10 Most Affordable Bachelor’s in Engineering Management

If you’re work­ing in tech­nol­o­gy or man­u­fac­tur­ing with an associate’s degree, you know that a bachelor’s in engi­neer­ing man­age­ment can help you make the next step for­ward in your career. But most work­ing adults are also pay­ing their way through school, so cost has to come into con­sid­er­a­tion. That’s why stu­dents seek out afford­able engi­neer­ing man­age­ment pro­grams, both online and on-campus.

The U.S. Depart­ment of Labor Sta­tis­tics reports no less than eigh­teen dif­fer­ent jobs that fall under the engi­neer­ing clas­si­fi­ca­tion. This type of depth, demand, and wealth of oppor­tu­ni­ty is only the begin­ning of the ben­e­fits offered by earn­ing an engi­neer­ing man­age­ment degree. And an engi­neer­ing man­age­ment salary means grad­u­ates can start mak­ing a return on their invest­ment right away.

Methodology: Ranking the Most Affordable Engineering Management Programs

Because the edi­tors at Bach­e­lor’s Degree Cen­ter want to see you suc­ceed, we make sure that we fea­ture only accred­it­ed, trust­wor­thy insti­tu­tions. Pro­grams are pre­sent­ed in order of tuition rate, start­ing with the low­est, based on cur­rent IEPDS numbers.

1. California State University, Northridge

Cal­i­for­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty, North­ridge offers a BS in Engi­neer­ing Man­age­ment that is among California’s most inno­v­a­tive engi­neer­ing man­age­ment pro­grams. Cal State Northridge’s afford­able engi­neer­ing man­age­ment pro­gram has received accred­i­ta­tion from ABET. Sam­ple class­es include engi­neer­ing eco­nom­ic analy­sis, facil­i­ties plan­ning and design, prod­uct inno­va­tion, engi­neer­ing sta­tis­ti­cal appli­ca­tions, and intro­duc­tion to engi­neer­ing and tech­nol­o­gy man­age­ment, plus a senior design project, to name a few.

Cal­i­for­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty, North­ridge, found­ed as a state col­lege in 1958, is a mem­ber school of the Gold­en State’s state uni­ver­si­ty sys­tem 23 school sys­tem. With more than 38,750 stu­dents attend­ing class­es, CSUN is the 3rd largest school in the state sys­tem and con­sid­ered among the most diverse.

What We Like: Cal­i­for­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty, North­ridge is home to the Nation’s Cen­ter of Deafness.

Pro­gram: BS in Engi­neer­ing Management

Cal­i­for­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty, Northridge

2. University of Washington

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Washington’s Col­lege of Engi­neer­ing, estab­lished in 1899, offers an afford­able engi­neer­ing man­age­ment pro­gram inter­dis­ci­pli­nary bac­calau­re­ate degree that pre­pares stu­dents for reward­ing engi­neer­ing careers in the pub­lic or pri­vate sec­tor or in acad­e­mia. The Uni­ver­si­ty of Washington’s Col­lege of Engi­neer­ing main­tains a chap­ter of Engi­neers With­out Bor­ders, which offers stu­dents inter­na­tion­al and study-abroad opportunities.

Char­tered in 1861, the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wash­ing­ton is among the old­est insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion on the west coast and a space and sea-grant school. The Uni­ver­si­ty of Wash­ing­ton, as the state’s flag­ship school main­tains sev­er­al cam­pus­es in the greater Seat­tle area and beyond – include Both­ell and Taco­ma, among others.

What We Like: The Uni­ver­si­ty of Washington’s library sys­tem is among the largest aca­d­e­m­ic libraries in the world, com­prised of more than two dozen dif­fer­ent library locations.

Pro­gram: Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Engi­neer­ing Studies

Uni­ver­si­ty of Washington

3. Texas A&M University Commerce

Texas A&M Uni­ver­si­ty-Com­merce offers a BS in Tech­nol­o­gy Man­age­ment that is avail­able on-cam­pus or through a hybrid pro­gram. Stu­dents enrolled in Texas A&M University’s afford­able engi­neer­ing man­age­ment pro­gram are required to com­plete 120 under­grad­u­ate cred­it units but have no for­eign lan­guage or the­sis require­ment. Sam­ple class­es include prin­ci­ples of cost engi­neer­ing, man­ag­ing sus­tain­abil­i­ty, legal envi­ron­ment of busi­ness, and tech­ni­cal com­mu­ni­ca­tion, plus a cap­stone con­clud­ing project, to name a few.

Texas A&M Uni­ver­si­ty Com­merce was found­ed as a state-fund­ed nor­mal school in 1889. The university’s cam­pus is locat­ed near the Dallas/Fort Worth metro­plex, with more than 12 250 stu­dents study­ing for an aca­d­e­m­ic degree offered by Texas A&M’s five aca­d­e­m­ic colleges/schools.

What We Like: The school owns an equine cen­ter on an 1,800-acre farm which is locat­ed near the Com­merce cam­pus, about an hour from Dallas.

Pro­gram: BS in Tech­nol­o­gy Management

Texas A&M University-Commerce

4. University of Illinois at Chicago

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Illi­nois at Chica­go offers a BS in Engi­neer­ing Man­age­ment that is among the Windy City’s most afford­able engi­neer­ing man­age­ment pro­gram options. Degree can­di­dates attend­ing the Uni­ver­si­ty of Illi­nois at Chicago’s BS engi­neer­ing man­age­ment degree must com­plete a min­i­mum of 128 cred­it units to meet grad­u­ate cri­te­ria. Class­es for the bac­calau­re­ate degree pro­gram include finan­cial engi­neer­ing, the strength of mate­ri­als, pro­gram­ming for engi­neers, Sto­chas­tic process, safe­ty engi­neer­ing, and design and analy­sis of exper­i­ments, plus a vari­ety of electives.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Illi­nois at Chica­go (UIC) is a space-grant school that was estab­lished in 1982. The school oper­ates two cam­pus­es that serve more than 33,350 stu­dents each.

What We Like: It is esti­mat­ed that one in eight doc­tors in Illi­nois is a grad­u­ate of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Illi­nois at Chicago’s Col­lege of Med­i­cine – the largest med­ical school in the country.

Pro­gram: BS in Engi­neer­ing Management

Uni­ver­si­ty of Illi­nois at Chicago

5. Purdue University

Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty offers a BS in Inte­grat­ed Busi­ness and Man­age­ment that offers spe­cial­ty course­work in sup­ply chain oper­a­tions, finan­cial engi­neer­ing, and data ana­lyt­ics. Pur­due University’s afford­able engi­neer­ing man­age­ment pro­gram requires degree can­di­dates to com­plete 120 bac­calau­re­ate semes­ter cred­its. Cours­es cov­er a wide vari­ety of busi­ness, eco­nom­ics, and engi­neer­ing top­ics through inter­dis­ci­pli­nary study. Exam­ples include data min­ing, com­pu­ta­tions for engi­neer­ing sys­tems, engi­neer­ing eco­nom­ics, and ther­mo­dy­nam­ics, to name a few.

Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty (Pur­due) was estab­lished under the Mor­rill Land Grant Act in the late 1860s. In addi­tion, Pur­due is a space and sea-grant insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion with a stu­dent enroll­ment the nears 46,000 under­grad­u­ate and grad­u­ate stu­dents vying for aca­d­e­m­ic and diplo­ma pro­grams from Pur­due University’s ten colleges/schools.

What We Like: Pur­due University’s stu­dent enroll­ment is the sec­ond largest in the state of Indiana.

Pro­gram: Inte­grat­ed Busi­ness and Management

Pur­due University

6. Lamar University

Lamar Uni­ver­si­ty offers a Bach­e­lor of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion in Indus­tri­al Engi­neer­ing that is rec­og­nized to be among the Lone Star State’s afford­able engi­neer­ing man­age­ment pro­gram and degrees. Stu­dents grad­u­ate from Lamar University’s engi­neer­ing man­age­ment degree to find reward­ing careers as project man­age­ment spe­cial­ists, engi­neer­ing man­agers, or busi­ness con­sul­tants, to name a few. Course­work for this under­grad­u­ate degree from Lamar Uni­ver­si­ty includes qual­i­ty con­trol appli­ca­tions, engi­neer­ing econ­o­my, human fac­tors engi­neer­ing, and engi­neer­ing mate­ri­als and process­es, to name a few.

Lamar Uni­ver­si­ty is a mem­ber school of the Texas state uni­ver­si­ty sys­tem that was ini­tial­ly estab­lished as a junior col­lege in 1923. Lamar Uni­ver­si­ty is also a space-grant school that serves more than 17,400 stu­dents online and on the Beau­mont campus.

What We Like: Lamar Uni­ver­si­ty is named for the 2nd Repub­lic of Texas president.

Pro­gram: BBA Indus­tri­al Engineering

Lamar Uni­ver­si­ty

7. Brigham Young University

Brigham Young University’s Ful­ton Engi­neer­ing Col­lege offers a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence degree pro­gram (BS) in Con­struc­tion and Facil­i­ties Man­age­ment that is con­sid­ered one of Utah’s most afford­able engi­neer­ing man­age­ment pro­gram options. Sev­er­al rank­ing sites list Brigham Young University’s con­struc­tion and engi­neer­ing man­age­ment pro­gram among the most afford­able in the state. Class­es for BYU’s engi­neer­ing man­age­ment under­grad­u­ate degree include con­struc­tion sched­ul­ing, eco­nom­ic prin­ci­ples and prob­lems, pre-con­struc­tion ser­vices, vir­tu­al design & con­struc­tion, light struc­tur­al sys­tems, con­struc­tion mod­el­ing, and real estate prin­ci­ples and devel­op­ment, to name a few.

Brigham Young Uni­ver­si­ty (Brigham Young) was estab­lished in 1875 and is rec­og­nized to be one of the largest LDS schools in the world. In addi­tion, Brigham Young Uni­ver­si­ty oper­ates as a space-grant insti­tu­tion of high­er edu­ca­tion with a stu­dent enroll­ment that exceeds 33,550 under­grad­u­ate and grad­u­ate students.

What We Like: Brigham Young Uni­ver­si­ty is home to a vari­ety of muse­ums in art, cul­tures, pale­on­tol­ogy, and life science.

Pro­gram: Con­struc­tion and Facil­i­ties Management

Brigham Young University

8. Arizona State University

Ari­zona State University’s Ful­ton Schools of Engi­neer­ing offers a Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence Engi­neer­ing degree pro­gram (BSE) in Engi­neer­ing Man­age­ment that has received ABET accred­i­ta­tion that can be com­plet­ed online or on-cam­pus. Ari­zona State University’s afford­able engi­neer­ing man­age­ment pro­gram includes class­es like sys­tem dynam­ics and think­ing, work analy­sis and design, prob­a­bil­i­ty and sta­tis­tics for engi­neer­ing prob­lem-solv­ing ele­ments of inter­cul­tur­al com­mu­ni­ca­tion, and risk man­age­ment, plus an engi­neer­ing practicum, plus a vari­ety of elec­tive classes.

Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty (ASU) was char­tered before it became a state in the mid-1880s and now oper­ates as one of the largest insti­tu­tions of high­er edu­ca­tion in the nation, with a stu­dent enroll­ment that exceeds 100,000. ASU’s sev­en­teen colleges/schools offer more than 300 pro­grams across its mul­ti­ple aca­d­e­m­ic cam­pus­es and facilities.

What We Like: Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty is often ranked among the most afford­able and ‘bests val­ue’ schools.

Pro­gram: Engi­neer­ing Man­age­ment BSE

Ari­zona State University

9. Iowa State University

Iowa State University’s Col­lege of Engi­neer­ing offers a bachelor’s degree in engi­neer­ing with four aca­d­e­m­ic con­cen­tra­tions – heavy con­struc­tion, build­ing con­struc­tion, mechan­i­cal con­struc­tion, and elec­tri­cal con­struc­tion. Iowa State University’s afford­able engi­neer­ing man­age­ment pro­gram allows stu­dents to add a minor in Engi­neer­ing Sales or Entre­pre­neur­ship. Many stu­dents par­tic­i­pate in intern­ships and practicums before grad­u­a­tion to feel con­fi­dent in their first pro­fes­sion­al job. Iowa State University’s Col­lege of Engi­neer­ing is host to the largest year­ly career fair.

Iowa State Uni­ver­si­ty of Sci­ence & Tech­nol­o­gy (ISU) was estab­lished as an agri­cul­tur­al col­lege in the 1850s. Iowa State Uni­ver­si­ty is also a land grant school and the state’s flag­ship research uni­ver­si­ty, with a stu­dent enroll­ment that nears 33,400 stu­dents each year vying for pro­grams and degrees offered by the uni­ver­si­ty’s eight colleges/schools.

What We Like: Iowa State Uni­ver­si­ty is rec­og­nized to be the country’s first land-grant des­ig­nat­ed high­er learn­ing institution.

Pro­gram: Add minor in Engi­neer­ing Sales or Entrepreneurship

Iowa State University

10. Missouri University of Science & Technology

Mis­souri Uni­ver­si­ty of Sci­ence & Tech­nol­o­gy offers a BS in Engi­neer­ing Man­age­ment and Sys­tems that is one of Missouri’s most afford­able engi­neer­ing man­age­ment pro­gram options. Class­es for Mis­souri S&T’s engi­neer­ing man­age­ment degree include eco­nom­ic analy­sis for engi­neer­ing projects, prac­ti­cal con­cepts for tech­ni­cal man­agers, man­ag­ing engi­neer­ing and tech­nol­o­gy, intro­duc­tion to sys­tem engi­neer­ing, oper­a­tion, and pro­duc­tion man­age­ment, and gen­er­al man­age­ment design and inte­gra­tion, to name a few.

Mis­souri S&T was estab­lished as a school of mines in the 1870s. Mis­souri Uni­ver­si­ty of Sci­ence & Tech­nol­o­gy now oper­ates as a space-grant school and a mem­ber of Missouri’s uni­ver­si­ty sys­tem. The school’s cam­pus in Rol­la serves more than 8,000 stu­dents each year.

What We Like: Mis­souri Uni­ver­si­ty of Sci­ence & Tech­nol­o­gy holds the dis­tinc­tion of being the first tech school sit­u­a­tion to the west of the Mis­sis­sip­pi River.

Pro­gram: Engi­neer­ing Man­age­ment and Systems

Mis­souri Uni­ver­si­ty of Sci­ence & Technology

How Do I Save Money on an Engineering Management Degree?

There are many rea­sons to con­sid­er earn­ing an engi­neer­ing man­age­ment degree, but there are also many con­sid­er­a­tions to weigh. These degrees take time to com­plete, effort, and tuition costs, along with oth­er school-relat­ed expens­es. That is also why many stu­dents seek out afford­able online engi­neer­ing man­age­ment pro­grams.
In addi­tion to poten­tial­ly low­er tuition costs, online course options result in few­er class-relat­ed expens­es. This includes expens­es such as trav­el, lunch­es, and even needs like sched­ul­ing and pay­ing for child­care. These are just a few con­sid­er­a­tions and school­ing options that can help make earn­ing that degree more affordable.

Although there may be no such thing as a cheap online engi­neer­ing man­age­ment degree, these online cours­es and degree options do offer more afford­able solu­tions. In many cas­es, work­ing stu­dents are the peo­ple seek­ing more afford­able degree pro­grams and oth­er options to advance their careers and increase their salaries. These stu­dents must bal­ance life, fam­i­ly, bills, in addi­tion to tuition fees and expens­es relat­ed to their edu­ca­tion­al pursuits.

These are just a few rea­sons why options such as online degree pro­grams and accel­er­at­ed course plans are so help­ful and valu­able. There are still sit­u­a­tions, how­ev­er, where it may be smarter or sim­ply not fea­si­ble at the time, to pur­sue a four-year degree pro­gram. The good news is there are still pro­grams and cer­ti­fi­ca­tions that can also help.

Will a Certification Help My Career?

There are sev­er­al rea­sons why stu­dents and work­ing pro­fes­sion­als choose to earn engi­neer­ing man­age­ment cer­ti­fi­ca­tions. The ben­e­fits of com­plet­ing an engi­neer­ing man­age­ment cer­ti­fi­ca­tion or engi­neer­ing project man­age­ment cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­gram are pro­fes­sion­al, per­son­al, and financial.

Engi­neer­ing man­age­ment cer­ti­fi­ca­tions will have con­sid­er­able ben­e­fits in help­ing advance and suc­ceed in an engi­neer­ing career. These engi­neer­ing man­age­ment cer­ti­fi­ca­tions are a com­mon step towards becom­ing an engi­neer­ing man­ag­er or an engi­neer­ing project man­ag­er. These valu­able cer­ti­fi­ca­tions can lead to pro­mo­tions and career advance­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties while estab­lish­ing cred­i­bil­i­ty and exper­tise for engi­neer­ing professionals.

An engi­neer­ing man­age­ment cer­ti­fi­ca­tion will also do more than ben­e­fit your career, it will offer per­son­al sat­is­fac­tion and rewards. From recog­ni­tion to titles, and even com­pa­ny perks, many per­son­al rewards come along with suc­cess as an engi­neer. These engi­neer­ing cer­ti­fi­ca­tion cours­es offer per­son­al sat­is­fac­tion and prac­ti­cal rewards, and that isn’t all.

Engi­neer­ing man­age­ment cer­ti­fi­ca­tions can also result in increased earn­ings, either as part of one of those afore­men­tioned pro­mo­tions and advance­ment pack­ages or as com­pen­sa­tion for hold­ing an engi­neer­ing man­age­ment cer­ti­fi­ca­tion. An increase in earn­ings is one more poten­tial ben­e­fit of earn­ing an engi­neer­ing man­age­ment certificate.

How Much Can I Make with an Engineering Management Degree?

A busi­ness engi­neer­ing cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­gram is an excel­lent alter­na­tive or com­ple­ment to an engi­neer­ing man­age­ment degree, but it isn’t an engi­neer­ing man­age­ment degree. The dif­fer­ences between the options, oppor­tu­ni­ties, and income avail­able for those with only an engi­neer­ing cer­tifi­cate ver­sus those with an engi­neer­ing man­age­ment degree are considerable.

Based on data from the U.S. Depart­ment of Labor the medi­an wage for ” archi­tec­tur­al and engi­neer­ing man­agers was $149,530 in May 2020.” While an engi­neer­ing cer­tifi­cate is def­i­nite­ly a good move for your career, and although it will help engi­neers to earn more, it isn’t in the same cat­e­go­ry as an engi­neer­ing man­age­ment degree salary.

The good news is that those work­ing to become engi­neer­ing man­agers or engi­neer­ing project man­agers will find it impor­tant and help­ful to earn a bach­e­lor’s in engi­neer­ing man­age­ment in addi­tion to com­plet­ing an engi­neer­ing cer­tifi­cate pro­gram. An engi­neer­ing cer­tifi­cate can avail new oppor­tu­ni­ties but it does­n’t com­pare with the types of oppor­tu­ni­ties and salaries made avail­able with an engi­neer­ing man­age­ment degree.

Here is a look at a few of the posi­tions clas­si­fied under engi­neer­ing and that require at least a bach­e­lor’s degree in engineering:

• Civ­il Engineers
• Mechan­i­cal Engineers
• Aero­space Engineers
• Envi­ron­men­tal Engineers
• Agri­cul­tur­al Engineers
• Nuclear Engi­neers

All of these posi­tions offer above-aver­age pay along with the pres­tige and many ben­e­fits that come with being an engi­neer­ing manager.

Oth­er fac­tors that will deter­mine how much you will make with an engi­neer­ing degree include the type of indus­try or field of work, region­al and cost of liv­ing con­sid­er­a­tions, and oth­er con­sid­er­a­tions. The good news is that those who earn an engi­neer­ing man­age­ment degree and have a career in engi­neer­ing earn a good liv­ing, a good job, and good life.

Relat­ed Rankings:

25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Engi­neer­ing Management

15 Best Online Bach­e­lor’s in Engi­neer­ing Management

10 Fastest Online Bach­e­lor’s in Engi­neer­ing Management