• 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.

top online bachelor's in engineering

Engi­neer­ing is a large sci­en­tif­ic branch focused on the prac­ti­cal design and build­ing of struc­tures or machines. Web tech­nol­o­gy has enabled online stu­dents to earn their online ABET engi­neer­ing degree. Although some on-cam­pus labs may be required, online engi­neer­ing pro­grams are pri­mar­i­ly online for flexibility. 

Orig­i­nal­ly pub­lished in Feb­ru­ary 2023, our top bach­e­lor’s in engi­neer­ing picks were updat­ed in Jan­u­ary 2024.

Engi­neer­ing is one of Amer­i­ca’s most pop­u­lar sci­ence, tech­nol­o­gy, engi­neer­ing, and math­e­mat­ics (STEM) majors. Study­ing engi­neer­ing online will make you mar­ketable for jobs in var­i­ous well-paid spe­cial­ties. To help you as you look for the edu­ca­tion­al foun­da­tion, work expe­ri­ence, and oth­er qual­i­fi­ca­tions for employ­ment as an engi­neer, we’ve out­lined the Top 10 Online Bach­e­lor’s of Engi­neer­ing Degrees in the Unit­ed States.

To make our list, we began by research­ing the lat­est online edu­ca­tion rank­ings pub­lished by the U.S. News and World Report. We looked for ranked col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties with respect­ed online bach­e­lor’s degrees. Schools were nar­rowed down based on their avail­abil­i­ty of engi­neer­ing edu­ca­tion main­ly online. 

All col­leges had to be region­al­ly accred­it­ed, but pref­er­ence was giv­en to those approved by the Accred­i­ta­tion Board for Engi­neer­ing and Tech­nol­o­gy (ABET). Aver­age year­ly under­grad­u­ate tuition was record­ed based on the NCES Col­lege Nav­i­ga­tor data­base. Oth­er impor­tant fac­tors were class size, spe­cial­iza­tions, lab learn­ing, finan­cial aid, job place­ment, trans­fer­abil­i­ty, and fac­ul­ty credentials.

Con­sid­er these Top 10 Online Bach­e­lor of Engi­neer­ing Degrees in your col­lege search for greater con­ve­nience, qual­i­ty aca­d­e­mics, and affordability:

1. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University

em

Endowed for $114 mil­lion, Embry-Rid­dle Aero­nau­ti­cal Uni­ver­si­ty is a pop­u­lar pri­vate, non-prof­it tech­ni­cal insti­tu­tion in Day­tona Beach, Flori­da, that pro­vides excel­lent avi­a­tion edu­ca­tion for many aspir­ing engineers.

Among them is a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Engi­neer­ing Tech­nol­o­gy. This 122-cred­it online degree sat­is­fies the require­ments for tak­ing the Nation­al Coun­cil of Exam­in­ers for Engi­neer­ing and Sur­vey­ing (NCEES) Fun­da­men­tals of Engi­neer­ing exam. Avail­able con­cen­tra­tions include: 

  • Avi­a­tion Safety 
  • Heli­copter Operations
  • Logis­tics Management
  • Trans­porta­tion
  • Unmanned Aer­i­al Systems

Tuition: $40,564

Learn more about Embry-Rid­dle Aero­nau­ti­cal Uni­ver­si­ty’s Online Bach­e­lor’s of Engi­neer­ing Degrees.

2. Arizona State University

azs

This online ABET engi­neer­ing degree from Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty offers three engi­neer­ing majors. List­ed among the Prince­ton Review’s “Col­leges That Cre­ate Futures,” Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty enrolls over 82,000 stu­dents as a pub­lic, met­ro­pol­i­tan RU/VH research insti­tu­tion in Tempe. 

Aspir­ing engi­neers could pur­sue a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Elec­tri­cal Engi­neer­ing, Engi­neer­ing Man­age­ment, or Soft­ware Engi­neer­ing online. The Accred­i­ta­tion Board for Engi­neer­ing and Tech­nol­o­gy (ABET) accred­it­ed Ful­ton School of Engi­neer­ing spreads the 120-cred­it cur­ricu­lum over 10 terms with vir­tu­al, real-world sim­u­la­tion labs.

Tuition: $11,618 (in-state) or $30,592 (out-of-state)

Learn more about Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty’s Online Bach­e­lor’s of Engi­neer­ing Degrees.

3. Old Dominion University

od

Named a “Best Buy” on GetEducated.com, Old Domin­ion Uni­ver­si­ty is dis­tin­guished for hav­ing the 49th Best Online Bach­e­lor’s Degree nation­al­ly by the U.S. News and World Report. 

The Bat­ten Col­lege of Engi­neer­ing offers six online con­cen­tra­tions for a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Engi­neer­ing Tech­nol­o­gy. Stu­dents can focus on: 

  • Civ­il Engineering
  • Com­put­er Engineering
  • Elec­tri­cal Engineering
  • Gen­er­al Engineering
  • Mechan­i­cal Design
  • Nuclear Sys­tems

Each Accred­i­ta­tion Board for Engi­neer­ing and Tech­nol­o­gy (ABET) accred­it­ed pro­gram leads to engi­neer­ing licen­sure in Virginia.

Tuition: $11,220 (in-state) or $31,170 (out-of-state)

Learn more about Old Domin­ion Uni­ver­si­ty’s Online Bach­e­lor’s of Engi­neer­ing Degrees.

4. Lamar University

lm

With South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools (SACS) and Accred­i­ta­tion Board of Engi­neer­ing and Tech­nol­o­gy (ABET) accred­i­ta­tion, Lamar Uni­ver­si­ty is a pub­lic, space-grant research insti­tu­tion edu­cat­ing over 14,900 stu­dents in Beau­mont and online. 

The Col­lege of Engi­neer­ing pro­vides a unique 2+2 Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Indus­tri­al Engi­neer­ing online for trans­fers. The 66-cred­it cur­ricu­lum is deliv­ered whol­ly online except for a three-day lab in South­east Texas. Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Indus­tri­al Engi­neer­ing majors can spe­cial­ize in: 

  • Man­u­fac­tur­ing
  • Mechan­i­cal Reliability
  • Oper­a­tions Research

Tuition: $8,690 (in-state) or $18,482 (out-of-state)

Learn more about Lamar Uni­ver­si­ty’s Online Bach­e­lor of Engi­neer­ing degree programs.

5. American Military University

amu

Cel­e­brat­ing its 25th anniver­sary, Amer­i­can Mil­i­tary Uni­ver­si­ty is a region­al­ly accred­it­ed pri­vate, for-prof­it high­er learn­ing insti­tu­tion locat­ed in Charles Town, West Vir­ginia, to edu­cate around 55,000 active duty and vet­er­an ser­vice members. 

One notable online ABET engi­neer­ing degree is the Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Elec­tri­cal Engi­neer­ing (BSEE). This 126-cred­it cur­ricu­lum engages the mil­i­tary in vir­tu­al lab instruc­tion with con­cen­tra­tions in: 

  • Mecha­tron­ic Systems
  • Elec­tri­cal Communications

The online study cul­mi­nates in a senior elec­tri­cal design project.

Tuition: $20,022

Learn more about Amer­i­can Mil­i­tary Uni­ver­si­ty’s Online Bach­e­lor’s of Engi­neer­ing degrees.

6. The University of Alabama

alabama

Locat­ed in Tuscaloosa along the Black War­rior Riv­er, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Alaba­ma is a flag­ship pub­lic, space-grant research pow­er­house serv­ing over 37,000 stu­dents yearly. 

Bama By Dis­tance offers an Asso­ci­a­tion Board for Engi­neer­ing and Tech­nol­o­gy (ABET) accred­it­ed Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Mechan­i­cal Engi­neer­ing (BSME). Con­sist­ing of 128 cred­its, the pro­gram is pri­mar­i­ly online with only three on-site, lab­o­ra­to­ry cours­es in Tuscaloosa, Dothan, or Gadsden.

Tuition: $11,940 (in-state) or $32,300 (out-of-state)

Learn more about The Uni­ver­si­ty of Alaba­ma’s Online Engi­neer­ing Bach­e­lor’s degree.

7. Eastern Kentucky University

ekun

Estab­lished in 1906, East­ern Ken­tucky Uni­ver­si­ty is a pub­lic, state-assist­ed teach­ing and research insti­tu­tion in Rich­mond endowed with $54 mil­lion to edu­cate over 16,500 students.

Among the 40+ online majors is a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Fire Pro­tec­tion and Safe­ty Engi­neer­ing. Hold­ing Accred­i­ta­tion Board for Engi­neer­ing and Tech­nol­o­gy (ABET) and Inter­na­tion­al Fire Ser­vices Accred­i­ta­tion Con­gress (IFSAC) accred­i­ta­tion, the pro­gram fea­tures accel­er­at­ed, eight-week online ses­sions. Grad­u­ates under­stand how fire behaves to design effec­tive prevention.

Tuition: $9,844 (in-state) or $20,222 (out-of-state)

Learn more about East­ern Ken­tucky Uni­ver­si­ty’s Online BS in Fire, Arson and Explo­sion Engi­neer­ing degrees.

8. National University

natlun

Enrolling over 24,400 stu­dents, Nation­al Uni­ver­si­ty is Cal­i­for­ni­a’s sec­ond-largest pri­vate, non-prof­it teach­ing insti­tu­tion with a main cam­pus in La Jol­la and 28 nation­al locations. 

The School of Engi­neer­ing and Com­put­ing grants its Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Con­struc­tion Engi­neer­ing Tech­nol­o­gy online. This 180-unit pro­gram cov­ers the engi­neer­ing prin­ci­ples applied in con­struc­tion trades. Online cours­es from soil mechan­ics to CAD design cul­mi­nate in an engi­neer­ing senior project.

Tuition: $13,320

Learn more about Nation­al Uni­ver­si­ty’s Online BS in Con­struc­tion Engi­neer­ing degree.

9. University of North Dakota

undk

Nes­tled with­in the Red Riv­er Val­ley in Grand Forks, the Uni­ver­si­ty of North Dako­ta is the state’s flag­ship pub­lic, space-grant RU/H research insti­tu­tion with 14,900 students. 

Online learn­ers can com­plete an Accred­i­ta­tion Board of Engi­neer­ing and Tech­nol­o­gy (ABET) accred­it­ed Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in: 

  • Chem­i­cal Engineering
  • Civ­il Engineering
  • Elec­tri­cal Engineering
  • Mechan­i­cal Engineering
  • Petro­le­um Engineering

Each 134-cred­it track inte­grates online, record­ed lec­tures with min­i­mal on-cam­pus labs.

Tuition: $10,951 (in-state) or $15,570 (out-of-state)

Learn more about the Uni­ver­si­ty of North Dako­ta’s Online Bach­e­lor of Engi­neer­ing degrees.

10. Stony Brook University

stony

Belong­ing to the SUNY sys­tem, Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty is a pre­mier pub­lic, sea-grant research insti­tu­tion locat­ed on Long Island’s North Shore to edu­cate over 25,200 total students. 

With Accred­i­ta­tion Board of Engi­neer­ing and Tech­nol­o­gy (ABET) accred­i­ta­tion, there’s a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Elec­tri­cal Engi­neer­ing avail­able online. This upper-divi­sion, asyn­chro­nous pro­gram pro­vides flex­i­bil­i­ty for learn­ing to design elec­tri­cal sys­tems. Online cours­es are taught by PhD-lev­el fac­ul­ty from Stony Brook, Buf­fa­lo, and Binghamton.

Tuition: $10,560 (in-state) or $28,480 (out-of-state)

Learn more about Stony Brook Uni­ver­si­ty’s Online Bach­e­lor of Engi­neer­ing degrees.

Why Should I Get an Online ABET Engineering Degree?

Accord­ing to the Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics, engi­neer­ing careers are expect­ed to grow faster than the aver­age of oth­er occu­pa­tions between now and 2032. That’s excel­lent news because engi­neer­ing occu­pies 13 spots on PayScale’s high­est-pay­ing bach­e­lor’s majors. Engi­neer­ing grad­u­ates glean aver­age year­ly salaries of $83,700.

Online engi­neer­ing degrees can be the per­fect fit for work­ing, non-tra­di­tion­al stu­dents seek­ing tech­ni­cal train­ing. Fin­ish­ing a bach­e­lor’s degree is con­sid­ered para­mount for suc­ceed­ing in today’s rather com­pet­i­tive engi­neer­ing mar­ket. Stu­dents can improve their future mar­ketabil­i­ty by study­ing in-demand spe­cial­ties like envi­ron­men­tal, civ­il, com­put­er, petro­le­um, and bio­med­ical engineering.

ABET accred­i­ta­tion tells you you can trust an online pro­gram. There are ABET-accred­it­ed pro­grams online in many specializations:

  • Sys­tems Engineering
  • Applied Sci­ence
  • Com­put­er Science
  • Infor­ma­tion Technology
  • Aero­space Engineering
  • Cyber­se­cu­ri­ty
  • Elec­tron­ics Engi­neer­ing Technology
  • Nuclear Engi­neer­ing

Engi­neer­ing stu­dents look to accred­it­ed online engi­neer­ing degree pro­grams for quality.

Relat­ed: