Best Online Bachelor’s in Public Health Degree Programs for Students

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

Find top-ranked online bachelor’s in public health degree programs for students wanting to earn positions as health education specialists, emergency response planners, public health advocates, infectious disease specialists, and disaster preparedness coordinators.

Top 10 Online Public Health Bachelor's Degrees

University of Arizona
University of Missouri
University of Cincinnati
University of Alabama
University of South Carolina
Portland State University
University of North Carolina at Greensboro
Old Dominion University
Northern Arizona University
Andrews University

Mississippi University for Women 99%
Portland State University 98%
Christian Brothers University 97%
Old Dominion University 96%
University of Southern Mississippi 96%
Radford University 95%
Southern New Hampshire University 92%
University of North Carolina at Greensboro 91%
Cardinal Stritch University 89%
University of Arizona 87%

Northern Arizona University 22 to 1
Southern New Hampshire University 21 to 1
University of Alabama 20 to 1
University of West Florida 20 to 1
University of Cincinnati 19 to 1
California Baptist University 19 to 1
Excelsior University 19 to 1
Portland State University 19 to 1
University of Missouri 18 to 1
Boise State University 18 to 1

California Baptist University $37,018
Christian Brothers University $34,820
Cardinal Stritch University $34,762
Andrews University $31,782
University of the Sciences $27,500
Goodwin University $21,198
Southern New Hampshire University $15,380
University of South Carolina $12,288
University of Arizona $10,990
University of Alabama $10,780

University of the Sciences $30,168
Andrews University $28,656
Southern New Hampshire University $18,900
Portland State University $14,817
University of South Carolina $13,734
University of South Carolina Beaufort $13,734
California Baptist University $13,590
University of Cincinnati $13,224
Christian Brothers University $12,928
University of Arizona $12,106

Excelsior University
Goodwin University
University of South Carolina Beaufort
Bellevue University
Christian Brothers University
Cardinal Stritch University
University of the Sciences
California Baptist University
Mississippi University for Women
University of West Florida

University of West Florida 53%
Delaware State University 59%
University of the Sciences 61%
University of South Carolina 62%
California Baptist University 64%
University of Missouri 77%
Northern Arizona University 78%
University of Alabama 79%
Andrews University 82%
Boise State University 83%

Cardinal Stritch University 9 to 1
Andrews University 10 to 1
Christian Brothers University 11 to 1
University of the Sciences 12 to 1
Goodwin University 12 to 1
Mississippi University for Women 12 to 1
Radford University 14 to 1
University of South Carolina Beaufort 15 to 1
University of Arizona 15 to 1
Bellevue University 16 to 1

University of West Florida $3,735
University of North Carolina at Greensboro $4,422
Boise State University $5,532
Old Dominion University $7,029
Delaware State University $7,038
Mississippi University for Women $7,756
Radford University $7,922
Portland State University $8,106
Bellevue University $8,310
University of Southern Mississippi $9,094

Delaware State University $5,160
University of North Carolina at Greensboro $5,219
University of West Florida $7,088
Boise State University $7,110
Mississippi University for Women $7,656
Radford University $8,915
University of Southern Mississippi $9,094
University of Missouri $9,950
Old Dominion University $10,207
Northern Arizona University $10,724

Key Takeaways

When managing public health crises, the public will always rely on effective and trained officials to implement the best possible strategies for promoting health.
Earning an online bachelor’s in public health will prepare students to advocate for communities by gaining the necessary soft skills and knowledge.
The pandemic put the spotlight on public health professionals as front liners in navigating and mitigating the spread of the virus.

Table of Contents

Featured Programs

What An Online Bachelor’s in Public Health Degree is All About

When the world faced a health crisis, political and community leaders around the world turned to the public health department for possible recommendations. When the infection and death rates started to pile up, public health officials stepped in, together with epidemiologists, infectious disease experts, and virologists.

A career in public health has many potential pathways, ranging from epidemiologists to educators, and can include medical and health professionals, health program coordinators, public policymakers, and many more. The online bachelor’s program in public health is foundational to prepare students who are qualified to work in the field.

Online Bachelor’s in Public Health Courses

Principles of Epidemiology: Epidemiology is the science behind studying diseases. In this introductory course in public health, you will receive lectures and training in common tools used in the industry, along with the different methods for managing public health incidents and concerns.

Ethical and Legal Considerations in Public Health: This course examines the role of public health policy in ethical decision-making. Real-world samples and case studies are explored to show how much impact a policy can make on various types of communities.

Statistics for Public Health Professionals: Public health professionals should be adept at analyzing and visualizing data. In this course, you are taught about statistical best practices to apply in public health responses and leadership. Students gain data-driven decision-making and research skills, both crucial skills a public health professional should have.

Health Promotion and Education, and Health Communications: This course focuses on preparing students for health education careers, as well as teaching the public about a healthy way of life. Students will also learn the best ways to communicate with vulnerable populations.

Social and Behavioral Health: This course examines different contributions of behavioral and social sciences to community health behaviors. Students will strongly focus on policy decisions and the contributing factors to the health landscape, including principles of class, culture, race, and gender.

Online Public Health Graduate’s Careers

Biostatisticians: These professionals create studies that assess major factors like drug effectiveness, as well as the causes of particular diseases. The Bureau of Labor Statistics said mathematicians and statisticians have a median salary of more than $96,000, although this will vary for biostatisticians who work for the pharmaceutical industry, public health groups, or hospitals.

Computer and Information Systems Manager: For students who have the talent and passion for computer information systems, they can turn this into a lucrative career and become computer and information systems managers that make over six figures each year. In the public health field, these professionals manage crucial information and documents while ensuring the information remains available for stakeholders like doctors, patients, and research teams.

Emergency Management Directors: These public health degree graduates are those that handle disaster responses at the state or local level. Some emergency management directors even work for larger hospital systems and research facilities.

Medical and Health Services Managers: These important managers create, oversee, and implement policies for healthcare centers, hospitals, and research facilities. Medical and health services management jobs are said to grow up to 28% over the next decade, which quadruples the average growth rate for all other occupations during this period.

Health and Safety Engineers: These engineers are responsible for designing and maintaining systems that help protect and maintain the safety and health of their clients.

What to Expect in Online Bachelor’s in Public Health Programs

The undergraduate online programs acquaint students with topics such as environmental health sciences, epidemiology, social and behavioral sciences, federal, state, and local health policy, and biostatistics.

Students benefit from field placements or internships and earn real-world experience working in a public health agency or department under the reign of a working professional in the field.

Frequently Asked Questions About Public Health Degrees

Earning a bachelor’s degree in public health opens the door for leadership roles in the health profession. A public health career focuses on areas like policy, health promotion, infectious diseases, and access to healthcare.

This 120-credit degree typically requires a minimum of four years for completion.

Most programs prepare students to sit for the national certification exam to become a certified health education specialist (CHES). Though classes vary depending on individual programs, example courses include Introduction to Epidemiology, Healthcare in the U.S., Public Health Nutrition, and Field Work in Public Health.

After program completion, graduates can earn positions as health education specialists, emergency response planners, public health advocates, infectious disease specialists, and disaster preparedness coordinators.

Learn more about how to major in medicine.

How do we determine the best online public health 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.

Online Bachelor’s in Public Health: Choosing our Top Picks

The list features the best online bachelor’s programs in public health. This directory expands a school’s program course, program accreditation, length, admission requirements, and estimated cost.

While the ranking focuses on first-time students, the list is also applicable for a variety of student groups like transfer students. Most programs are accredited by the Council on Education for Public Health.

For those looking for financial aid options, make sure you submit your Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA) documents to check whether you are qualified for grants and loans.

Like most students, the scholarships each institution offer play a huge role in the final decision when choosing the best school for them. While there are so many scholarships offered in most schools, students should also check that the online bachelor in public health program of their choice has a state reciprocity agreement with their home state.

Health Education Specialists Salaries by Percentile in the U.S.

The following graph depicts the average salaries of Health Education Specialists for each percentile in the U.S.

Source: U.S. BUREAU OF LABOR STATISTICS

SVG Attribution: Wikipedia

Total Employed: 55830

10%

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15%

10%

37020467706060078220102480

10th Percentile25th Percentile75th Percentile90th Percentile

Best Online Bachelor’s in Public Health Degree Programs

Online Public Health 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 Public Health Degree Programs for Students

Top 10 Online Public Health Bachelor's Degrees

Key Takeaways

Featured Programs

What An Online Bachelor’s in Public Health Degree is All About

Online Bachelor’s in Public Health Courses

Online Public Health Graduate’s Careers

What to Expect in Online Bachelor’s in Public Health Programs

Frequently Asked Questions About Public Health Degrees

Why get a bachelor’s in public health?

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

What will a bachelor’s in public health prepare you for?

What can you do with a bachelor’s in public health?

Online Bachelor’s in Public Health: Choosing our Top Picks

Health Education Specialists Salaries by Percentile in the U.S.

Best Online Bachelor’s in Public Health Degree Programs

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Online Public Health 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