• 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.

Find­ing an afford­able online busi­ness degree will depend on a few fac­tors and con­sid­er­a­tions, such as the type of degree and pro­gram being con­sid­ered. Some online pro­grams are cheap­er than on-cam­pus, oth­ers add fees to online programs. 

How much will an online busi­ness degree cost? There are many options when it comes to find­ing the cheap­est online busi­ness degree. While cost will vary, and some­times great­ly, online busi­ness degree costs today are more afford­able than ever. So how much will an online busi­ness degree cost?

Those answers should be defin­i­tive­ly answered after a brief con­ver­sa­tion with each pro­gram’s admis­sions depart­ment. Always remem­ber to com­pare pro­grams, check for accred­i­ta­tions, and to ask a lot of ques­tions. It may take some time to find the right pro­gram and the right degree for your career pur­suits, but it will be time well spent.

Methodology: Ranking the Most Affordable Bachelor’s in Business Programs

Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter knows that when you’re pay­ing your own way, an afford­able busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion degree is a good invest­ment. Our rank­ing of the most afford­able bachelor’s in busi­ness is based on cur­rent IPEDS data, with only accred­it­ed, legit­i­mate schools con­sid­ered.

1. Baruch College (CUNY), Zicklin School of Business

Baruch Col­lege has an afford­able bach­e­lor’s in busi­ness with a mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary approach to edu­ca­tion. Half of the require­ments focus on arts, gen­er­al edu­ca­tion and sci­ences. This pro­vides grad­u­ates with a sol­id edu­ca­tion. Stu­dents also gain expo­sure to a busi­ness cur­ricu­lum that encour­ages them to par­tic­i­pate in com­mu­ni­ty events and helps them under­stand the rela­tion­ship between busi­ness, polit­i­cal and social forces. Zick­lin under­grad­u­ates come from a vari­ety of back­grounds and inter­act with oth­er stu­dents from around the nation and around the world.

This high­ly-rat­ed pub­lic school can be found in Man­hat­tan, NY. Over 12,000 under­grad­u­ate stu­dents attend the uni­ver­si­ty, which has a very com­pet­i­tive admis­sions process and an accep­tance rate of 43%. Account­ing, finance and mer­chan­dis­ing are some pop­u­lar majors at this school, which grad­u­ates 70% of students.

What We Like: Baruch Ranks num­ber five among the state’s top pub­lic universities.

Pro­gram: BBA
Baruch Col­lege

2. University of Washington, Foster School of Business

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Washington’s afford­able bach­e­lor’s in busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion focus­es on com­mu­ni­ca­tion, quan­ti­ta­tive analy­sis, finan­cial skills, strate­gic think­ing, ethics and busi­ness. Stu­dents learn how to effec­tive­ly present their thoughts in writ­ing and speech to mas­ter the mechan­ics of busi­ness com­mu­ni­ca­tion. Learn­ers also gain the under­stand­ing of quan­ti­ta­tive rea­son­ing need­ed to solve many busi­ness prob­lems, and they also learn finan­cial skills that helped them pre­pare reports, ana­lyze data and under­stand mar­ket con­di­tions. Strate­gic think­ing is just as impor­tant as knowl­edge and stu­dents also learn about the ethics of busi­ness end mod­ern society.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Wash­ing­ton is locat­ed in Seat­tle and this large school has over 29,000 under­grad­u­ate stu­dents. With a com­pet­i­tive accep­tance rate of 52%, the school has its pick of appli­cants. Those who do make it in can choose from many dif­fer­ent majors rang­ing from psy­chol­o­gy to com­mu­ni­ca­tions to polit­i­cal sci­ence. The school has a phe­nom­e­nal grad­u­a­tion rate of 84%.

What We Like: Wash­ing­ton ranks num­ber one among the state’s best colleges.

Pro­gram: BABA

Uni­ver­si­ty of Washington

3. University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill, Kenan-Flagler Business School

Uni­ver­si­ty of North Car­oli­na, Chapel Hill has an afford­able bach­e­lor’s in busi­ness. This degree gives grad­u­ates a flex­i­ble edu­ca­tion that helps them pur­sue a num­ber of dif­fer­ent career paths. UNC fac­ul­ty and staff work togeth­er to help stu­dents learn how to col­lab­o­rate, prob­lem-solve and work in teams. The ana­lyt­i­cal skills picked up in a busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion major can help stu­dents become suc­cess­ful in a num­ber of fields from finance to con­sult­ing to open­ing their own business.

UNC is one of the most respect­ed pub­lic uni­ver­si­ties in the nation. How­ev­er, the uni­ver­si­ty attempts to main­tain a col­lege town feel. Stu­dents come for the mod­er­ate weath­er but stay for the strong aca­d­e­mics and the fac­ul­ty is com­mit­ted to stu­dent success.

What We Like: UNC Chapel Hill ranks num­ber as North Car­oli­na’s top pub­lic university.

Pro­gram: BBA

Uni­ver­si­ty of North Carolina

4. Purdue University, Krannert School of Management

Anoth­er afford­able bach­e­lor’s in busi­ness at Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty helps gen­er­al man­age­ment majors ana­lyze busi­ness prob­lems and come up with prac­ti­cal solu­tions. This method of teach­ing sets grad­u­ates up for suc­cess as adapt­able lead­ers. Foun­da­tion­al cours­es include finance, man­age­ment, eco­nom­ics and oth­er busi­ness cours­es. Stu­dents dive into strate­gic analy­sis, orga­ni­za­tion­al struc­ture and human resource management.

The school received an A‑plus rat­ing based on fac­ul­ty accom­plish­ments, diver­si­ty, aca­d­e­mics and oth­er cri­te­ria. With a low stu­dent-fac­ul­ty ratio of 13:1, the school ensures that stu­dents get an oppor­tu­ni­ty to inter­act with their pro­fes­sors and instruc­tors. Also, 78% of the stu­dents sur­veyed agreed that pro­fes­sors put a lot of effort into courses.

What We Like: Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty is the top-rank­ing pub­lic school in Indi­ana. There­fore, stu­dents emerge with a rec­og­niz­able degree that holds a lot of clout when it comes to job searching.

Pro­gram: BS in Management

Pur­due University

5. Indiana University-Bloomington, Kelley School of Business

Indi­ana Uni­ver­si­ty Bloomington’s afford­able bach­e­lor’s in busi­ness is housed at the high-rank­ing Kel­ley School of Busi­ness. Stu­dents learn the fun­da­men­tals of busi­ness, empha­siz­ing the quan­ti­ta­tive con­cepts that under­lie mod­ern economies and cor­po­ra­tions alike. Stu­dents who have com­plet­ed 30 hours of work before grad­u­a­tion receive cred­it for it, which could help them fast track their edu­ca­tion. There are numer­ous minors and cer­tifi­cates to help stu­dents diver­si­fy their resume com­mon knowl­edge and experience.

At IU, stu­dents can attend a large uni­ver­si­ty with advi­sors who have run suc­cess­ful busi­ness­es. There are hun­dreds of majors to choose from as well as many minors. The school has one of the most beau­ti­ful cam­pus­es in the state.

What We Like: Indi­ana Uni­ver­si­ty Bloom­ing­ton is ranked sec­ond among the top pub­lic uni­ver­si­ties in the state. A degree from Indi­ana Uni­ver­si­ty car­ries weight and may help grad­u­ates get their resumes noticed faster.

Pro­gram: BS in Business

Indi­ana Uni­ver­si­ty Bloomington

6. Arizona State University, W.P. Carey School of Business

Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty also has an afford­able bach­e­lor’s in busi­ness that teach­es stu­dents to think of busi­ness as a well-run machine. By work­ing togeth­er seam­less­ly, stu­dents com­plete projects and learn to col­lab­o­rate with cowork­ers. This real-world focus can help grad­u­ates suc­cess­ful­ly nav­i­gate the tran­si­tion from school to work life. A degree from W. P. Carey School of Busi­ness includes cours­es in risk man­age­ment, man­ag­ing peo­ple, and under­stand­ing risks in busi­ness operations.

Ari­zona State, locat­ed in Tempe, is a very large insti­tu­tion with more than 41,000 under­grad­u­ate stu­dents. This trans­lates into hun­dreds of majors with busi­ness sup­port ser­vices and biol­o­gy being two of the most pop­u­lar. The school grad­u­ates a fair num­ber of those who apply, 86%.

What We Like: Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty is the top col­lege in this state, giv­ing grad­u­ates a feath­er in their cap as well as a well-round­ed education.

Pro­gram: BBA

Ari­zona State University

7. University of Iowa, Tippie College of Business

The afford­able bach­e­lor’s in busi­ness degree at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Iowa focus­es on account­ing and finance. Accoun­tants advise busi­ness lead­ers when they are ready to make deci­sions and can eas­i­ly move up to high­er posi­tions with a few years of expe­ri­ence. The cur­ricu­lum includes mar­ket­ing, account­ing, financ­ing and oper­a­tions so that stu­dents under­stand the major depart­ments in most cor­po­ra­tions. The school ranks among the top 25 pub­lic under­grad­u­ate busi­ness schools accord­ing to U.S. News & World Report.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Iowa is a huge school with 33,000 stu­dents from 114 coun­tries and every state in the union. It has a long his­to­ry of excel­lence and was found­ed in 1847. It is the old­est uni­ver­si­ty in the state and lies along the beau­ti­ful Iowa Riv­er in the state cap­i­tal of Iowa City.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of Iowa is the num­ber one ranked top pub­lic uni­ver­si­ty in the state.

Pro­gram: BBA

Uni­ver­si­ty of Iowa

8. University of Georgia, Terry College of Business

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Geor­gia also has an afford­able bach­e­lor’s in busi­ness that offers many areas of con­cen­tra­tion includ­ing account­ing, eco­nom­ics and finance. Stu­dents can also choose a gen­er­al busi­ness track or focus on man­age­ment. Oth­er stu­dents choose the inter­na­tion­al busi­ness spe­cial­iza­tion or go into mar­ket­ing, real estate or risk man­age­ment. What­ev­er track they choose, grad­u­ates emerge ready for entry-lev­el jobs or post­grad­u­ate stud­ies in busi­ness or relat­ed fields.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Geor­gia received an A+ over­all grade based on cat­e­gories such as aca­d­e­mics, val­ue, diver­si­ty, and cam­pus life. Stu­dents sur­veyed also gave pro­fes­sors a high grade for performance

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of Geor­gia ranks among the top eleven pub­lic uni­ver­si­ties in the country.

Pro­gram: BSBA

Uni­ver­si­ty of Georgia

9. Michigan State University, Eli Broad College of Business

Prospec­tive stu­dents can also find an afford­able bach­e­lor’s in busi­ness at Michi­gan State Uni­ver­si­ty. Grad­u­ates of this pro­gram take home a Bach­e­lor of Arts degree from the Eli Broad Col­lege of Busi­ness. The mul­ti­dis­ci­pli­nary course­work includes require­ments for well-round­ed gen­er­al and busi­ness edu­ca­tion. Require­ments in the under­grad­u­ate pro­gram include math­e­mat­ics, writ­ing, basic dis­ci­plines and elec­tives. stu­dents have a lot of free­dom to cus­tomize their cours­es to meet their career goals or per­son­al interests.

Michi­gan State is a high-rank­ing research uni­ver­si­ty. Stu­dents have the oppor­tu­ni­ty to work with pro­fes­sors and lead­ers of the high­est cal­iber. The school offers many minors and majors to pro­vide a broad base on which to build their careers. The school also offers engi­neer­ing, psy­chol­o­gy, and lib­er­al arts majors.

What We Like: Michi­gan State ranked num­ber two among those the state’s best colleges.

Pro­gram: BA in Business

Michi­gan State University

10. University of Oregon, Lundquist College of Business

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Ore­gon rounds out this list of afford­able bach­e­lor in busi­ness degrees. The school offers stu­dents five con­cen­tra­tions so that they can pick a track that match­es their career goals. Busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion majors need an under­stand­ing of finance, mar­ket­ing, adver­tis­ing, account­ing, and infor­ma­tion sys­tems. The school gives them many oppor­tu­ni­ties to apply their knowl­edge to real-world sit­u­a­tions. Get­ting first-hand expe­ri­ence pri­or to grad­u­a­tion can help grad­u­ates secure a posi­tion and gain con­fi­dence in their abil­i­ty before tran­si­tion­ing to work-life or post­grad­u­ate studies.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Ore­gon belongs to the Asso­ci­a­tion of Amer­i­can Uni­ver­si­ties, indi­cat­ing that they are among the top research uni­ver­si­ties in the coun­try. The uni­ver­si­ty is divid­ed into nine schools and col­leges and offers 300 aca­d­e­m­ic majors. Stu­dents choose from 3,000 under­grad­u­ate class­es that help them think cre­ative­ly and gain the skills they need to get a job.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of Ore­gon ranked num­ber two among the top pub­lic uni­ver­si­ties in the state.

Pro­gram: BSBA or BABA

Uni­ver­si­ty of Oregon

Will I Make More with an Online Business Degree?

One thing is cer­tain, how­ev­er; the doors of oppor­tu­ni­ty and the abil­i­ty to earn a good salary are con­sid­er­ably increased after earn­ing a Bach­e­lor of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion (BBA). Just how much more can some­one make and what types of jobs are avail­able with a BBA are a cou­ple more of the most fre­quent­ly asked ques­tions regard­ing afford­able busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion bach­e­lor’s degrees.

For employ­ers, stu­dents, and grad­u­ates there is no dis­tinc­tion between an online busi­ness degree ver­sus a tra­di­tion­al degree. That also means that the same oppor­tu­ni­ties and ben­e­fits exist (such as a busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion degree salary), regard­less of what plat­form is used to earn a BBA.

One of the top ben­e­fits for those who earn a busi­ness degree is the abil­i­ty to earn a bet­ter bach­e­lor in busi­ness salary. A bach­e­lor’s in admin­is­tra­tion salary will depend on the type of job and oth­er fac­tors. What is known though, is that pro­fes­sion­als with a busi­ness degree earn more than those without.

A busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion salary pack­age also often comes with perks in addi­tion to excel­lent ben­e­fits pro­grams. A BA in busi­ness salary is typ­i­cal­ly com­pen­sat­ed well as a result of the edu­ca­tion, insight, and exper­tise passed on to grad­u­ates through these val­ued programs.

What is a busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion salary? It is the employ­er’s way of ensur­ing they have the most skilled, com­pe­tent, and capa­ble peo­ple at the helm of the busi­ness. A busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion salary comes with con­sid­er­able respon­si­bil­i­ty and demands, but a busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion degree salary is also worth it.

What Are Some of the Most In-Demand Business Specializations?

Anoth­er one of the biggest ben­e­fits of earn­ing a Bach­e­lor of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion degree is the num­ber and types of oppor­tu­ni­ties avail­able. Degrees with spe­cial­iza­tions in count­less BBA sub­jects offer well-pay­ing and excit­ing posi­tions. These roles can range from per­son­nel and HR respon­si­bil­i­ties to posi­tions in finance, and oth­er seats of leadership.

These types of busi­ness degrees and salaries, regard­less of the type of BBA sub­jects stud­ied, are some of the top busi­ness degrees in demand. Employ­ers from var­i­ous indus­tries are seek­ing the top tal­ent and skilled grad­u­ates for a mul­ti­tude of roles. Although there are more than a few busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion spe­cial­iza­tions, some are also more in demand than others.

Here is a quick look at a few of the hottest BBA sub­jects and the top busi­ness degrees in demand. These cov­er many types of busi­ness degrees and salaries and are the most high­ly sought posi­tions in the field.

Account­ing and Audit­ing Experts

Accord­ing to the U.S. Dept of Labor Sta­tis­tics, this is not only a rapid­ly grow­ing area for BBA grads with the medi­an pay for these posi­tions being $73,560 per year. These roles are respon­si­ble for the over­all health and finan­cial well-being of the busi­ness, and its finan­cial decisions.

Finan­cial Spe­cial­iza­tion BBA Degrees

Based on reports from the Nation­al Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Employ­ers (NACE), BBA sub­jects in the are­na of finance are in high demand. In fact, degrees with a spe­cial­iza­tion in finance rank 1st on the NACE list of most desired majors.

Human Resources Specialists

Anoth­er one of the most pop­u­lar BBA sub­jects in demand is degrees for human resources spe­cial­ists. Data from the U.S. Dept of Labor cites that the medi­an income for human resources spe­cial­ists is $69,430 and this is anoth­er posi­tion with a strong job mar­ket outlook.

There are many BBA sub­jects, and many of those sub­jects and degrees lead to careers that are per­son­al­ly ful­fill­ing, finan­cial­ly reward­ing, and pro­fes­sion­al­ly sat­is­fy­ing. How much a par­tic­u­lar BBA pur­suit and pro­gram will cost depends on sev­er­al fac­tors, but the return on invest­ment is worth the expense.

Relat­ed Rankings:

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Busi­ness Administration

15 Best Online Bach­e­lor’s in Busi­ness Administration

10 Fastest Online Bach­e­lor’s in Busi­ness Administration