The most affordable data science degree program is $161 per credit hour, at Great Basin College, which is 72% lower than the national average. The average cost per credit in college was most recently reported as $594, and the average cost of a bachelor’s degree varies greatly. The average price for an in-state student at a public university is just under $10,000, whereas the cost for an out-of-state student at the same school can be well over $25,000. College tuition has drastically increased over the past several decades, so it is becoming more and more important to find affordable options for education while retaining quality.
With some things, people have been conditioned to think that a higher cost always means higher quality, but in certain instances, that is not a viable option. Education is one of those cases. Tuition increased by 260% from 1980 to the year 2014, utterly skyrocketing. Because of how drastic the cost can be at some institutions of higher learning, some students may worry that the top data science programs are out of their reach. The good news is that that couldn’t be less true.
Great Basin College has a data science degree program, more specifically a Bachelor of Applied Science with a focus in Digital Information Technology. Courses will cover networking, digital information production, information management, and even business skills. This is a well-rounded option that substantially covers all of a student’s bases as they are getting ready to enter the professional realm of data science. It is entirely online and asynchronous and costs only $161 per credit hour. GBC is an all-around robust (yet affordable) high-quality degree program.
Additionally, the Bachelor of Science in Data Management/Data Analytics at Western Governors University is one of the most competitive degree programs in this particular area of study; it equips students with certifications in Oracle, CompTIA, and CIW, at no extra cost. It also includes a Udacity Nanodegree, through which you can reap all the benefits of Udacity (employment placement, résumé support, networking and LinkedIn guidance, and even more) without added costs as well. Tuition for the WGU offering is just $290 per credit hour.
Students of Southern New Hampshire University only pay $320 per credit hour in the Bachelor of Science in Data Analytics online degree program; they will learn to combine data mining and structure with modeling and communication. There are several other high-quality data science degrees online that cost under $500 per credit hour, like those offered at Liberty University, California State University — Fullerton, the University of Washington, and several others. Each fully-accredited and fully-online degree brings something unique to the table without taking a large chunk out of your bank account.
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