Best Online Bachelor’s in Psychology Degree Programs for Students

Published: Jul 7, 2021
Updated: Sep 8, 2023

Find the top-ranked online bachelor’s in psychology degree programs for students seeking such careers as admissions evaluator, occupational analyst, personnel recruiter, caseworker, child welfare/placement caseworker, psychiatric attendant, and psychosocial rehabilitation specialist.

Top 10 Online Bachelor's in Psychology Degrees

University of Arizona
University of Missouri
University of South Carolina
Loyola University Chicago
University of Nevada, Las Vegas
DePaul University
Florida International University
University of Central Florida
University of Memphis
University of Alabama at Birmingham

Prescott College 99%
National Louis University 97%
Old Dominion University 96%
University of Memphis 95%
Nova Southeastern University 93%
Roosevelt University 92%
University of Nebraska at Kearney 90%
University of Alabama at Birmingham 89%
University of Arizona 87%
Campbell University 87%

University of Central Florida 31 to 1
Florida International University 25 to 1
University of Alabama at Birmingham 20 to 1
University of Missouri 18 to 1
University of South Carolina 18 to 1
Old Dominion University 18 to 1
University of Nevada, Las Vegas 18 to 1
DePaul University 17 to 1
Nova Southeastern University 17 to 1
University of Idaho 16 to 1

Loyola University Chicago $47,808
Biola University $44,382
DePaul University $42,012
Campbell University $38,160
University of Bridgeport $35,760
Lipscomb University $35,752
Prescott College $34,701
Nova Southeastern University $34,570
Roosevelt University $31,493
Lesley University $29,550

Roosevelt University $21,275
Nova Southeastern University $21,153
University of Bridgeport $19,096
Loyola University Chicago $18,990
Lesley University $18,900
DePaul University $17,951
Lipscomb University $17,100
Prescott College $14,880
Campbell University $14,041
University of South Carolina $13,734

National Louis University
Prescott College
University of Nebraska at Kearney
Lesley University
Lipscomb University
Park University
Idaho State University
University of Bridgeport
Nova Southeastern University
Campbell University

University of Central Florida 36%
Webster University 59%
Biola University 61%
University of South Carolina 62%
Florida International University 64%
DePaul University 69%
University of Bridgeport 73%
Lipscomb University 74%
University of Missouri 77%
Loyola University Chicago 77%

Lesley University 9 to 1
Prescott College 9 to 1
Roosevelt University 11 to 1
Webster University 12 to 1
University of Nebraska at Kearney 13 to 1
Idaho State University 13 to 1
Loyola University Chicago 14 to 1
Lipscomb University 14 to 1
Biola University 14 to 1
Park University 15 to 1

University of Central Florida $4,478
Florida International University $4,721
Idaho State University $5,928
University of Idaho $6,182
University of Nebraska at Kearney $6,270
Old Dominion University $7,029
University of Nevada, Las Vegas $7,949
University of Memphis $8,352
University of Alabama at Birmingham $8,568
University of Missouri $10,017

University of Nevada, Las Vegas $5,823
University of Nebraska at Kearney $6,216
Park University $6,435
University of Central Florida $6,916
University of Idaho $7,754
University of Alabama at Birmingham $8,100
Idaho State University $8,380
Florida International University $8,912
University of Memphis $9,378
University of Missouri $9,950

Key Takeaways

An online bachelor’s in psychology is perfect for those empathetic listeners who love to make a difference in other people’s lives.
The program covers a lot about human behaviors, behavioral patterns, and mental health conditions.
An online bachelor’s in psychology enables students to interact with fellow learners around the world, providing an invaluable learning and collaborative and experience.

Table of Contents

Featured Programs

All About the Online Bachelor’s in Psychology

With an online bachelor’s in psychology, you will gain skills in communication, critical thinking, research, and diversity that make you a strong candidate for a career in many different fields. Possible job markets include businesses, case management, research, social work, and administration.

With so many options available, earning a degree in psychology online will allow you to join a growing and lucrative field. The Bureau of Labor Statistics noted that the median annual wage of all possible occupations for psychology majors combined is $81,040.

Online Bachelor’s in Psychology Career Paths

Industrial Organization (IO) Psychologist: Industrial organizational psychology is a specialized field that focuses on workplace concerns at the individual and organizational levels. As an IO psychologist, your main goal is to provide scientifically based improvements to workplace productivity, ethics, decision-making, and organizational efficiency.

IO psychologists work closely with human resources, focusing on development and learning to enhance organizational structures. This is achieved by studying present motivation and job satisfaction through experiments and surveys.

Human Resource Manager: A human resource manager ensures that human resource specialists and employees are performing their jobs correctly and diligently. He/she drafts work schedules, coordinates tasks, and manages human resources staff.

Human resource managers also study training needs and handle the required continuing education and learning tasks so their team meets safety and development standards.

They also conduct performance appraisals, monitor absenteeism rates, or perform challenging staffing duties like handling under-staffing concerns or directing disciplinary actions when needed. HR managers also conduct exit interviews to identify why an employee decides to leave an organization.

Clinical Psychologists: These professionals work with people with a wide range of physical or mental health problems, with the aim of reducing their psychological distress and promoting their psychological well-being. They can work with children, young people, adults, and older adults.

Clinical psychologists provide consultation, training, and supervision to other agencies and professionals as well. Because they aren’t medical doctors, they are not able to prescribe medication.

A clinical psychologist’s work is focused on how people feel, think, and behave, and the impact this gives them and on their relationship with others. While most clinical psychologist work in health and social care, they can also be found working privately and in other agencies.

Licensed Counselors/Therapists: Licensed professional counselors/therapists provide mental health and substance abuse care to their clients. These mental health service providers are trained to work with people, families, or groups in treating mental, emotional, or behavioral problems and disorders.

They make up a bigger percentage of the workforce employed in community health centers, organizations, or agencies, and are employed within and covered by managed care organizations and health plans. These professionals can also work with active military personnel and their families, as well as with veterans.

It is important to note that a master’s degree is required to become a licensed counselor. However, an online bachelor’s degree in psychology is an important stepping stone to a job within this critical career path.

Research Psychologists: Research psychologists use various scientific methods in examining questions and testing hypotheses with the goal of understanding human behaviors and thoughts. These professionals focus their research on the phenomena and processes at different levels, including brain activity, physiology, genetics, cognition, individual perceptions, behavior, and cognition.

Most research psychologists study the fundamentals of typical functioning like how people sense and perceive the world around them, how they make decisions, and how they develop over their lifespan. Others are more focused on the processes that contribute to behavior and thinking in the context of clinical disorders.

Research psychologists are usually employed in a variety of sectors, including universities, private research firms, and government agencies.

School Psychologists: School psychologists are uniquely qualified school team members that support a student’s ability to learn and a teacher’s ability to teach. They use their expertise in learning, mental health, and behavior in helping youth and children succeed academically, behaviorally, socially, and emotionally.

These experts partner with families, school administrators, teachers, and other professionals to make a healthy, safe, and supportive learning environment. These supportive environments promote a stronger connection among schools, home, and the community.

Online Psychology Degree: Is it a BA or a BS?

Most schools offer both the Bachelor of Arts (BA) and Bachelor of Science (BS) in Psychology. The main difference generally reflects the institution’s overall structure and view of its program.

Students who pursue the BA curriculum will complete more foreign language and humanities requirements. On the other hand, BS students are focused more on math and natural science classes.

Why Go for the Online Psychology Degree Programs

Many students today prefer to take online classes because of the flexibility and convenience they provide. Because of today’s digital and fast-paced world, enrolling in online programs is the most practical way to be qualified for career opportunities. Plus, the online curricula have the same substance and rigor as those being offered in a traditional brick-and-mortar campus.

Specialization in an Online Psychology Degree Program

When you study psychology, the specialization you intend to pursue in your online program can introduce you to a breadth of knowledge in your chosen area. Some of the best online bachelor in psychology degree programs offer students different concentration options that may focus on research methods.

Your choice of concentration will depend on what you plan to do with your education. Do you plan to work in the psychology field after earning the degree, or are you more inclined to develop a background in human behavior that you can use in another field like sales or business?

Would you prefer to work in a clinical facility or a research lab? Or do you prefer to practice in a private counseling setting? Do you plan to go to graduate school after completing your bachelor’s or jump right into the workforce?

Below are some specializations you can choose for an online bachelor’s in psychology degree.

Addiction
Applied Psychology
Child and Adolescent Development
Consumer Behavior
Criminal Justice
General Psychology
Human Services
Infant and Toddler Development
Preparation for Graduate Studies
Preschool Child Development
Workplace Psychology

Frequently Asked Questions About Psychology Degrees

Students who pursue a bachelor’s degree in psychology will study human behavior, abnormal psychology, clinical psychology, and more.

This program is typically 120 credits, which takes about four to five years to complete, and is available online and on campus. Some dual degree programs are also available, such as the bachelor’s in psychology and master’s in school counseling.

Graduates with a bachelor’s in psychology can seek a variety of professions, including admissions evaluator, occupational analyst, personnel recruiter, caseworker, child welfare/placement caseworker, psychiatric attendant, and psychosocial rehabilitation specialist. This versatility makes the bachelor’s in psychology an extremely popular degree. However, many people choose to further their education by also acquiring a master’s or doctorate degree in psychology, with the aim of allowing them to practice psychology in a clinical setting.

Learn more about how to major in psychology.

How do we determine the best online psychology bachelor's degree programs?

Methodology

Pursuing your degree online doesn’t mean you need to settle for an inferior school. Today, most universities and colleges offer online degrees, and many respected schools are seeing significant growth in their numbers of online students.

The people affiliated with a school are ultimately what make it great. This is why influence — i.e., the academic impact of faculty and alumni associated with a school — gets at the heart of what is truly best in education. The combined influence score of a college or university’s top academic influencers is the best indicator of academic excellence. For our online degree rankings, we focus on the academic influence of faculty and alumni in the specific disciplines we’re ranking.

If you are serious about finding the best online colleges, you should be asking where the most influential professors are teaching, and whether their graduates themselves are advancing the school’s reputation for academic excellence. Most ranking sites rely on an opaque combination of reputation surveys and arbitrary performance metrics. Influence, as measured by our InfluenceRanking engine, provides a ranking that is free from bias, insulated from manipulation, and reflective of real-world educational outcomes.

Picking the Best Online Bachelor’s in Psychology Programs

Most colleges and universities today have an undergraduate-level psychology degree online. Therefore, it’s best to set some helpful benchmarks so you can narrow down your search for the most suitable school for you.

This list of the best online bachelor’s in psychology programs contains some of the best in the country, preparing students for psychology careers, research, and even further learning opportunities.

The schools are notable for their excellent education standards in online programs with curricula that are just as good as their on-campus counterparts. Each school’s best features are also highlighted, including its rigorous course work, competent faculty, high-quality virtual online platforms, and admission and graduation requirements.

Our list also provides information on acceptance, retention, and tuition rates—three major factors crucial in making the perfect decision when selecting the best online bachelor’s in psychology program. Finally, regional accreditation of the program is very crucial as this will tell how the program stands in its online offering.

Median Salaries of Similar Careers in the U.S.

The following graph depicts the average salaries of similar occupations to Clinical and Counseling Psychologists in the U.S.

Source: U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

Annual Salary

82770School Psychologists

96260Sociologists

98010Psychologists, All Other

99640Clinical and Counseling Psychologists

113320Industrial-Organizational Psychologists

25 Best Online Bachelor’s Psychology Degree Programs

Online Psychology Programs Looking for You

Online Degree Frequently Asked Questions

If this is your first time taking an online course, the experience may require a time of adjustment. Although you’ll typically learn the same material and take the same exams as your on-campus peers, going online will require greater independence and responsibility than going in person. You’ll be accountable for your own time management, for harnessing the online educational technology that you’ll need to use, and for completing the course requirements, such as listening to lectures, learning lessons, reading texts, and handing in assignments. This means you’ll need to create a suitable workspace for yourself, maintain a realistic schedule, and take the initiative in building relationships with your instructors and classmates. With online college, your goal is to find a balance between independence and engagement.

No. The only part of online education that’s easier than campus-based education is ease of access: all you need is a computer and an internet connection for online education. But even this seeming advantage of online education can be misleading: what’s easier, studying online with your computer and internet connection from your home where you need to cook, clean, pay rent, and maintain a job? Or studying on campus in a dorm where all your living needs are handled by the school, and college staff are there to help you every step of the way?

If you take the commute to campus out of the equation, campus-based education is easier. All the support structures available on campus for students, especially with real people to help you in person, are not there online. The demands on you as an online student will largely be the same as for your campus-based counterpart, but without the same helps.

In general, your online courses will present the same material and test you in the same way as traditional in-person courses. In many cases, you’ll even have the same instructors as your on-campus counterparts. In fact, if you are adjusting to the experience of independent learning with remote educational technology for the first time, online college may be considerably more challenging than campus-based college. For a few insights on how to manage this new online experience, check out our 10 Tips for Adjusting to School Online.

Accreditation is especially important when it comes to online college. This is because the online education landscape is a mix of highly-reputable non-profit institutions on the one end and less-than-reputable for-profit institutions on the other end. Accreditation gives you the power to identify the more reputable actors in online education. Accreditation is a stamp of approval from an independent accrediting agency indicating that a college or university is meeting standards of quality and credibility. School-wide accreditation falls into two major categories: regional and national accreditation. Regional accreditors generally hold jurisdiction only over schools in the states comprising their region, whereas national accreditors hold jurisdiction over schools in all states. Regional accreditation is widely regarded as a more rigorous standard of quality and credibility than national accreditation.

Attending a college or university that is not regionally accredited could limit your opportunities. For students seeking an online education, we strongly recommend that they opt for regionally accredited schools. Regional accreditation ensures eligibility for federal loans and grants, ensures your college credits can be transferred between schools, and ensures that your degree credits can be accepted if you wish to earn an advanced degree. For more on this important topic, check out our What is Accreditation and Why Does It Matter? College & University Accreditation Guide.

As long as your online college degree is regionally accredited (see the previous point), you should have little difficulty transferring most of your credits or credentials to another regionally accredited undergraduate school. Every school carries its own standards and procedures for granting a transfer of credits. In many cases, you will encounter some bureaucratic haggling in which some of your credits will be transferred and others may be refused. However, provided that you have attended an online school with recognized regional accreditation, you should be in good shape in transferring your credits earned online.

In most cases, as long you graduate from a well-regarded, regionally-accredited online college, prospective employers won’t look sideways at your degree. In fact, unless you attend an exclusively online college or university, there will likely be no specific indicator on your degree, transcript, or resumé differentiating your school from its brick-and-mortar counterpart. This means that your employer will likely only differentiate between an online and in-person degree if you mention this distinction.

Some employers may express the concern that because you did your degree online, you may need to transition from an online education experience to in-person workplace experience. But in an age of Covid, that concern seems much diminished. The fact is that much employment these days is remote. And collaboration increasingly happens online over Zoom. Many employers will therefore view your online degree as evidence of valuable 21st century professional skills such as independence, self-motivation, time management, and tech savvy.

If you are a student who thrives on the dynamic energy of in-person discussion, who requires the physical surroundings of a classroom to feel engaged, or who considers the social aspects of education to be of equal importance to the actual content of your courses, online education will be less than ideal for you (though depending on your circumstances, it may also be the only viable option).

While there is much in traditional campus-based education that can be substituted or simulated through the online medium, some students may find that there is nothing that can replace the conversation, collaboration, and motivation that occur in an actual in-person classroom setting. As you transition to online education, one of the biggest challenges you will likely face in getting the most out of your online classes is overcoming this difference between “real reality” and “virtual reality.” Fortunately, we’ve got some great Tips for Online Education Beginners.

The advantages of online classes are many. Above all, online courses give you the freedom and flexibility to attend class from anywhere that works for you, whether you’re at home, in a coffee shop, or in a quiet conference room at work. In many cases, you’ll also enjoy the convenience of asynchronous learning opportunities-educational experiences that you can complete at your own pace and on your own schedule. This may include pre-taped lectures, ongoing chat-board discussions, and 24/7 access to digital materials. And of course, just as there are some learners who prefer the energy of a live classroom, there are those who learn best when working in their own personal space, free from distractions. If this sounds like you, you might find the solitude of online learning to be a major advantage.

Whether you’re just getting started on your college search, you’re looking for survival tips on your way to a bachelor’s degree, or you’re preparing for the transition into grad school, we’ve got guides, how to’s and tons of other valuable resources to keep you moving forward in your educational journey.

Best Online Bachelor’s in Psychology Degree Programs for Students

Top 10 Online Bachelor's in Psychology Degrees

Key Takeaways

Featured Programs

All About the Online Bachelor’s in Psychology

Online Bachelor’s in Psychology Career Paths

Online Psychology Degree: Is it a BA or a BS?

Why Go for the Online Psychology Degree Programs

Specialization in an Online Psychology Degree Program

Frequently Asked Questions About Psychology Degrees

What topics are studied?

How long does it take to get a bachelor’s in psychology?

What can you do with a bachelor’s in psychology?

Picking the Best Online Bachelor’s in Psychology Programs

Median Salaries of Similar Careers in the U.S.

25 Best Online Bachelor’s Psychology Degree Programs

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Concentrations

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Online Psychology Programs Looking for You

Online Degree Frequently Asked Questions

What can I expect from an online college course?+

Is online college easier than campus-based college?+

Why does accreditation matter in online college?+

Will I be able to transfer my online college degree?+

Will employers respect my online degree?+

What are the disadvantages of online classes?+

What are the advantages of online classes?+

Resources for Online College-Bound Students