Top 12 Online Bachelor Degree Programs

The col­lege appli­ca­tion process begins dur­ing stu­dents’ high school years, and often­times with a world of oppor­tu­ni­ties ahead, it can be dif­fi­cult to decide not only where to apply, but what kind of major or degree pro­gram would best suit them. This rank­ing explores schools that offer the best online bach­e­lor degree pro­grams avail­able in high­er edu­ca­tion. It is designed to help stu­dents to find the best avail­able online options for many pop­u­lar majors.

Many stu­dents also start their col­lege years at a 2‑year col­lege and may want to con­tin­ue on to earn a high­er degree. This rank­ing can also help these stu­dents find an online pro­gram in which they can obtain their bach­e­lor degree and advance in their careers.

Methodology and Notes

We began by uti­liz­ing data from US News & World Report in order to find which schools rank as offer­ing the best online pro­grams for bach­e­lor’s degrees using their own cri­te­ria includ­ing the amount of stu­dent debt accu­mu­lat­ed at grad­u­a­tion and aca­d­e­m­ic and career sup­port offered by schools. These find­ings account for 33% of our total rank­ing. Stu­dent rat­ings of schools’ over­all per­for­mance and offer­ings as well as their eval­u­a­tion of the schools’ aca­d­e­mics were researched at niche.com. We feel that stu­dent opin­ions should be influ­en­tial in what is con­sid­ered to be the best, there­fore each of these accounts for 17% of our total rank­ing. We also took into con­sid­er­a­tion accep­tance rates and grad­u­a­tion per­cent­ages of each school, as both are need­ed in order to obtain a degree. These facts were gath­ered from the Nation­al Cen­ter for Edu­ca­tion Sta­tis­tics and each also accounts for 17% of our total ranking.

Some online pro­grams require exams to be tak­en either on-cam­pus or at a proc­tored loca­tion. Also, some pro­grams may require stu­dents to have pre­vi­ous­ly earned an asso­ciate degree in the same or a sim­i­lar major in order to par­tic­i­pate. If you are unsure of any require­ments, please be sure to inquire at the school of your choice pri­or to enrolling.

Here are the Top 12 Online Bach­e­lor Degree Programs:

1. University of Georgia

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Geor­gia in Athens dates back to 1785 when Geor­gia became the first state to form a state-sup­port­ed uni­ver­si­ty. How­ev­er, the uni­ver­si­ty was­n’t estab­lished until 1801, with the first grad­u­at­ing class in 1804. UGA has con­tin­ued to grow and keep up with mod­ern tech­nolo­gies and inno­va­tions. Online pro­grams are cer­tain­ly a sign of chang­ing times and the Uni­ver­si­ty of Geor­gia now offers two of the best online bach­e­lor pro­grams avail­able to stu­dents. The top-ranked Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence in Spe­cial Edu­ca­tion pro­gram is a degree com­ple­tion pro­gram offered through the Col­lege of Edu­ca­tion Depart­ment of Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Sci­ences and Spe­cial Edu­ca­tion. UGA also offers a Bach­e­lor in Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion avail­able through the Ter­ry Col­lege of Busi­ness and is accred­it­ed by the AACSB. Stu­dents who earn online degrees from the Uni­ver­si­ty of Geor­gia can rest assured that they are not just get­ting a ter­rif­ic edu­ca­tion, but a well-respect­ed degree equal to one earned on-campus.

For more infor­ma­tion about the Uni­ver­si­ty of Georgia

2. Ohio State University

Estab­lished in 1970, Ohio State Uni­ver­si­ty in Colum­bus began earn­ing its rep­u­ta­tion for excel­lence in high­er edu­ca­tion which stands today. The uni­ver­si­ty has and con­tin­ues to earn high rank­ings in var­i­ous cat­e­gories from well respect­ed nation­al pub­li­ca­tions such as US News & World Report, Busi­ness Insid­er, and The Wall Street Jour­nal. Although there are only three bach­e­lor degree pro­grams offered at Ohio State Uni­ver­si­ty online, they are con­sid­ered to be of the high­est qual­i­ty. The most pop­u­lar pro­gram cho­sen by stu­dents at Ohio State online is the RN to BSN at 95%, accord­ing to US News & World Report data. Also offered is a BS in Den­tal Hygiene degree com­ple­tion pro­gram as well as a BS in Health Sci­ences. Online diplo­mas from Ohio State Uni­ver­si­ty are equiv­a­lent to those earned on cam­pus. Stu­dents can rest assured that when they choose Ohio State Uni­ver­si­ty for their online bach­e­lor degree pro­gram, they are going to get one of the finest edu­ca­tions available.

For more infor­ma­tion about the Ohio State University

3. University of Illinois at Chicago

To see it now, it is hard to believe that the Uni­ver­si­ty of Illi­nois at Chica­go was once sev­er­al pri­vate health col­leges. Times have long since changed, and so has the uni­ver­si­ty with them and is now one of the top 60 research uni­ver­si­ties in the U.S. The UIC Extend­ed Cam­pus offers stu­dents pre­mi­um bach­e­lor degree pro­grams online. The RN to BSN com­ple­tion pro­gram online is the most pop­u­lar choice by stu­dents accord­ing to data from US News & World Report. UIC also offers a BS in Health Infor­ma­tion Man­age­ment as a degree com­ple­tion pro­gram online and a Bach­e­lor of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion pro­gram from UIC Busi­ness which is accred­it­ed by the AACSB. While earn­ing a degree online may give stu­dents more flex­i­bil­i­ty in sched­ules, they are equiv­a­lent to those earned through on-cam­pus pro­grams. When it comes to excel­lence in online bach­e­lor degree pro­grams, stu­dents can count on the Uni­ver­si­ty of Illi­nois at Chica­go to deliver.

For more infor­ma­tion about the Uni­ver­si­ty of Illi­nois at Chicago

4. Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University — Worldwide

Embry-Rid­dle Aero­nau­ti­cal Uni­ver­si­ty — World­wide is an online cam­pus with head­quar­ters in Day­tona Beach, Flori­da. Decades of expe­ri­ence with dis­tance learn­ing help to make the pro­grams offered at ERAU — World­wide some of the best in the nation. The school is even ranked num­ber one for online bach­e­lor’s degree pro­grams by US News & World Report. Embry-Rid­dle Aero­nau­ti­cal Uni­ver­si­ty — World­wide is ded­i­cat­ed to pro­vid­ing flex­i­ble pro­grams and is always look­ing for new ways to uti­lize cur­rent tech­nolo­gies to con­nect with stu­dents and pro­vide them with the best edu­ca­tion possible.

The Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence Degree pro­grams at ERAU — World­wide are cur­rent­ly avail­able in 15 dif­fer­ent majors. The list of majors is as fol­lows, Aero­nau­tics, Avi­a­tion Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion, Avi­a­tion Main­te­nance Sci­ence, Avi­a­tion Secu­ri­ty, Com­mu­ni­ca­tion, Emer­gency Ser­vices, Engi­neer­ing Tech­nol­o­gy, Home­land Secu­ri­ty, Inter­dis­ci­pli­nary Stud­ies, Logis­tics & Sup­ply Chain Man­age­ment, Project Man­age­ment, Safe­ty Man­age­ment, Tech­ni­cal Man­age­ment, and Unmanned Sys­tems Appli­ca­tions. It is not sur­pris­ing that the most pop­u­lar majors cho­sen by stu­dents are per­tain­ing to avi­a­tion and aero­nau­tics. How­ev­er, no mat­ter which major a stu­dent choos­es, they can rest assured that they will be receiv­ing a superb education.

For more infor­ma­tion about Embry-Rid­dle Aero­nau­ti­cal University

5. Temple University

Tem­ple Uni­ver­si­ty in Philadel­phia, Penn­syl­va­nia has a his­to­ry that dates back to 1884 and in 1918 estab­lished the Fox School of Busi­ness which is ded­i­cat­ed to edu­cat­ing pro­fes­sion­als work­ing in the busi­ness world. The Fox School is also accred­it­ed by the AACSB, which can be con­sid­ered a sign of their pres­tige and high val­ues in education.

The online offer­ings from Fox School of Busi­ness, Tem­ple Uni­ver­si­ty for bach­e­lor degree pro­grams are of some of the high­est qual­i­ty avail­able for busi­ness pro­fes­sion­als and entre­pre­neurs. The majors avail­able are Account­ing, Busi­ness Man­age­ment, Human Resource Man­age­ment, Legal Stud­ies in Busi­ness, Mar­ket­ing, and Sup­ply Chain Man­age­ment. These majors are avail­able to trans­fer stu­dents as well as fresh­men and can be com­plet­ed entire­ly online. Pro­grams offered through Fox School are very high rank­ing in many pub­li­ca­tions, such as U.S. News & World Report, Busi­ness Week, Finan­cial Times, and Entre­pre­neur Mag­a­zine to name a few.

For more infor­ma­tion about Tem­ple University

6. University of Florida

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da in Gainesville has been around for more than 160 years and has many great cred­its to its name. In 1965 sci­en­tists at UF worked to find a way to keep their ath­letes hydrat­ed bet­ter than water, and what they came up with is now wide­ly avail­able as Gatorade brand sports drink. The Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da is also cred­it­ed with devel­op­ing Sen­tri­con in 1996, a ter­mite elim­i­na­tion sys­tem which was used to rid the Stat­ue of Lib­er­ty’s frame­work of the pests. 2 mil­lion oth­er struc­tures includ­ing many of the nation’s his­tor­i­cal build­ings such as the White House, were also treat­ed with Sen­tri­con to keep them safe from ter­mites. Today, the ter­rif­ic, inven­tive minds of UF are respon­si­ble for cre­at­ing some of the great­est online bach­e­lor degree pro­grams available.

UF Online is ded­i­cat­ed to giv­ing stu­dents engaged in dis­tance edu­ca­tion the same valu­able knowl­edge as avail­able through tra­di­tion­al cours­es. Bach­e­lor of Arts Degrees are offered in the fol­low­ing majors, Anthro­pol­o­gy, Biol­o­gy, Crim­i­nol­o­gy & Law, Geog­ra­phy, Geol­o­gy, Psy­chol­o­gy, and Soci­ol­o­gy. Bach­e­lor of Sci­ence Degrees offered online through Uni­ver­si­ty of Flori­da are avail­able in the fol­low­ing 8 majors, Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion, Com­put­er Sci­ence, Envi­ron­men­tal Man­age­ment, Health Edu­ca­tion & Behav­ior, Nurs­ing, Pub­lic Rela­tions, Sports Man­age­ment, and Telecom­mu­ni­ca­tion Media & Soci­ety. War­ring­ton Col­lege of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion which teach­es the BS in Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion is accred­it­ed by the AACSB. Stu­dents at UF Online are able to enjoy the flex­i­bil­i­ty of online edu­ca­tion and know that they are get­ting a high-qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion when they choose a pro­gram from the uni­ver­si­ty’s grow­ing selection.

For more infor­ma­tion about the Uni­ver­si­ty of Florida

7. Oregon State University

Locat­ed in one of the small­est and green­est towns, Cor­val­lis, Ore­gon State Uni­ver­si­ty makes a large impres­sion on the aca­d­e­m­ic world. Estab­lished as a land grant uni­ver­si­ty in 1868, it is now one of the lead­ing pub­lic research uni­ver­si­ties. It has acquired sea-grant, space-grant, and sun grant des­ig­na­tions, mak­ing it only one of two U.S. Uni­ver­si­ties to have done so. As a result, study choic­es at Ore­gon State Uni­ver­si­ty can be very diverse.

Ore­gon State’s eCam­pus also offers a spec­trum of more than 20 major choic­es for online bach­e­lor degree pro­grams. There is even the Uni­ver­si­ty Explorato­ry Stud­ies Pro­gram which allows stu­dents to begin class­es before decid­ing on a major. Pro­grams majors avail­able include — but are not lim­it­ed to ‑Agri­cul­tur­al Sci­ences, Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion, Eco­nom­ics, Fish­eries and Wildlife Sci­ences, His­to­ry, Soci­ol­o­gy, Psy­chol­o­gy, and three for­eign lan­guages. Devel­oped by fac­ul­ty renowned for their exper­tise and excel­lence, it is no won­der that these are top-qual­i­ty programs.

For more infor­ma­tion about Ore­gon State University

8. Western Kentucky University

West­ern Ken­tucky Uni­ver­si­ty is locat­ed in Bowl­ing Green, one of the largest cities in Ken­tucky. While there’s plen­ty to do out­side of the uni­ver­si­ty, WKU also has plen­ty of options to keep stu­dents busy. Not only are their on-cam­pus pro­grams con­sid­ered excel­lent, but their online offer­ings are also reput­ed to be the cream of the crop.

Online pro­grams at West­ern Ken­tucky Uni­ver­si­ty are BA in Crim­i­nol­o­gy, BS in Con­sumer and Fam­i­ly Sci­ences in either Child Stud­ies or Fam­i­ly Stud­ies con­cen­tra­tions, BS in Health Care Admin­is­tra­tion, BS in Orga­ni­za­tion­al Lead­er­ship, BA in Soci­ol­o­gy, BS in Com­put­er Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy, and BIS with 12 avail­able areas of empha­sis. All of the afore­men­tioned pro­grams are avail­able 100% online and are high qual­i­ty, yet flex­i­ble enough to accom­mo­date busy schedules.

West­ern Ken­tucky Uni­ver­si­ty also offers bach­e­lor degree com­ple­tion pro­grams for those who have already earned an asso­ciate degree, referred to as 2+2. If the stu­dent meets the cri­te­ria, these can be com­plet­ed whol­ly online. There are also flex­i­ble cours­es that are hybrids with at least 80% online. BS in Health Infor­ma­tion Man­age­ment and the Bach­e­lor Degree in Sys­tem Man­age­ment are both offered as either 2+2 or flex­i­ble. RN to BSN, BS in Den­tal Hygiene, and BS in Busi­ness Man­age­ment with a track in Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion are three offered only as 2+2. The BS in Busi­ness Man­age­ment course is taught through the Gor­don Ford Col­lege of Busi­ness and has dual accred­i­ta­tion by the AACSB for its busi­ness and account­ing programs.

For more infor­ma­tion about West­ern Ken­tucky University

9. Arizona State University

Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty is locat­ed in Tempe, Ari­zona, and is well known for being a high­ly inno­v­a­tive uni­ver­si­ty, even ranked #1 by US News and World report. It’s no sur­prise that the online pro­grams at ASU are also con­sid­ered to be some of the best in the nation. There are 63 bach­e­lor’s degrees offered online, which is an amaz­ing amount. Pop­u­lar choic­es are the RN to BSN pro­gram, Psy­chol­o­gy pro­grams — BA and BS, and Lib­er­al Stud­ies (BLS). There are also a large num­ber of Busi­ness degree pro­grams avail­able in dif­fer­ent con­cen­tra­tions, Com­mu­ni­ca­tions, Mar­ket­ing, Sus­tain­abil­i­ty in both BS and BA, and Women and Gen­der Stud­ies, just to name a few. Online cours­es are meant to be flex­i­ble, yet still as chal­leng­ing as face-to-face pro­grams. Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty lives up to its rep­u­ta­tion for inno­va­tion in high­er edu­ca­tion when it comes to their online selec­tion of high-qual­i­ty programs.

For more infor­ma­tion about Ari­zona State University

10. University of Wisconsin — Whitewater

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin — White­wa­ter was first estab­lished in 1868, then lat­er became part of the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin Sys­tem in 1971. The uni­ver­si­ty has a long-stand­ing his­to­ry of com­mit­ment to high­er edu­ca­tion and high val­ues for stu­dents and the com­mu­ni­ty. Stu­dents at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin — White­wa­ter have a wide vari­ety of majors and degree pro­grams to choose from.

The vari­ety of online bach­e­lor’s degree pro­grams cov­ers sev­er­al of the more pop­u­lar majors. The Bach­e­lor of Busi­ness Admin­is­tra­tion degree can be com­plet­ed through two majors, Busi­ness or Mar­ket­ing and is entire­ly online and is accred­it­ed by the AACSB. The Lib­er­al Stud­ies and Polit­i­cal Sci­ence majors can both be com­plet­ed as either a BS or BA. While these are designed as degree com­ple­tion pro­grams for those who already have their asso­ciates, they can be com­plet­ed entire­ly online through UW Col­leges and UW-Whitewater.

The Uni­ver­si­ty of Wis­con­sin — White­wa­ter also offers a Law Enforce­ment Bach­e­lor’s Degree Com­ple­tion Pro­gram avail­able as a hybrid online and face-to-face class­es for law enforce­ment offi­cers with three years of expe­ri­ence and who have pre­vi­ous­ly earned their asso­ci­ate’s degree. UW-White­wa­ter’s Ear­ly Child­hood Edu­ca­tion pro­gram (ECE4U) is also a hybrid course and is designed to be con­ve­nient for busy, work­ing lifestyles and for those who have already earned their asso­ciate degree. Stu­dents can rest assured that the online pro­grams at UW-White­wa­ter are high­ly regarded.

For more infor­ma­tion about the Uni­ver­si­ty of Wisconsin

11. Pace University

New York City has been home to Pace Uni­ver­si­ty since 1906 when the first stu­dents enrolled in this pri­vate uni­ver­si­ty. Since then it has been proud to pro­duce some of the finest grad­u­ates eager to enter the work­force, and many employed pri­or to grad­u­a­tion. New York is known to be a fast-paced and busy city, there­fore it’s no sur­prise that Pace Uni­ver­si­ty’s online bach­e­lor’s pro­grams are designed for busy peo­ple who are ded­i­cat­ed to obtain­ing their degree. Through iPace there are sev­er­al bach­e­lor’s pro­grams to choose from, includ­ing a BBA in Busi­ness Stud­ies with con­cen­tra­tions in either Mar­ket­ing and Man­age­ment or Account­ing and Inter­nal Audit­ing. Busi­ness degrees are offered through Pace Uni­ver­si­ty’s Lubin School of Busi­ness which is accred­it­ed by the AACSB. A BS in Nurs­ing which is designed for RNs who already have their asso­ciate degree or diplo­ma is also avail­able online. iPace also offers a BS in Pro­fes­sion­al Tech­nol­o­gy Stud­ies with con­cen­tra­tions in Com­put­er Foren­sics or Busi­ness Tech­nol­o­gy Lead­er­ship as well as a BS in Pro­fes­sion­al Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Stud­ies. Pace Uni­ver­si­ty’s rep­u­ta­tion for inno­va­tion and excel­lence holds true with these programs.

For more infor­ma­tion about Pace University

12. University of Denver

A few miles south of down­town Den­ver, Col­orado, you will find the Uni­ver­si­ty of Den­ver. Near­ly as old as Den­ver itself, the uni­ver­si­ty boasts a cam­pus that spans over 125 acres with hun­dreds of excel­lent choic­es avail­able for under­grad­u­ate and grad­u­ate stu­dents. While the school itself is 152 years old, DU con­tin­ues grow­ing and advanc­ing with the mod­ern age and offers sev­er­al online bach­e­lor’s degree pro­grams that are among some of the best in the nation. Online bach­e­lor’s majors offered at the Uni­ver­si­ty of Den­ver are Lead­er­ship and Orga­ni­za­tion Stud­ies, Infor­ma­tion Tech­nol­o­gy, Com­mu­ni­ca­tion Arts, Glob­al Stud­ies, Envi­ron­men­tal Stud­ies, and Glob­al Com­merce and Trans­porta­tion. The pro­grams are designed to be flex­i­ble enough so that work­ing adults with busy sched­ules can be able to earn their bach­e­lor’s degree. DU also wel­comes pre­vi­ous­ly earned cred­its, up to 96 trans­fer­able quar­ter cred­its may go toward a stu­den­t’s new bach­e­lor degree.

For more infor­ma­tion about the Uni­ver­si­ty of Denver

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