15 Best Online Finance Degree Bachelor’s Programs

Finance is a career for peo­ple who like mon­ey – not just mak­ing it (who doesn’t like that?), but play­ing with it, ana­lyz­ing it, dis­sect­ing it, see­ing how it works and doesn’t work. Get­ting a bachelor’s degree in finance online can be the most con­ve­nient, most flex­i­ble way to start your career in finance. That’s espe­cial­ly true if you’re a work­ing adult who wants to change careers to the finance sec­tor, but can’t afford to leave your job and go back to school. Online degree com­ple­tion pro­grams in busi­ness, account­ing, and finance are plen­ti­ful, if you know where to look, and in the 21st cen­tu­ry, they’re just as trust­ed by employ­ers as con­ven­tion­al degrees.

They’re trust­ed, that is, if they’re rep­utable. That’s where Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter comes in. Because busi­ness and finance degrees are in such demand, there’s a mar­ket for over­priced, under­per­form­ing online degrees that don’t teach you any­thing, and don’t pro­vide any­thing but a mean­ing­less cre­den­tial. If you want a real career in finance, you want a real online finance degree – the best online finance degree. Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter has the real lowdown.

Methodology: Ranking the Best Online Finance Degrees

To rank the best bachelor’s degree in finance online pro­grams, Bachelor’s Degree Cen­ter did a thor­ough search of ful­ly online and hybrid bachelor’s and bachelor’s com­ple­tion pro­grams with finance spe­cial­iza­tions. BDC con­sid­ered only region­al­ly accred­it­ed col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties, with busi­ness pro­grams accred­it­ed by the AACSB or ACBSP. Out of the many, many online finance degree pro­grams, we ranked the results by 3 criteria:

• Niche review score
• Grad­u­a­tion Rate (IPEDS data)
• Alum­ni Salary (Col­lege Score­card data)

The col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties that make this rank­ing of the top online finance degrees include major pub­lic research uni­ver­si­ties, small Chris­t­ian col­leges, region­al pub­lic schools, and every­thing in between, but they all have one thing in com­mon – they cre­ate reli­able online pro­grams that get results, and offer the best online finance degree pro­grams in America.

1. Northeastern University Global

North­east­ern Uni­ver­si­ty Global’s online BS in Finance and Account­ing Man­age­ment bachelor’s com­ple­tion pro­gram gives stu­dents adapt­able skills to keep up with changes in the finan­cial sec­tor. The bachelor’s degree in finance online pro­gram allows stu­dents to study from any loca­tion at a time that fits their sched­ule. The course­work focus­es on a vari­ety of stud­ies, includ­ing finance, account­ing and tech­nol­o­gy. By inte­grat­ing a vari­ety of stud­ies in the course­work, stu­dents can focus on their career goals.

North­east­ern Uni­ver­si­ty Glob­al is a part of the world-renowned North­east­ern Uni­ver­si­ty, the top-tier pri­vate research uni­ver­si­ty found­ed in Boston in 1898. North­east­ern stands apart from oth­er pro­grams for a bach­e­lor’s degree in finance online by offer­ing stu­dents expe­ri­en­tial learn­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties. As one of the lead­ing coop­er­a­tive edu­ca­tion schools in the US, Northeastern’s many con­nec­tions allow stu­dents to work with spon­sor­ing orga­ni­za­tions online to devel­op unique skills that help in their career. The school also works with a stu­den­t’s employ­er to clar­i­fy the needs of the com­pa­ny and assist the stu­dents in learn­ing the skills the busi­ness needs for their career advancement.

School: Col­lege of Pro­fes­sion­al Stud­ies
Degree: BS in Finance and Account­ing Management

Learn more about the finance degree here!

2. University of Massachusetts Amherst — UMass Online

UMass Amherst’s online BBA in Finance rep­re­sents one of the best online finance degree pro­grams for under­grad­u­ate stu­dents in the US. The Isen­berg School of Man­age­ment offers rig­or­ous train­ing in tech­ni­cal skills need­ed to com­pete in a finan­cial career. Stu­dents learn about invest­ing, cor­po­rate finance, inter­na­tion­al finance and bank man­age­ment. By tak­ing a com­bi­na­tion of cours­es to learn lead­er­ship and man­age­ment skills as well as finan­cial skills, stu­dents pre­pare for a career that allows them to take on lead­er­ship roles in inter­na­tion­al finance.

The way UMass Amherst dif­fers from oth­er online schools is the engage­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties for stu­dents. The most respect­ed pub­lic uni­ver­si­ty in New Eng­land, and one of the world’s top-ranked busi­ness school in Isen­berg, UMass Online encour­ages stu­dents to get involved with finan­cial insti­tutes by study­ing for the Cer­ti­fied Finan­cial Ana­lyst, or CFA, exams and the Cer­ti­fied Finan­cial Plan­ner, or CFP, exam. By encour­ag­ing stu­dents to learn about pro­fes­sion­al des­ig­na­tions in the finan­cial sec­tor, the school pre­pares stu­dents for the poten­tial oppor­tu­ni­ties to advance in a finance career, mak­ing for the best bachelor’s degree in finance online.

School: Isen­berg School of Man­age­ment
Degree: BBA in Finance

Learn more about the finance degree here!

3. Regis University

Reg­is University’s online BS in Finance pre­pares stu­dents for the cor­po­rate envi­ron­ment of a career in finance by study­ing the trends and tech­niques used by busi­ness­es in the finance sec­tor. The uni­ver­si­ty takes a well-round­ed approach to finance by teach­ing stu­dents about eco­nom­ics and busi­ness in the finance pro­gram. That allows stu­dents to under­stand the goals of a large cor­po­ra­tion and pro­vides the skills stu­dents need to suc­ceed in a cor­po­rate role, mak­ing Regis’s BS the best online finance degree in Colorado.

Reg­is Uni­ver­si­ty takes a whole-per­son approach to edu­ca­tion. As a Catholic, Jesuit uni­ver­si­ty, Reg­is takes an inter­est in the stu­den­t’s long-term career goals as well as their needs as indi­vid­u­als. That whole-per­son approach to edu­ca­tion ensures that stu­dents have a well-round­ed view of busi­ness and finance. By focus­ing on the goals and inter­ests of the stu­dents, the uni­ver­si­ty stands out from oth­er col­leges and gives stu­dents more than the basic skills they need for a job. It gives them the skills they need to suc­ceed and grow as indi­vid­u­als before they start a career with one of the best online finance degree pro­grams in the nation.

School: Col­lege of Busi­ness and Eco­nom­ics
Degree: BS in Finance

Learn more about the finance degree here!

4. Florida International University — FIU Online

Flori­da Inter­na­tion­al University’s online BBA in Finance allows stu­dents to focus on your career goals, build­ing their expe­ri­ence while pur­su­ing a degree online from the Lang­don Under­grad­u­ate School of Busi­ness. The con­cen­tra­tion in finance teach­es stu­dents the skills they need to suc­ceed in the finance sec­tor. By study­ing finan­cial tech­nol­o­gy, stu­dents gain a firm grasp on mod­ern mod­els and tools used to assist clients in bank­ing or cor­po­rate busi­ness­es. Stu­dents also learn prac­ti­cal skills that improve their abil­i­ty to invest, man­age risk or han­dle chal­lenges in an inter­na­tion­al company.

Flori­da Inter­na­tion­al Uni­ver­si­ty Online is part of Florida’s largest and most influ­en­tial met­ro­pol­i­tan research uni­ver­si­ty. From its found­ing in 1965, FIU has made edu­ca­tion for work­ing adults a pri­or­i­ty, and that’s espe­cial­ly the case with FIU Online. The empha­sis on tech­nol­o­gy in the bach­e­lor’s degree in finance online pre­pares stu­dents for a chang­ing indus­try that relies on the use of com­put­ers and pro­grams to pro­vide clients with opti­mal ser­vices. Since the pro­gram com­bines flex­i­bil­i­ty with mod­ern tech­niques in finance, it helps stu­dents pre­pare for their role in a business.

School: Lang­don Under­grad­u­ate School of Busi­ness
Degree: BBA in Finance

Learn more about the finance degree here!

5. Dallas Baptist University — DBU Online

Dal­las Bap­tist University’s online Bach­e­lor of Busi­ness Stud­ies-Finance offers one of the best online finance degree options for stu­dents. The online cours­es give stu­dents a strong foun­da­tion in math­e­mat­ics and gen­er­al stud­ies before stu­dents move into com­plex finance top­ics like account­ing and cor­po­rate finan­cial man­age­ment. The focus on math­e­mat­ics in the degree pro­gram helps stu­dents under­stand dif­fer­ent aspects of finance and pre­pares stu­dents to han­dle the chal­lenges of port­fo­lio man­age­ment, asset man­age­ment and cor­po­rate finance.

As a small, Chris­t­ian lib­er­al arts col­lege, Dal­las Bap­tist Uni­ver­si­ty offers small class sizes and a low student:faculty ratio, even online. That helps set the pro­gram apart from oth­er uni­ver­si­ties because the teach­ers have time to inter­act with stu­dents and answer their ques­tions. The flex­i­bil­i­ty of the online pro­gram com­bined with access to pro­fes­sors allows stu­dents to feel con­fi­dent in their abil­i­ty to focus on course­work. The small class­es make it eas­i­er to seek help from pro­fes­sors when stu­dents are uncer­tain about a top­ic or need help with spe­cif­ic areas of a com­plex prob­lem. All of this sup­port makes DBU’s BBS one of the best bach­e­lor’s degree in finance online pro­grams in Texas.

School: Col­lege of Pro­fes­sion­al Stud­ies
Degree: Bach­e­lor of Busi­ness Stud­ies — Finance

Learn more about the finance degree here!

6. University of Alabama- Birmingham — UAB Online

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Alaba­ma at Birm­ing­ham online BS in Finance offers a rig­or­ous edu­ca­tion with a focus on top­ics like finan­cial analy­sis, real estate and cor­po­rate finance. The Col­lat School of Busi­ness’ inno­v­a­tive edu­ca­tion pro­gram uses tech­nol­o­gy to instruct stu­dents in finan­cial top­ics. It also helps stu­dents become famil­iar with the tech­nol­o­gy used in the finan­cial sec­tor to pre­pare them for the chal­lenges of work­ing in a cor­po­rate or busi­ness setting.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Alaba­ma at Birm­ing­ham makes its mark in the Deep South due to its focus on inno­va­tion. From a small exten­sion cam­pus in 1936, UAB is today the only R1 pub­lic research uni­ver­si­ty in the state, and a leader in med­i­cine, law, and busi­ness. UAB’s Col­lat School is accred­it­ed by the AACSB and is ranked among the top online busi­ness pro­grams by U.S. News. The school focus­es on pro­vid­ing stu­dents with a rig­or­ous and focused edu­ca­tion that helps them advance in their career and reach their long-term goals. It’s one of the South’s best online finance degree programs.

School: Col­lat School of Busi­ness
Degree: BS in Finance

Learn more about the finance degree here!

7. University of Minnesota Crookston — UMC Online

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Min­neso­ta Crook­ston online BS in Finance focus­es on the skills stu­dents need to nav­i­gate a grow­ing indus­try. U of M Crookston’s pro­gram offers wide­ly applic­a­ble edu­ca­tion in areas of per­for­mance and risk, as well as the use of tech­nol­o­gy for analy­sis, that can be applied to fields like real estate, cor­po­rate finance, invest­ing, and analy­sis. Stu­dents learn to man­age risk and address the con­cerns of con­sumer and cor­po­rate clients. By focus­ing on a com­bi­na­tion of legal, eth­i­cal and eco­nom­ic fac­tors that relate to the finance indus­try, stu­dents under­stand how to nav­i­gate a vari­ety of cor­po­rate and busi­ness environments.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Min­neso­ta sys­tem is shap­ing up to be one of the strong pub­lic high­er edu­ca­tion sys­tems in the nation, and U of M Crook­ston is the small­est and most opti­mistic of the system’s col­leges. From its begin­ning as an agri­cul­tur­al school in 1905, Crook­ston has focused on the real-world needs of Min­nesotans, and in the 21st cen­tu­ry, that means a grow­ing invest­ment in online edu­ca­tion. U of M Crook­ston may not have the biggest name, but it’s got one of the best online finance degree pro­grams in the upper Midwest.

School: Depart­ment of Busi­ness
Degree: BS in Finance

Learn more about the finance degree here!

8. Old Dominion University — ODU Online

An Old Domin­ion Uni­ver­si­ty BS in Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion in Finance pre­pares stu­dents for a career in the finance sec­tor. One of the most com­pre­hen­sive online col­leges, ODU offers a full degree and com­ple­tion pro­gram for the BSBA, so you can trans­fer cred­its from oth­er uni­ver­si­ties or col­leges. Since stu­dents can take on a role in pri­vate busi­ness­es, gov­ern­ment roles, and even non-prof­it orga­ni­za­tions, the online pro­gram helps stu­dents rec­og­nize their options and find the right area of finance to focus their atten­tion and inter­est. It offers class­es in cor­po­rate finance, finan­cial analy­sis, invest­ing and real estate.

Old Domin­ion Uni­ver­si­ty began in 1930 as noth­ing more than a remote cam­pus for the Col­lege of William and Mary, but the last two decades have seen ODU grow into one of the lead­ing insti­tu­tions for online edu­ca­tion. Thanks to its ear­ly adop­tion in tech­nol­o­gy, ODU has become a house­hold name and one of the most respect­ed pub­lic, non-prof­it uni­ver­si­ties to offer online pro­grams. The bach­e­lor’s degree in finance online pro­gram is a prime exam­ple of ODU’s excellence.

School: Strome Col­lege of Busi­ness
Degree: BS in Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion (BSBA) in Finance

Learn more about the finance degree here!

9. Missouri State University — Missouri State Online

Mis­souri State University’s online BS in Finance degree pro­gram pre­pares stu­dents for a career in mon­ey man­age­ment. The finance option in the pro­gram focus­es on man­ag­ing mon­ey for clients on a cor­po­rate or con­sumer lev­el. The pro­gram rec­og­nizes that mon­ey man­age­ment plays an impor­tant role in many finan­cial ser­vices, so stu­dents learn the foun­da­tion of man­ag­ing mon­ey for dif­fer­ent goals and inter­ests. Dur­ing the pro­gram, stu­dents learn finan­cial plan­ning, mon­ey man­age­ment in real estate, cor­po­rate mon­ey man­age­ment, and bank­ing. MSU’s bach­e­lor’s degree in finance online pre­pares stu­dents for a rig­or­ous career in the finan­cial sector.

Mis­souri State Uni­ver­si­ty began as a nor­mal school train­ing teach­ers for the school sys­tem in 1905, and since devel­op­ing into a full region­al uni­ver­si­ty MSU has made Missouri’s work­ing adults and pro­fes­sion­als its high­est pri­or­i­ty. In recent years, MSU has used tech­nol­o­gy to reach out to Missouri’s work­ers, espe­cial­ly those in rur­al areas, through its online pro­grams. The Col­lege of Busi­ness, the largest in Mis­souri, has been home to many of these inno­va­tions, includ­ing one of the best online finance degree pro­grams in the Midwest.

School: Col­lege of Busi­ness
Degree: BS in Finance

10. Metropolitan State University

Met­ro­pol­i­tan State University’s online BS in Finance degree pro­gram pro­vides a strong foun­da­tion in finan­cial top­ics and it offers advanced stud­ies for more com­plex roles in the indus­try. Stu­dents learn every aspect of finance by start­ing with math­e­mat­ics, sta­tis­tics, and eco­nom­ics. After devel­op­ing a strong foun­da­tion in the STEM stud­ies, stu­dents also learn finan­cial tech­nol­o­gy and quan­ti­ta­tive skills to build up crit­i­cal think­ing skills. The pro­gram takes a rig­or­ous approach to edu­ca­tion and builds on a strong foun­da­tion to ensure stu­dents under­stand the tech­ni­cal skills of work­ing in the finance industry.

Met­ro­pol­i­tan State Uni­ver­si­ty is unique among Minnesota’s pub­lic uni­ver­si­ties; it was found­ed in 1971 specif­i­cal­ly to meet the needs of non­tra­di­tion­al stu­dents, includ­ing work­ing adults, in the Twin Cities; it’s also the most diverse uni­ver­si­ty in Min­neso­ta. Today, Metro State extends that mis­sion far beyond Min­neapo­lis-St. Paul by using online edu­ca­tion. It’s also one of the most afford­able col­leges in the region because of an excep­tion­al pro­gram offer­ing free tuition to grad­u­ates of Min­neapo­lis-St. Paul’s pub­lic high schools. For one of the best online schools for finance in Min­neso­ta, look no further.

School: Col­lege of Man­age­ment
Degree: BS in Finance

Learn more about the finance degree here!

11. Liberty University — Liberty Online

The Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty online BS in Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion in Finance is taught by expe­ri­enced pro­fes­sion­als who have worked in the finance indus­try before teach­ing the class. Their real-world expe­ri­ence, and the ACB­SP-accred­it­ed School of Busi­ness, allows stu­dents to under­stand the poten­tial chal­lenges that may arise in a cor­po­rate envi­ron­ment and meth­ods of resolv­ing finan­cial chal­lenges in a busi­ness. It gives the stu­dents a pro­fes­sion­al per­spec­tive on the top­ics they study so they under­stand the appli­ca­tion of skills in their career.

Lib­er­ty Uni­ver­si­ty may have start­ed as a hum­ble Bible col­lege (found­ed by evan­ge­list Jer­ry Fal­well in 1971), but no Chris­t­ian col­lege in Amer­i­can his­to­ry has had quite the ambi­tion of Lib­er­ty. Today, Lib­er­ty would be the largest Chris­t­ian uni­ver­si­ty in the US with just its on-cam­pus pop­u­la­tion — except that Lib­er­ty has also become one of the world’s lead­ers in online edu­ca­tion, with more than 100,000 online stu­dents. Lib­er­ty com­bines afford­abil­i­ty and acces­si­bil­i­ty with a well-estab­lished rep­u­ta­tion for qual­i­ty and lead­er­ship, includ­ing its bachelor’s degree in finance online program.

School: School of Busi­ness
Degree: BS in Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion (BSBA) in Finance

Learn more about the finance degree here!

12. Upper Iowa University — UIU Online

Upper Iowa University’s online BSBA in Finance degree pro­gram gives stu­dents the oppor­tu­ni­ty to focus their stud­ies on finance while build­ing a strong foun­da­tion in gen­er­al busi­ness stud­ies. The accel­er­at­ed pro­gram rec­og­nizes that stu­dents want to build their career and work around a busy sched­ule, so it pro­vides the flex­i­bil­i­ty stu­dents need to address their con­cerns and goals. As an accel­er­at­ed pro­gram, stu­dents can expect a fast-paced envi­ron­ment when tak­ing cours­es. The pro­gram’s focus on busi­ness as well as finance allows stu­dents to pre­pare for the com­plex inter­ac­tions they will face in a cor­po­rate or busi­ness setting.

Upper Iowa Uni­ver­si­ty dates back to 1857, but the uni­ver­si­ty real­ly began to form into the insti­tu­tion it is today in 1972, when it began offer­ing dis­tance edu­ca­tion pro­grams. That laid the foun­da­tion for today, when UIU stands out as one of the top online edu­ca­tors not only in the Mid­west, but the US. Accel­er­at­ed semes­ters and mil­i­tary-friend­ly pro­grams have made UIU a des­ti­na­tion for work­ing adults, active-duty mil­i­tary per­son­nel, and vet­er­ans. That’s what it takes to make one of the best online finance degree pro­grams in America.

School: School of Busi­ness
Degree: BS in Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion (BSBA) in Finance

Learn more about the finance degree here!

13. University of Memphis Global

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Mem­phis Glob­al online BBA in Finance gives stu­dents a con­cen­trat­ed focus on stocks, bonds, fixed income secu­ri­ties, inter­na­tion­al exchange and a myr­i­ad of oth­er details relat­ed to the finan­cial indus­try. The focus on busi­ness finance means stu­dents learn to apply their knowl­edge of finance in a cor­po­rate or busi­ness set­ting with a focus on the use of invest­ment skills or finan­cial skills for the growth and devel­op­ment of the com­pa­ny. A key aspect that sets the Uni­ver­si­ty of Mem­phis Glob­al pro­gram apart is the approval of the Char­tered Finan­cial Ana­lyst (CFA) Insti­tute and the Cer­ti­fied Finan­cial Plan­ner (CFP) Board.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Mem­phis began in 1912 as the teacher train­ing school for west­ern Ten­nessee, but today stands proud­ly as a major pub­lic research uni­ver­si­ty. U of M is a high­ly diverse school, with more than a third of the stu­dent body made up of minor­i­ty stu­dents, and the uni­ver­si­ty has made out­reach to Tennessee’s under­rep­re­sent­ed stu­dents a pri­or­i­ty. That also includes its online pro­grams, which allow the uni­ver­si­ty to reach stu­dents who nor­mal­ly could not come to cam­pus. Their excel­lent bach­e­lor’s degree in finance online pro­gram is a per­fect example.

School: U of M Glob­al
Degree: BBA in Finance

Learn more about the finance degree here!

14. Colorado Technical University

Col­orado Tech­ni­cal University’s online BS in Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion in Finance is one of the best online finance degree pro­grams. The pro­gram pre­pares stu­dents for a career in finance by teach­ing from real-world exam­ples. It also focus­es on pro­vid­ing a strong foun­da­tion in finan­cial stud­ies to ensure that stu­dents under­stand the basics and can build on the skills they need for a rig­or­ous career. Stu­dents are able to pur­sue spe­cif­ic areas of finan­cial stud­ies for advanced knowl­edge of finan­cial account­ing, invest­ments or risk assessment.

Col­orado Tech­ni­cal Uni­ver­si­ty stands out as a unique sort of insti­tu­tion; few for-prof­it uni­ver­si­ties are able to com­bine high U.S. News & World Report rank­ings, region­al and pro­gram accred­i­ta­tions (includ­ing the ACB­SP-accred­it­ed busi­ness pro­gram), and excel­lence in online edu­ca­tion. While Col­orado Tech began with a focus on mil­i­tary stu­dents, today more than 90% of stu­dents are ful­ly online, includ­ing one of the best online finance degree pro­grams in America.

School: N/A
Degree: BS in Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion (BSBA) in Finance

Learn more about the finance degree here!

15. Pennsylvania State University-World Campus

The Penn State World Cam­pus online BS in Finance degree pro­gram allows stu­dents the flex­i­bil­i­ty to pick out their course­work after com­plet­ing the foun­da­tion­al class­es. The pro­gram pro­vides a strong foun­da­tion in eco­nom­ics, busi­ness, and account­ing before stu­dents move into spe­cif­ic finan­cial stud­ies for their career goals. Penn­syl­va­nia State Uni­ver­si­ty’s World Cam­pus pro­gram was accept­ed into the CFA Insti­tute Uni­ver­si­ty Affil­i­ate Pro­gram. The affil­i­ate pro­gram only applies to uni­ver­si­ties with a large por­tion of the cur­ricu­lum that cen­ters on the Can­di­date Body of Knowl­edge, or CBOK, from the CFA Pro­gram. The cur­ricu­lum in the course­work pre­pares stu­dents to take the CFA exams after com­plet­ing their degree.

Penn State Uni­ver­si­ty is Pennsylvania’s fore­most pub­lic research uni­ver­si­ty, but it’s also a nation­al pio­neer in dis­tance edu­ca­tion. Penn State began offer­ing dis­tance pro­grams as far back as 1892, using mail cor­re­spon­dence to teach farm­ers the lat­est inno­va­tions in agri­cul­ture. Today, the Penn State World Cam­pus is an inde­pen­dent part of Penn State that has become one of the first names in online edu­ca­tion, launch­ing in 1998 as one of the first ded­i­cat­ed online pro­grams from a major pub­lic university.

School: N/A
Degree: BS in Finance

Learn more about the finance degree here!

How Can I Get a Bachelor’s Degree in Finance Online?

You can earn a bachelor’s degree in finance online by enrolling in one of the many schools that offer an online finance pro­gram. Of course, there are many things to con­sid­er when decid­ing the best online busi­ness finance degree for you, includ­ing cost, accred­i­ta­tion, and rep­u­ta­tion. The loca­tion could even be impor­tant; even if you take all of your class­es online, you may like the oppor­tu­ni­ty to meet your pro­fes­sors in per­son or take full advan­tage of the resources avail­able in the col­lege library. (See our “Essen­tial Guide to Online Bachelor’s Degrees“)

The process for earn­ing a bachelor’s degree in finance online is the same as enrolling in any col­lege or uni­ver­si­ty, minus the cam­pus tour. First, choose your school from the best online schools for finance. Then apply for admis­sion and finan­cial aid. You’ll need to pro­vide tran­scripts from high school and any oth­er col­leges you’ve attend­ed, and there may be oth­er require­ments, such as an entry exam. Once you have applied, some­one from the school will con­tact you to let you know if there is any­thing else you need to do.

What is the Best Online Finance Degree Type for Me?

There are a lot of ways you can go with a finance degree – and more than a few busi­ness degree types. A Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence (BS) in Finance will focus more on math­e­mat­ics and tech­nol­o­gy – the hard­core ana­lyt­i­cal aspects of finance. A Bach­e­lor of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion (BBA) in Finance, on the oth­er hand, will spend more time on the lead­er­ship and man­age­r­i­al aspects of finance, with a stronger ground­ing in busi­ness than analy­sis. And oth­er degrees, like a Bach­e­lor of Busi­ness Stud­ies or a BS in Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion, might split the dif­fer­ence, focus­ing on dif­fer­ent aspects.

Choos­ing your degree type depends on a few things: your per­son­al­i­ty and strengths; your career goals; and, in all real­i­ty, what is avail­able where and when you want. You can get reward­ing finance degree jobs with any of these degree types, and a finance degree salary out of col­lege will like­ly be pret­ty much the same as any. If your long-term goals are man­age­r­i­al, or you pre­fer to see your­self crunch­ing num­bers, your choice now influ­ences your direc­tion in the future.

How Do I Know if an Online Finance Degree Program is Legit?

To be sure the pro­gram you choose is legit, search for an accred­it­ed online finance degree. Accred­i­ta­tion agen­cies review the pro­grams at each school to ensure that they meet the min­i­mum stan­dards that the accred­i­ta­tion board has set. The best online finance bach­e­lor degree pro­grams are accredited.

Online learn­ers should ful­ly research in-state vs out-of-state tuition rates, enroll­ment require­ments (such as GPA or ACT scores), and course­work. Finance cours­es, elec­tive cours­es, and gen­er­al edu­ca­tion, along with intern­ships, make the best online bach­e­lor pro­grams per­fect for start­ing their career paths.

To help you choose the best online finance degree, we have assem­bled our picks for the best online schools for finance for you. Browse through this list to find an accred­it­ed online finance degree that meets your needs.

Once you have nar­rowed down your choic­es based on accred­i­ta­tion, use online reviews to get a feel for how for­mer stu­dents feel about each school to help you choose the best online finance degree for you. There are many review sites that can help you iden­ti­fy the best online finance degree pro­grams, includ­ing Col­lege­Times, Stu­dentsRe­view, and GetEducated.com.

The best online schools for finance will have both accred­i­ta­tion and pos­i­tive reviews. If you attend a school that is not accred­it­ed, you are like­ly to have trou­ble trans­fer­ring the cred­its if you ever decide to change schools.

In addi­tion, online finance bach­e­lor’s degree pro­grams from unac­cred­it­ed schools are not giv­en as much weight by employ­ers. So make sure you’re get­ting an accred­it­ed online finance degree before you take the plunge.

Finance majors can choose between full-time and part-time pro­grams. Often, online stu­dents can earn cred­it for work expe­ri­ence toward their online bach­e­lor of sci­ence in finance. A tra­di­tion­al pro­gram takes four years, but online degrees may com­bine cred­it hours, make gen­er­al edu­ca­tion faster.

In their cours­es and elec­tives finance stu­dents will learn:

• fun­da­men­tals of finan­cial markets
• finan­cial decision-making
• finan­cial modeling
• finan­cial state­ment analysis
• macro­eco­nom­ics
• man­age­r­i­al skills
• secu­ri­ties analysis

In addi­tion to core cours­es, many pro­grams use case stud­ies and cap­stone projects to demon­strate real-world applications.

Will I Make More Money with an Online Finance Degree?

A quick search on Indeed.com can give you a pret­ty good idea of what you can expect for a finance degree salary. Out of col­lege, most employ­ees should expect to land a degree at the low­er end of the account­ing and finance degree salary range, which starts at around $55,000.
With expe­ri­ence, an account­ing and finance degree salary tops out at over $100,000. Approx­i­mate­ly 17% of the finance jobs cur­rent­ly list­ed on Indeed have esti­mat­ed salaries of around $110,000. The Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics (BLS) shows that finance pro­fes­sion­als make some of the high­est salaries in the US.

Obvi­ous­ly, you won’t make the high­est finance degree salary out of col­lege, but with a few years of expe­ri­ence – and some strong suc­cess­es on your resume – you’ll be hit­ting the high­er end of that finance degree salary scale before you know it.

What Can I Do With an Online Finance Degree?

Finance degree jobs range from entry-lev­el posi­tions such as an accoun­tant or cred­it ana­lyst to man­age­ment posi­tions such as finance man­ag­er or chief finan­cial offi­cer (CFO). There are career oppor­tu­ni­ties for finance grad­u­ates across a range of indus­tries, including

• bank­ing
• finan­cial services
• infor­ma­tion technology
• man­u­fac­tur­ing
• invest­ment services
• finan­cial risk management
• bud­get analyst
• val­u­a­tion
• wealth man­age­ment
• estate plan­ning
• per­son­al finance
• per­son­al finan­cial advisors
• per­son­al finan­cial planning
• cap­i­tal management
• invest­ment management
• fore­cast­ing
• lend­ing
• account­ing

Relat­ed Rank­ings:
25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Finance Degree Pro­grams
10 Fastest Online Finance Degree Bach­e­lors Programs

15 Best Online Train­ing and Devel­op­ment Programs