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Key Infor­ma­tion:

  • Belle­vue Uni­ver­si­ty and UMASS are top schools for an accel­er­at­ed online bach­e­lor’s in actu­ar­i­al sci­ence.
  • Accel­er­at­ed actu­ar­i­al sci­ence pro­grams allow stu­dents to com­plete their degrees faster, typ­i­cal­ly in three years, by offer­ing inten­sive course­work and sum­mer classes.
  • These pro­grams empha­size rig­or­ous train­ing in math­e­mat­ics, sta­tis­tics, and finan­cial the­o­ry, prepar­ing stu­dents for actu­ar­i­al exams and pro­fes­sion­al roles.
  • Grad­u­ates are well-equipped for careers in risk man­age­ment, insur­ance, and finance due to the program’s focus on prac­ti­cal skills and indus­try-stan­dard knowledge.

These days, a lot of future actu­ar­ies are con­sid­er­ing an accel­er­at­ed bach­e­lor’s degree in actu­ar­i­al sci­ence. Now, you can get start­ed as an actu­ary with a sim­i­lar degree. A degree in sta­tis­tics, for exam­ple, can help you kick off your career as an actu­ary. How­ev­er, with a relat­ed degree, you’d have to dou­ble-check that you were get­ting all the right cours­es fo your career needs. With an accel­er­at­ed bach­e­lor degree in actu­ar­i­al sci­ence itself, you’ll know that you’re get­ting all the rel­e­vant classes.

A lot of stu­dents like the accel­er­at­ed online route because it stream­lines the degree process and pro­vides a lot of flex­i­bil­i­ty. If you’re an adult learn­er or just have a lot of respon­si­bil­i­ties oth­er than school, an accel­er­at­ed online degree can help you meet your edu­ca­tion­al needs with­out putting the rest of your life on hold. Plus, becom­ing an actu­ary can take a long time, since it requires addi­tion­al train­ing and exams. An accel­er­at­ed degree can help you start your career a bit faster.

Methodology: Ranking the Best Accelerated Actuarial Science Degrees

For stu­dents who want to get their actu­ar­i­al sci­ence degree quick­ly, Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter has ranked accred­it­ed, trust­ed pro­grams that offer a speedy path. How­ev­er, speed isn’t all that mat­ters, so pro­grams are ranked based on tuition cost, stu­dent sat­is­fac­tion, and salary poten­tial, using IPEDS and Niche data.

1. Bellevue University

The accel­er­at­ed bach­e­lor’s degree in actu­ar­i­al sci­ence at Belle­vue Uni­ver­si­ty con­fers grad­u­ates with a BS in math­e­mat­ics spe­cial­iz­ing in pre­dic­tive mod­el­ing. The pro­gram has a gen­er­ous trans­fer pol­i­cy and pre­pares stu­dents for data-dri­ven jobs includ­ing com­plex ana­lyt­i­cal chal­lenges. Stu­dents can fol­low the track that best meets their career goals in a con­ve­nient online set­ting that allows them to jug­gle careers and edu­ca­tion­al require­ments. Math majors can spe­cial­ize in com­put­er pro­gram­ming, busi­ness ana­lyt­ics, sec­ondary edu­ca­tion or pre­dic­tive mod­el­ing. Grad­u­ates from all tracks gain essen­tial knowl­edge they need in applied sta­tis­tics, cal­cu­lus, dis­crete math­e­mat­ics, pro­gram­ming or lin­ear and abstract algebra.

Belle­vue is locat­ed in Oma­ha, Nebras­ka, and this pri­vate insti­tu­tion has 5,000 under­grad­u­ate stu­dents. It has a gen­er­ous accep­tance pol­i­cy, admit­ting 100% of those who apply. Some pop­u­lar majors include social stud­ies, busi­ness, and man­age­ment sciences.

What We Like: Belle­vue Uni­ver­si­ty is the num­ber 12 best col­lege in Nebraska.

Degree: BS in Math­e­mat­ics — Pre­dic­tive Modeling

Belle­vue University

2. University of Massachusetts Lowell

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Mass­a­chu­setts Low­ell has an accel­er­at­ed bach­e­lor degree in actu­ar­i­al sci­ence. Stu­dents grad­u­ate with a BS in Applied Math­e­mat­ics in this hybrid 12-month pro­gram. UMass Lowell’s pro­gram offers stu­dents gen­er­ous trans­fer cred­its and helps grad­u­ates devel­op crit­i­cal think­ing and quan­ti­ta­tive analy­sis skills. Stu­dents also mas­ter prob­lem-solv­ing skills need­ed for relat­ed career oppor­tu­ni­ties. Lean­ers pre­pare for jobs in a vari­ety of indus­tries and job titles include com­put­er pro­gram­mer, sta­tis­ti­cian, finan­cial ana­lyst, qual­i­ty con­trol ana­lyst and teacher.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Mass­a­chu­setts Low­ell is locat­ed on the out­skirts of Boston in the city’s tech­nol­o­gy cor­ri­dor. There are numer­ous options avail­able to stu­dents, includ­ing co-ops, intern­ships and research projects. Grad­u­ates emerge with real-world expe­ri­ence that prospec­tive employ­ers appre­ci­ate. Approx­i­mate­ly, 90% of stu­dents receive some sort of finan­cial aid.

What We Like: The school’s glob­al focus pre­pares stu­dents for cor­po­rate or gov­ern­ment careers.

Degree: BS in Applied Mathematics

Uni­ver­si­ty of Mass­a­chu­setts Lowell

3. American Public University

Amer­i­can Pub­lic Uni­ver­si­ty has one of the best accel­er­at­ed bach­e­lor degrees in actu­ar­i­al sci­ence in the coun­try. This degree con­fers a BS in math­e­mat­ics con­cen­trat­ing in applied math­e­mat­ics. The school allows stu­dents to trans­fer up to 82% of their cred­its from anoth­er pro­gram. This is an unprece­dent­ed, gen­er­ous trans­fer pol­i­cy for those who would like to com­plete their degree quick­ly. APU also offers class­es online and the cur­ricu­lum helps stu­dents with crit­i­cal think­ing skills. With a con­cen­tra­tion on solv­ing com­plex sci­en­tif­ic and tech­no­log­i­cal prob­lems, this pro­gram pre­pares stu­dents for jobs in finance, com­put­er pro­gram­ming, man­age­ment, data sci­ence, logis­tics and engineering.

APU has a very gen­er­ous accep­tance rate and all stu­dents who apply have an oppor­tu­ni­ty to com­plete their stud­ies at the uni­ver­si­ty. With 2,500 under­grad­u­ate stu­dents, the school is able to offer many pop­u­lar majors includ­ing Home­land Secu­ri­ty, busi­ness and dis­as­ter management.

What We Like: APU ranks as the num­ber 4 best val­ue col­lege in West Virginia.

Degree: BS in Math­e­mat­ics — Applied Math­e­mat­ics concentration

Amer­i­can Pub­lic University

4. Thomas Edison State University

Thomas Edi­son State Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BA in math­e­mat­ics online. Stu­dents can trans­fer up to 90 cred­its toward the accel­er­at­ed bach­e­lors degree in actu­ar­i­al sci­ence. The Bach­e­lor of Arts pro­gram is geared toward adult learn­ers who are look­ing for a career change. Grad­u­ates go on to com­plete grad­u­ate edu­ca­tion or pur­sue degrees in math­e­mat­ics. Stu­dents devel­op broad knowl­edge in lib­er­al arts and oth­er dis­ci­plines. The con­ve­nient online for­mat makes it eas­i­er for learn­ers to jug­gle work and life commitments.

Thomas Edi­son State Uni­ver­si­ty is a small uni­ver­si­ty with less than 100 under­grad­u­ate stu­dents. The uni­ver­si­ty has a 100% accep­tance rate and pop­u­lar majors include nurs­ing, and busi­ness and humanities.

What We Like: The school accepts all stu­dents who apply and offers 99% of cours­es online.

Degree: BA in Mathematics

Thomas Edi­son State University

5. Grand Canyon University

The accel­er­at­ed bach­e­lor degree in actu­ar­i­al sci­ence at Grand Canyon Uni­ver­si­ty accepts up to 90 trans­fer cred­its from oth­er pro­grams. This gives adult learn­ers a great oppor­tu­ni­ty to com­plete their degree online. GCU has a diverse stu­dent body that offers all class­es online. Online instruc­tors are fac­ul­ty mem­bers with exten­sive qual­i­fi­ca­tions. Stu­dents can also take class­es online for a tra­di­tion­al lib­er­al arts education.

GCU has nine phys­i­cal cam­pus­es and offers all its pro­grams online. It has more than 200 aca­d­e­m­ic pro­grams, 150 of which are avail­able ful­ly online. There are approx­i­mate­ly 21,000 under­grad­u­ate stu­dents and GCU has a vibrant online and on-cam­pus stu­dent body. Decades of expe­ri­ence have led to a flex­i­ble learn­ing envi­ron­ment for more than 75,000 online students.

What We Like: Grand Canyon Uni­ver­si­ty has an accep­tance rate of 77% and 99% of stu­dents receive some kind of finan­cial aid, mak­ing an edu­ca­tion here among the most affordable.

Degree: Math Edu­ca­tion, BS

Grand Canyon University

6. Maryville University of Saint Louis

Maryville Uni­ver­si­ty of Saint Louis offers a math­e­mat­ics bach­e­lor of sci­ence degree minor. This accel­er­at­ed bach­e­lor degree in actu­ar­i­al sci­ence helps stu­dents increase their depth of knowl­edge when it comes to sta­tis­tics, ana­lyt­ics and oth­er math­e­mat­i­cal con­cepts. Many of the school’s grad­u­ates pur­sue a future in edu­ca­tion or pri­vate sec­tor jobs. Some under­grad­u­ate stu­dents go on to achieve their master’s degrees. Stu­dents who want a ver­sa­tile degree that pro­vides the foun­da­tion­al knowl­edge of math­e­mat­ics need­ed to pur­sue jobs in this field often choose Maryville Uni­ver­si­ty of Saint Louis.

This above-aver­age pri­vate uni­ver­si­ty is locat­ed in the Saint Louis area. It has few­er than 3,000 under­grad­u­ate stu­dents but a gen­er­ous accep­tance rate of 83%. That means that more than four out of five stu­dents who apply end up get­ting an invi­ta­tion to study at the uni­ver­si­ty. Pop­u­lar majors include psy­chol­o­gy, nurs­ing and busi­ness, and the uni­ver­si­ty grad­u­ates an aston­ish­ing 71% of students.

What We Like: Maryville Uni­ver­si­ty is the num­ber 12 best online col­lege in Amer­i­ca, giv­ing stu­dents brag­ging rights and a leg up on the com­pe­ti­tion dur­ing job interviews.

Degree: Math­e­mat­ics, BS, Data Minor Online

Maryville Uni­ver­si­ty

7. Liberty University

The accel­er­at­ed bach­e­lor degree in actu­ar­i­al sci­ence at Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty accepts up to 75% of trans­fer cred­its from oth­er pro­grams. Stu­dents grad­u­ate with a BS in com­pu­ta­tion­al math­e­mat­ics focus­ing on actu­ar­i­al stud­ies. This online pro­gram is designed for stu­dents seek­ing prepa­ra­tion for actu­ar­i­al exams and even­tu­al employ­ment. By tak­ing this pro­gram, stu­dents com­plete the course­work need­ed for two cred­its toward the Val­i­da­tion by Edu­ca­tion Expe­ri­ence (VEE). The cur­ricu­lum includes essen­tial mate­r­i­al to pass the first actu­ar­i­al exam.

Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty offers a Christ-cen­tered cur­ricu­lum and focus. Stu­dents learn the skills and knowl­edge need­ed to suc­ceed in their field but also receive instruc­tion in how to pre­serve their val­ues in the mod­ern work­place. Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty has more than 300 under­grad and grad­u­ate degree pro­grams for stu­dents to choose from.

What We Like: Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty is the num­ber 5 best online col­lege in the coun­try, accord­ing to Niche.com, mak­ing a degree from the uni­ver­si­ty high­ly desirable.

Degree: BS in Com­pu­ta­tion­al Math­e­mat­ics — Actuarial

Lib­er­ty University

8. Walsh University

Walsh Uni­ver­si­ty has an accel­er­at­ed bach­e­lor degree in actu­ar­i­al sci­ence. The for­mat is designed for work­ing adults look­ing to com­plete their cours­es online, and the col­lege uses an 8‑week accel­er­at­ed time­line for all class­es. This afford­able degree offers trans­par­ent tuition rates and online stu­dents receive per­son­al­ized atten­tion thanks to small class sizes and inter­ac­tion with expe­ri­enced fac­ul­ty members.

Locat­ed in Troy, MI, Walsh Uni­ver­si­ty has few­er than 100 under­grad­u­ate stu­dents and includes majors such as busi­ness, finance and accounting.

What We Like: Up to 90% of stu­dents say that pro­fes­sors put a lot of effort into each class.

Degree: Actu­ar­i­al Science

Walsh Uni­ver­si­ty

9. Louisiana State University Alexandria

At the Louisiana State Uni­ver­si­ty of Alexan­dria, stu­dents can take an online accel­er­at­ed bach­e­lor degree in actu­ar­i­al sci­ence. This ful­ly online pro­gram helps stu­dents refine their ana­lyt­i­cal skills and top­ics include sta­tis­tics, math­e­mat­ics, quan­ti­ta­tive finance and eco­nom­ics. The school’s gen­er­ous trans­fer pol­i­cy accepts up to 75% of cred­its earned at oth­er uni­ver­si­ties, allow­ing stu­dents to dra­mat­i­cal­ly stream­line their degree completion.

At Louisiana State Uni­ver­si­ty in Alexan­dria, near­ly 1,900 under­grad­u­ate stu­dents choose from majors such as human­i­ties, lib­er­al arts and busi­ness. The school has an extreme­ly com­pet­i­tive accep­tance rate of 56%.

What We Like: Near­ly 96% of stu­dents receive some sort of finan­cial aid, mak­ing this one of the more afford­able pro­grams for under­grad­u­ate students.

Degree: BS in Math­e­mat­ics — Actu­ar­i­al Science

Louisiana State Uni­ver­si­ty of Alexandria

10. Southern New Hampshire University

South­ern New Hamp­shire Uni­ver­si­ty has an accel­er­at­ed bach­e­lor degree in actu­ar­i­al sci­ence. Stu­dents who take this pro­gram often come from oth­er uni­ver­si­ties where they start­ed but did not com­plete their degrees. Grad­u­ates earn a Bach­e­lor of Arts (BA) in Math­e­mat­ics and form a firm foun­da­tion in math­e­mat­i­cal prob­lem-solv­ing and rea­son­ing skills. Log­i­cal math­e­mat­i­cal proofs and real-world prob­lem-solv­ing skills fea­ture high­ly in this pro­gram. The ver­sa­tile online for­mat makes it eas­i­er for stu­dents jug­gling fam­i­ly and job com­mit­ments out­side the classroom.

South­ern New Hamp­shire Uni­ver­si­ty has served stu­dents and pro­vid­ed excel­lent edu­ca­tion­al oppor­tu­ni­ties for 85 years. With more than 300 grad­u­ate, under­grad­u­ate and cer­tifi­cate cours­es, stu­dents have a wide range of study options. SNHU has received high rank­ings, includ­ing recog­ni­tion as a “Most Inno­v­a­tive” uni­ver­si­ty by U.S. News and World Report.

What We Like: Approx­i­mate­ly 88% of appli­cants are accept­ed to the pro­gram, with 77% of stu­dents receiv­ing finan­cial aid, mak­ing SNHU an afford­able option for many students.

Degree: Applied Math­e­mat­ics-Actu­ary Con­cen­tra­tion, BA

South­ern New Hamp­shire University

What is an Actuary and What Do They Do?

“What is an actu­ary?” If you go into actu­ar­i­al sci­ence, be pre­pared to answer that ques­tion a lot. The def­i­n­i­tion of actu­ary can be con­fus­ing if you’re not immersed in that world. So what does an actu­ary do?

The actu­ary job descrip­tion involves work­ing with math and sta­tis­tics to make pre­dic­tions about spe­cif­ic sce­nar­ios. Basi­cal­ly, the def­i­n­i­tion of actu­ary is some­one who works for insur­ance com­pa­nies to help them set the right prices and pre­pare for emergencies.

What does this mean for the day-to-day actu­ary job descrip­tion? What does an actu­ary do when they arrive at work every day? Well, what an actu­ary does can vary, depend­ing on which insur­ance com­pa­ny and depart­ment they work for. That’s why giv­ing the descrip­tion of an actu­ary can get com­pli­cat­ed some­times, and “What do actu­ar­ies do?” can be a frus­trat­ing ques­tion to answer at parties.

Usu­al­ly, though, what an actu­ary does is work on sta­tis­ti­cal projects. They fig­ure out answers to ques­tions like “How long will it be before anoth­er flood hits this area?” or “What is the aver­age lifes­pan of this demo­graph­ic?” They use sta­tis­tics and analy­ses to fig­ure out the answers, and then they present those answers in pre­sen­ta­tions or reports.

So the next time some­one asks “What do actu­ar­ies do?” you can give them the full descrip­tion of an actu­ary or just say that you work for an insur­ance com­pa­ny. It depends on how much small talk you’re will­ing to make.

Are There Lots of Jobs for Actuaries?

Is there a good employ­ment out­look for actu­ar­ies? Yes, there are plen­ty of jobs for actu­ar­ies, and the job out­look for actu­ar­ies will keep grow­ing. The future of actu­ar­i­al sci­ence looks bright, and it will prob­a­bly con­tin­ue to do so for many years.

Just how good is the actu­ary jobs out­look? What is the future of actu­ar­i­al sci­ence? Well, actu­ar­i­al sci­ence job oppor­tu­ni­ties are expect­ed to grow by 18% from 2019 to 2029. For com­par­i­son, job growth is con­sid­ered “good” at 9% or high­er, so the job out­look for actu­ar­ies is grow­ing much faster than average.

The actu­ary jobs out­look is fueled by high demand. It takes a lot of work to become an actu­ary, with sev­er­al exams and a lot of on-the-job train­ing. Not just any­body can thrive as an actu­ary. For those who do have what it takes, there are plen­ty of actu­ar­i­al sci­ence job oppor­tu­ni­ties available.

The employ­ment out­look for actu­ar­ies is also good because actu­ar­ies do impor­tant work. There’s a lot of val­ue in mak­ing informed deci­sions instead of guess­es, espe­cial­ly for insur­ance companies.

How Much Can I Make as an Actuary?

What is the salary of an actu­ary? The aver­age salary for an actu­ary is $108,350, accord­ing to US News.

The aver­age salary of actu­ar­ies is so high thanks to a cou­ple of fac­tors. First, there’s fact that actu­ar­i­al sci­ence requires so much study and train­ing. The aver­age salary for an actu­ary has to com­pen­sate for all of that effort. Sec­ond, of course, the aver­age salary of actu­ar­ies is so high because the demand for actu­ar­ies is high.

But what is the salary of an actu­ary who’s just start­ing out? The bot­tom 25% of earn­ers make over $81,000, which is still a high num­ber com­pared to the aver­age Amer­i­can salary. Mean­while, the top earn­ers can make near­ly $149,000. There’s a lot of room for growth and upward move­ment in actu­ar­i­al sci­ence, which is why there’s such a wide range of salaries.

Oth­er fac­tors can impact an actu­ary’s salary, like the loca­tion and size of their work­place. A large insur­ance com­pa­ny in a major city will prob­a­bly pay its actu­ar­ies more than a small­er sub­ur­ban firm.

Relat­ed Rankings:

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Actu­ar­i­al Science

15 Best Online Bach­e­lor’s in Actu­ar­i­al Science

10 Most Afford­able Bach­e­lor’s in Actu­ar­i­al Science

15 Best Online Actu­ary Degree