10 Fastest Online Information Technology Degree Bachelor’s Programs

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• The #1 school for a fastest online bach­e­lor’s in infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy is Uni­ver­si­ty of Den­ver.
• Accel­er­at­ed IT pro­grams are aimed at help­ing pro­fes­sion­als quick­ly gain the cre­den­tials they need to advance in their careers.
• Fast online IT degrees are tai­lored for work­ing pro­fes­sion­als who need to bal­ance their stud­ies with work and per­son­al commitments.

While Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy (IT) is a career many peo­ple begin with no col­lege degree at all – often just a cer­ti­fi­ca­tion or asso­ciates degree and hard work – an online infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree may be the step they need to take their career to the next level.

Orig­i­nal­ly pub­lished in July 2022, this arti­cle received an update by our team in Decem­ber 2023.

IT degree online pro­grams pro­vide con­ve­nience (no need to com­mute to cam­pus or relo­cate) and flex­i­bil­i­ty (no need to change your sched­ule to work around class times). They’re often very afford­able. But for many work­ing pro­fes­sion­als, online pro­grams pro­vide one more ben­e­fit – they’re fast.

Quick Links:

• 10 Fastest Online IT Bach­e­lor’s Degree Programs
• What Will I Learn in an Accel­er­at­ed IT Degree Online?
• Will I Get a Bet­ter Job with an IT Bachelor’s than with an Associate’s?
• Is an IT Cer­ti­fi­ca­tion Eas­i­er than a Degree?

Online pro­grams are almost always built with the needs of work­ing adults in mind, and one of the biggest lim­i­ta­tions work­ing adults face is time. There’s nev­er enough of it, and busy pro­fes­sion­als who are already sev­er­al years into their careers don’t want to wait to earn pro­mo­tion and advancement. 

Accel­er­at­ed bachelor’s degree pro­grams give them the chance to earn the cre­den­tials they need quick­ly – some­times in as lit­tle as one year or less. But where to find a qual­i­ty accel­er­at­ed infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree online? That’s where the Bach­e­lors Degree Center’s rank­ing of the 10 Fastest Online Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy (IT) Degree Bachelor’s Pro­grams comes in.

Methodology: Ranking the Best Accelerated Online Information Technology (IT) Degree Programs

Of course, we can’t rank pro­grams sole­ly on how fast stu­dents can com­plete them – speed is crit­i­cal, but not at the expense of qual­i­ty. That’s why BDC ranks our list based on the same 5 fac­tors as our oth­er IT rankings: 

• Cost
• Rep­u­ta­tion
• Return on Investment
• Grad­u­a­tion Rate
• Job Place­ment

With this data (from Col­lege Score­card, Niche, and IPEDS), prospec­tive stu­dents know that they’re look­ing at tech degrees online that will help them get their degree fast, and make the most of it.

10 Fastest Online IT Bachelor’s Degree Programs

1. University of Denver

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Denver’s BA in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degree is an online Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degree that can also be com­plet­ed in a hybrid of online and in-class­room cours­es. Each course is 10 weeks long. 

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Den­ver allows stu­dents to trans­fer up to 90 trans­fer cred­its to their accel­er­at­ed infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree online pro­gram. The IT indus­try con­tin­ues to grow and employ­ers need infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy project man­agers across all indus­tries, including: 

• Health­care
• Finance
• Con­struc­tion
• Oil and Gas
• Man­u­fac­tur­ing

The BA in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy allows stu­dents to devel­op their fun­da­men­tal knowl­edge of tech­nol­o­gy. This degree will pro­pel their career to the next lev­el. Stu­dents will under­stand the val­ue of strong inter­per­son­al skills to work with teams, cus­tomers, and com­put­er users. 

They will learn how to build data­bas­es and user-friend­ly and intu­itive web­sites. Stu­dents will gain a bet­ter under­stand­ing of pro­gram­ming, web design, and sys­tem analy­sis. They will be bet­ter able to apply quan­ti­ta­tive rea­son­ing to their business.

Learn more about the accel­er­at­ed BA in IT degree at Uni­ver­si­ty Col­lege — Uni­ver­si­ty of Denver.

2. Regis University

Reg­is University’s BS in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degree is a high­ly regard­ed accel­er­at­ed infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree online pro­gram. Reg­is offers three for­mats in which stu­dents can com­plete their degree program. 

The online for­mat allows them access to their assign­ments at any time. The online class­es are eight weeks long and no on-cam­pus vis­its are need­ed. The accel­er­at­ed for­mat has six start times per year, with eight-week terms. Some class­es are sched­uled on cam­pus. The tra­di­tion­al for­mat has class­es full-time in the class­room and has 16-week semes­ters begin­ning twice a year.

Stu­dents in Reg­is’ online infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree pro­gram will: 

• gain in-depth knowl­edge of com­put­er sys­tems and how to design them
• gain an under­stand­ing of LANs, WANs, and mobile networks
• learn how to build and main­tain web applications
• learn how to pro­tect the net­works they build and admin­is­ter enter­prise systems
• learn the val­ue of pro­tect­ing sys­tems from data breach­es, iden­ti­ty theft, and cyber attacks

Learn more about the accel­er­at­ed IT degree offered by Reg­is University.

3. Bellevue University

Belle­vue University’s BS in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degree pro­gram is offered online to allow stu­dents the most flex­i­bil­i­ty when com­plet­ing this degree program. 

Belle­vue will accept up to 90 trans­fer cred­its, mak­ing their accel­er­at­ed infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree online pro­gram as short as just one year for qual­i­fied stu­dents. This pro­gram is geared toward stu­dents who are cur­rent­ly employed as a help desk or com­put­er tech­ni­cian and would like to advance their career.

Belle­vue online infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree stu­dents will gain a strong foun­da­tion in net­work secu­ri­ty, data stor­age, servers, and cloud net­work­ing. Stu­dents will learn: 

• how to con­fig­ure, install, and upgrade com­put­ers and oper­at­ing systems
• best prac­tices and stan­dards for secu­ri­ty with­in com­put­er environments
• imple­men­ta­tion stan­dards for local serv­er and cloud environments

Stu­dents will have the oppor­tu­ni­ty for hands-on expe­ri­ence in which to imple­ment the the­o­ry they learned.

Learn more about Belle­vue Uni­ver­si­ty’s online BS in Infor­ma­tion Technology.

4. Georgia Southern University

Geor­gia South­ern University’s BS in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy — known as the WebB­SIT — is designed to meet the spe­cif­ic needs of stay-at-home par­ents, work­ing adults, and oth­er non­tra­di­tion­al students. 

This pro­gram can be com­plet­ed 100 per­cent online and Geor­gia State Uni­ver­si­ty may accept up to 90 trans­fer cred­its. This accel­er­at­ed infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree online pro­gram gives stu­dents the oppor­tu­ni­ty to pro­pel their careers to the next level.

With GSU’s online infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree, stu­dents will be able to: 

• under­stand the require­ments of users to sat­is­fy their needs
• learn how to ana­lyze the needs of users to cre­ate an intu­itive and effec­tive IT system 
• learn how to uti­lize cur­rent tech­nol­o­gy and apply it prop­er­ly to the needs of an orga­ni­za­tion or indi­vid­ual user
• learn the val­ue of work­ing with a team to resolve problems
• build on their cur­rent com­put­er skills and tech­niques to be able to resolve advanced and com­plex problems

Take a look at Geor­gia South­ern Uni­ver­si­ty’s online IT degree!

5. Purdue University Global

Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty Global’s BS in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy offers busy work­ing pro­fes­sion­als an online infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree that meets their needs in a ful­ly online for­mat. This online pro­gram has cours­es that are 10 weeks long. While this pro­gram is com­plete­ly flex­i­ble, stu­dents will need to devote 15 to 18 hours per week to it. 

This accel­er­at­ed infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree online pro­gram allows stu­dents to select from one of four con­cen­tra­tions. Pur­due Glob­al gives stu­dents a foun­da­tion in tech­ni­cal knowl­edge, think­ing crit­i­cal­ly, and cre­ative skills which they will be able to use in any workplace.

Pur­due Uni­ver­si­ty Global’s infor­ma­tion secu­ri­ty and assur­ance con­cen­tra­tion focus­es on net­work admin­is­tra­tion, com­put­er foren­sics, and the abil­i­ty to detect intru­sion and respond to it. The IT man­age­ment con­cen­tra­tion focus­es on: 

• Cer­ti­fied Eth­i­cal Hacking
• Project Man­age­ment
• Appli­ca­tion Development
• Infor­ma­tion Sys­tem Security

The net­work admin­is­tra­tion con­cen­tra­tion focus­es on trou­bleshoot­ing net­works and infra­struc­ture design. The pro­gram­ming and soft­ware devel­op­ment con­cen­tra­tion focus­es on the explo­ration of soft­ware devel­op­ment con­cepts and pro­gram­ming lan­guages need­ed for web and appli­ca­tion development.

Get start­ed on your jour­ney towards achiev­ing your IT dream job by vis­it­ing Pur­due University!

6. California Baptist University

Cal­i­for­nia Bap­tist University’s BS in Com­put­er Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy is an accel­er­at­ed infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree online pro­gram designed for flex­i­bil­i­ty; it can be com­plet­ed in 16 months. Class­es begin every eight weeks, with three semes­ters offered per year. 

This pro­gram can be tak­en 100 per­cent online or a hybrid of online and in-class­room cours­es. CBU’s Bach­e­lor of Com­put­er Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy is intend­ed to help stu­dents with per­son­al, pro­fes­sion­al, and spir­i­tu­al growth. This pro­gram is intend­ed to help stu­dents become crit­i­cal thinkers, lead effec­tive­ly, and make sound deci­sions while apply­ing eth­i­cal Chris­t­ian standards.

Stu­dents in Cal­i­for­nia Bap­tist University’s IT pro­gram will be able to learn the following: 

• resolve tech­ni­cal prob­lems through the strate­gic appli­ca­tion of new technologies. 
• have an under­stand­ing of the method­olo­gies of infor­ma­tion technology. 
• become pro­fi­cient writ­ers and speak­ers in describ­ing and explain­ing infor­ma­tion technology.
• be informed lead­ers and help make sound orga­ni­za­tion­al decisions. 
• learn the val­ue of blend­ing faith into what­ev­er career path they take. 
• be high­ly com­pet­i­tive in the glob­al mar­ket because of their own unique set of skills.

Learn more about the online accel­er­at­ed Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence CIT degree at Cal­i­for­nia Bap­tist University.

7. Western Kentucky University

West­ern Ken­tucky University’s BS in Com­put­er Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy is a com­plete­ly flex­i­ble degree pro­gram. It can be tak­en com­plete­ly online. The online infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree requires stu­dents to take 120 cred­it hours to grad­u­ate, how­ev­er, only 36 cred­it hours must be tak­en at WKU. With its trans­fer pol­i­cy, WKU cre­ates a con­ve­nient accel­er­at­ed infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree online program.

WKU IT stu­dents will learn the foun­da­tion of effi­cient and safe trans­fer of infor­ma­tion and the best ways to store and ana­lyze that infor­ma­tion. They will learn the impor­tance of and how to build com­put­er net­works and sys­tems and com­put­er data­bas­es. This pro­gram pre­pares stu­dents for many career oppor­tu­ni­ties. Upon grad­u­a­tion, stu­dents will be able to find employ­ment as:

• Com­put­er Net­work Architects
• Data­base Administrators
• Web Devel­op­ers
• Soft­ware Developers
• Infor­ma­tion Secu­ri­ty Analysts
• Net­work and Com­put­er Sys­tems Administrators

Inter­est­ed in an online Com­put­er IT degree from West­ern Ken­tucky Uni­ver­si­ty? Fol­low this link!

8. Liberty University

Lib­er­ty University’s BS in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy is just one of many exam­ples of the excep­tion­al, use­ful online degree pro­grams that have made Lib­er­ty the largest and most suc­cess­ful Chris­t­ian uni­ver­si­ty in America. 

This accel­er­at­ed infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree online pro­gram pro­vides the utmost flex­i­bil­i­ty for stu­dents as it is 100 per­cent online. The cours­es are eight weeks long and this pro­gram takes approx­i­mate­ly 3.5 years to com­plete. Stu­dents will be bet­ter pre­pared to be lead­ers in their tech­nol­o­gy field with a foun­da­tion in appli­ca­tion and data­base design.

Stu­dents in the Lib­er­ty online infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree pro­gram have four con­cen­tra­tions from which to choose with­in the BS in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy at Liberty. 

• The Appli­ca­tion and Data­base Devel­op­ment con­cen­tra­tion focus­es on prob­lems com­mon­ly found in web appli­ca­tions and architecture. 
• The Data Net­work­ing and Secu­ri­ty con­cen­tra­tion will focus on secur­ing data with real-world hands-on experience. 
• The Game Design con­cen­tra­tion focus­es on the skills and tools need­ed to be suc­cess­ful in video gam­ing, includ­ing design, user inter­face, and images. 
• The Web and Mobile Pro­gram­ming con­cen­tra­tion focus­es on a foun­da­tion in mobile and web pro­gram­ming, includ­ing design and images.

To learn more about the accel­er­at­ed Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy degree, click here!

9. Regent University

Regent University’s BS in Infor­ma­tion Sys­tems Tech­nol­o­gy is a flex­i­ble pro­gram that can be tak­en online or in the class­room. The pro­gram uses accel­er­at­ed eight-week ses­sions to speed up its class­es, and Regent Uni­ver­si­ty may take up to 90 trans­fer credits. 

This accel­er­at­ed infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree online degree pro­gram puts stu­dents in a posi­tion to assume lead­er­ship roles in their cur­rent field. They will learn to man­age infor­ma­tion, design sys­tems and deploy new tech­nol­o­gy that is secure and reliable.

Online infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree stu­dents will: 

• design and devel­op sound and reli­able net­work systems
• man­age the most com­plex infor­ma­tion sys­tems in their organizations
• gain a strong foun­da­tion in tech­ni­cal knowledge

Upon grad­u­a­tion, stu­dents will be able to find employ­ment as Com­put­er Pro­gram­mers, Soft­ware Engi­neers, Web Devel­op­ers, or Net­work Administrators.

Take a deep­er look into Regent Uni­ver­si­ty’s accel­er­at­ed IST degree!

10. Western Governors University

One of the most unique mod­ern uni­ver­si­ties, West­ern Gov­er­nors University’s BS in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy is a prime exam­ple of inno­va­tion in dis­tance learn­ing. This pro­gram can be com­plet­ed online in any­where from 7 to 37 months. 

West­ern Gov­er­nors Uni­ver­si­ty uses com­pe­ten­cy-based edu­ca­tion, which allows stu­dents to take an online assess­ment to deter­mine if they have mas­tered the mate­r­i­al. If the stu­dent pass­es the assess­ment, the stu­dent can move on past the course. 

This accel­er­at­ed infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree online pro­gram pro­vides stu­dents with a foun­da­tion in com­put­er infor­ma­tion sys­tems and technology.

Stu­dents in WGU’s online infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree pro­gram have five con­cen­tra­tions from which they can choose: 

• Sys­tems and Services
• Net­work­ing and Security
• Script­ing and Programming
• Data Man­age­ment
• The Busi­ness of IT

Stu­dents will gain a foun­da­tion in IT ser­vices and sup­port. They will design secure net­works, write scripts and pro­gram­ming. Stu­dents will learn the val­ue of man­ag­ing data. They will learn how tech­nol­o­gy impacts every piece of an orga­ni­za­tion and the best way to imple­ment new technology.

West­ern Gov­er­nors Uni­ver­si­ty offers a fast BS in IT degree option, learn more!

What Will I Learn in an Accelerated IT Degree Online?

Accel­er­at­ed infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree require­ments will be the same as a tra­di­tion­al infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree – just faster. The key dif­fer­ence is the infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy major sub­jects will be taught at a quick­er pace with online courses. 

The online infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy cours­es need­ed to receive a fast bachelor’s degree from an accred­it­ed online col­lege can be fin­ished in less than four years. In fact, stu­dents look­ing for the quick­est degree can ful­fill infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree require­ments at cer­tain col­leges in just over a year.

A bach­e­lor of infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy syl­labus will have a sim­i­lar appear­ance for both tra­di­tion­al and accel­er­at­ed pro­grams. How­ev­er, tra­di­tion­al infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy course sub­jects are taught over a 16-week time­frame. Online infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy cours­es from accel­er­at­ed pro­grams com­press the sub­jects and can be com­plet­ed in short­er five- to eight-week ses­sions. An online IT degree can be the quick­est degree to obtain for many students.

Besides gen­er­al edu­ca­tion, typ­i­cal offer­ings found on a bach­e­lor of infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy syl­labus include course­work and elec­tives in com­put­er science:

• Com­put­er Programming
• Hard­ware and Soft­ware Troubleshooting
• Net­work Management
• Cyber­se­cu­ri­ty
• Infor­ma­tion Assurance
• Cloud Com­put­ing Administration
• Data Ana­lyt­ics
• Data­base Management
• Infor­ma­tion Management

Infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy major sub­jects in an accel­er­at­ed online pro­gram can usu­al­ly be com­plet­ed at a student’s own pace.

Self-paced accel­er­at­ed infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy pro­grams will allow online learn­ers to take as many or as few cours­es they find man­age­able to get the fastest degree. Accel­er­at­ed infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy degree hold­ers will have the same job oppor­tu­ni­ties as tra­di­tion­al degree hold­ers. Stu­dents in fast degree pro­grams will be taught sub­jects that pre­pare them for careers as data ana­lysts, infor­ma­tion sys­tems man­agers, infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy con­sul­tants, and tech­ni­cal sup­port specialists.

For enroll­ment and finan­cial aid infor­ma­tion, it’s always best for poten­tial online stu­dents to con­tact the online learn­ing office of their col­lege. If you’re seek­ing an online bachelor’s degree, such as a bach­e­lor of sci­ence in infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy, look for the program’s accreditation.

Will I Get a Better Job with an IT Bachelor’s than with an Associate’s?

A bach­e­lor degree in infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy offers more job oppor­tu­ni­ties and room for advance­ment than an IT asso­ciate degree online. An online IT asso­ciate degree will take less time to earn with pro­grams com­plet­ed in less than two years. A bach­e­lor IT degree will take longer to fin­ish, but online tech degrees can be earned in under two years with accel­er­at­ed degree options. The fastest online degree pro­grams can be as lit­tle as 10 months.

The aver­age IT asso­ciates degree salary for indi­vid­u­als with two to four years of work expe­ri­ence is $68,000 accord­ing to Payscale. In com­par­i­son, com­put­er spe­cial­ist careers that require a bach­e­lor’s degree in IT earn a medi­an wage of approx­i­mate­ly $59,660. That’s accord­ing to data com­piled by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Sta­tis­tics. Entry-lev­el IT jobs requir­ing a bachelor’s will usu­al­ly have a start­ing salary upwards of $40,000. IT pro­fes­sion­als with a master’s degree in one of the in-demand spe­cial­iza­tions can expect even higher.

After an online IT associate’s degree is earned, poten­tial job oppor­tu­ni­ties include a career as a web devel­op­er or com­put­er sup­port spe­cial­ist. Bach­e­lor degree hold­ers could secure jobs as: 

• Com­put­er Programmers
• Soft­ware Developers
• Com­put­er Net­work Architects
• Net­work Administrators
• Com­put­er Sys­tems Administrators

Employ­ers may look at an appli­cant with an IT asso­ciates degree online if he or she has also com­plet­ed cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams. Pro­fes­sion­al cer­ti­fi­ca­tions that online IT associate’s degree hold­ers should con­sid­er include Cis­co Cer­ti­fied Net­work Asso­ciate, Comp­TIA A+, and Microsoft Cer­ti­fied Sys­tems Engineer.

Is an IT Certification Easier than a Degree?

Even the fastest bach­e­lor’s degree takes longer than a cer­ti­fi­ca­tion. Infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams do require less of a com­mit­ment than degree pro­grams. Despite the reduced time­frame and cheap­er cost, infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy cer­ti­fi­ca­tion pro­grams have a nar­row focus. 

Top IT employ­ers desire can­di­dates who have degrees that have giv­en them a well-round­ed knowl­edge base of var­i­ous hard­ware and soft­ware com­po­nents. Once employed, the com­pa­ny may pay to send staff to var­i­ous infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy cer­ti­fi­ca­tion programs.

IT degree grad­u­ates who want their resumes to stand out from the com­pe­ti­tion may also decide to earn infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy cer­ti­fi­ca­tions. Recruiters pre­fer can­di­dates with infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy cer­ti­fi­ca­tions because it means less train­ing is required to pre­pare the work­er for the job. Cer­ti­fi­ca­tions enhance hard skills, but will not focus on soft skills. Indus­try cer­ti­fi­ca­tions can help build your resume as well.

Bach­e­lor and asso­ciate IT degree pro­grams teach more than tech­ni­cal skills. They pro­vide can­di­dates with a sol­id busi­ness foun­da­tion. Stu­dents learn about finance, busi­ness strate­gies, lead­er­ship, effec­tive com­mu­ni­ca­tion, and ana­lyt­ics before tak­ing spe­cial­ized infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy cours­es. The good news is that many of the sub­jects taught in degree pro­grams will pre­pare learn­ers to pass exam­i­na­tions for infor­ma­tion tech­nol­o­gy cer­ti­fi­ca­tion programs.

Depend­ing on your high school GPA, SAT, or ACT scores, you may not be ready for a bachelor’s pro­gram. A cer­ti­fi­ca­tion can be a great start and give you the expe­ri­ence that you need.

Relat­ed Rankings:

• 25 Best Bach­e­lor’s in Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy Degree Programs
• 15 Best Online Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy Degree Bach­e­lor’s Programs
• 10 Most Afford­able Online Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy Degree Bach­e­lor Programs
• 15 Best Online Train­ing and Devel­op­ment Programs

Sources:

BLS.gov