Why This Matters

  • YOU’RE COMPETING IN A CLASS OF 1.9 MILLION

    1.9 million students graduate with a bachelor’s degree every year. Making sure that your online degree stands out from the crowd means being choosy about finding a reputable accredited college.

  • ONLY 2.5% OF BACHELOR’S HOLDERS UNEMPLOYED

    The good news: According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS), your unemployment rate with a bachelor’s degree is nearly half the rate for those with just a high school diploma (2.5% compared to 4.6%).

  • YOU COULD BE MAKING $23K MORE EACH YEAR

    The BLS also found that bachelor’s degree holders generally earn $461 more each week compared to high school graduates ($1,173 to $712). That difference adds up to an annual increase of $23,972.

Our Research

There are hundreds of bachelor’s degrees available and even more schools to choose from. The right school for you depends on the specific degree you’re pursuing as well as what resources each university can provide in terms of faculty, networking, and coursework to set you up for success in the field.

Pursuing your bachelor’s degree online makes sense. Many programs let you study at your own pace, so you can fit school in with the rest of your life rather than trying to adjust everything around new classes every few months.

We found the best online bachelor’s degree programs by looking for nonprofit, accredited universities that are known to do online education well. By evaluating each university based on its program strength, online resources, and comparative cost, we then created its Intelligent Score on a scale of 0 to 100. For a closer look at our methods, see Our Ranking Methodology.

  • 620 Universities Assessed
  • 79 Hours of Research
  • 60 Top Picks

The Top 61 Online Bachelor’s Degree Programs

Best Online Bachelor's Degree Programs
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What You Need to Know About This Degree

Some of the perks of online bachelor degrees — the ability to watch classes at your own pace and study from anywhere — aren’t always perks for everyone. Many students feel that online classes require more discipline and that classes are harder to pass than traditionally taught classes. This doesn’t mean that on-campus classes are easy, but that some students prefer and may find it easier to succeed in environments with weekly peer support.

Before pursuing a degree, it’s important to be upfront about what you may hope to get out of a degree — online or otherwise. If you’re interested in utilizing traditionally on-campus benefits like networking opportunities, tutoring sessions, and group projects, you’ll want to ask your program advisor whether the online program offers adequate replacements.

What’s Next?

As you hone in on the best online bachelor’s degree for your career goals, there are a few things to keep in mind. While all of the universities on our list are regionally accredited, having degree-specific accreditation can help give your diploma additional weight to future employers. A quick search for the accrediting organization to your degree of choice can help give you a list of the schools best-equipped to prepare you for the field.

Secondly, even more so than with an on-campus degree, your professors will make or break your bachelor’s degree experience. If you have a particular specialization or areas of interest within your degree that you’d like to pursue in your career, check out the faculty list of prospective universities. In addition to seeing each professor’s individual specializations, you can also look to see what areas they have recently researched.

Finally, you’ll need to pay attention to the state authorizations for each prospective college. State authorizations vary by state and by particular degree, and not all states recognize the authority of others to award online degrees. If you live in a different state than that of the university, you’ll need to confirm with the admissions office, program director, or your local board of education to make sure you can study with them.