work with these pro­grams may not be rep­utable and you may find it dif­fi­cult to pay for edu­ca­tion­al expens­es with­out the help of fed­er­al edu­ca­tion­al programs.

Anoth­er fac­tor will be the types of expens­es that will be includ­ed. Prospec­tive stu­dents should be aware of many online pro­grams that come with a lot of hid­den fees. Any under­grad­u­ate stu­den­t’s tuition or fees you pay should be rel­e­vant to the online pro­gram you are receiving.

The best online bach­e­lor’s degrees will also part­ner with many employ­er reim­burse­ment pro­grams. These are pro­grams that work with employ­ers to cov­er part of your tuition. Be sure to talk with your employ­er to find out if they par­tic­i­pate in these pro­grams to cov­er your online bach­e­lor’s degree.

Good online degree pro­grams will also pro­vide an online learn­ing mod­el that is easy to fol­low and is very acces­si­ble to all stu­dents. Prospec­tive stu­dents, beware of pro­grams that might require you to pur­chase expen­sive tech­nol­o­gy or down­load soft­ware that comes at addi­tion­al expense. 

Most qual­i­ty online degree pro­grams can be con­duct­ed with a qual­i­ty com­put­er and a qual­i­ty inter­net connection.

Do Public or Private Colleges Have Better Online Degrees?

Both pub­lic and pri­vate col­leges offer online bach­e­lor’s degree pro­grams. The qual­i­ty of an online pro­gram is often com­pa­ra­ble to the qual­i­ty of the school. A good qual­i­ty pub­lic school can offer a good qual­i­ty online edu­ca­tion, just as a qual­i­ty pri­vate school can as well; accred­it­ed online col­leges will have sim­i­lar quality. 

The best way to know if you are enrolling in the best online bach­e­lor’s degree pro­grams will be to read reviews and talk with under­grad­u­ate stu­dents who have expe­ri­ence with the pro­gram you are considering.

Cost is impor­tant, though. If you have a high school diplo­ma, on-cam­pus pro­grams might be the old stan­dard, but online stu­dents pay less for the same edu­ca­tion. An online bach­e­lor’s degree cost is usu­al­ly low­er at a pub­lic col­lege, and accred­it­ed online col­leges can save you a lot. An online col­lege degree can be a great value!