We’ve ranked the best online colleges and universities based on the scholarly influence of the schools’ faculty and alumni over the past 10 years. Find an online degree from a school that has demonstrated a history of hiring and producing thought leaders in your field of interest.
Online education has grown dramatically in quality, credibility, and popularity over the last two decades. Today, more than a quarter of all college students are taking at least one online course. According to the National Center for Education Statistics, there are more than 5 million college students who are pursuing their undergraduate degree fully online. And the number of online college and graduate students continues to grow as online technology and instructional methods improve.
In the wake of the COVID-19 pandemic, access to remote learning has proven an essential part of the educational ecosystem. Schools that offer primarily online degree programs saw an increase of 7% enrollment just between Fall 2020 and Spring 2021. The number of traditional institutions offering online courses and degrees is growing as well. This all paints a promising picture for the future of online education. But it also produces a dizzying array of options.
Start your exploration of the online colleges for undergraduates landscape now, or read on for answers to the top questions about online college:
There are a few ways to answer how online colleges work. The most important thing to consider is whether you want synchonized or ansychonis courses. In a vast majority of cases, whether sychronous or asynchronous, online classes have set beginning and end dates along with assignment due dates and test dates. Online students also can be expected to engage with each other on class threads.
Back to TopAsychronous learning means classes don’t meet at set times. This is the most flexible online learning experience, making when you cover your course material up to you. Most asynchronous online courses will still have deadlines throughout the semester for various assignments and tests. Some asychronous classes may still ask for an occasional meeting, such as initial meet-and-greets, and in some cases there may be scheduled test times. The idea of asychronous learning is to allow the student to manage their schedules as needed.
Sychronous learning means you will have scheduled meeting times for your online classes. Sychronous learning gives online students the flexiblity of location while also giving students a chance to engage with each other and their professors. For many online students, the structured class schedules and ability to see and hear from peers in real-time helps create the learning experience they want.
Back to TopIf you believe a college degree is worth it, then you should believe that an online college degree is worth it. Online college is an excellent way for people to get a college education. Your degree will not say “online” on it, and employers don’t often ask if a degree is earned online. If you need flexibility to give you opportunity to earn a degree, then online colleges can give you the flexibility of location, time, and even cost options. In most cases, the cheapest online colleges will be your in-state options, but if you aren’t shopping based on affordability, online degree programs can allow you to get a degree at a preferred college in another state without moving. Ultimately, whether online college is worth it is entirely up to what you make of it. Online colleges certainly help make learning more accessible.
Back to TopIf this is your first time taking an online course, the experience may require some adjustment. While you’ll generally learn the same content and take the same exams as your on-campus peers, the medium will likely require you to manage much of this experience independently. You’ll be accountable for your own time management, your ability to harness the technology at your fingertips, and your ability to focus on the lectures, lessons, and assignments at hand. This means you’ll need to create a suitable workspace for yourself, maintain a realistic schedule, and take it upon yourself to build relationships with your instructors and classmates. With online college, your goal is to find a balance between independence and engagement.
Back to TopNo. The only part of online education that’s easier is actually getting there. Taking the commute out of the equation means getting to class should be a lot more manageable. But that’s where it ends. In general, your online courses will incorporate the very same materials, concepts, and testing methods as would a traditional classroom.
And 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 or working with remote learning technology for the first time, online college may even be a little more challenging for you. For a few insights on how to manage this new experience, check out our 10 Tips for Adjusting to School Online.
Back to TopAccreditation is especially important when it comes to online college. This is because the online education landscape is a mix of highly-reputable institutions and less-than-reputable for-profit schools. Accreditation gives you the power to differentiate between the two. Accreditation is a stamp of approval from an independent accrediting agency which indicates that a college or university is meeting standards of quality, credibility, and currency. 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 which is not regionally accredited could limit your opportunities. When seeking an online education, we strongly recommend that students 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.
Back to TopAs long as your online college degree is regionally accredited, 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. In many cases, you will be required to navigate a bureaucracy in which some of your credits will be transferred and others will be jettisoned. However, provided that you have attended an online school with the proper regional accreditation, you should have plenty of options for transfer.
Back to TopIn 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 resume 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.
While some employers may express concern about making the adjustment from online education to in-person workplace collaboration, many other employers will view your online degree as evidence of valuable 21st Century professional skills such as independence, self-motivation, time management, and tech savvy.
Back to TopIf 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 require some adjustment.
While there is much that can be supplanted or simulated through the online medium, some students may find that there is nothing which can replace the conversation, collaboration, and motivation that occur in an actual classroom setting. As you make the adjustment to online education, one of the biggest challenges you will likely face is overcoming this difference in order to the get the most out of your classes. Fortunately, we’ve got some great Tips for Online Education Beginners.
Back to TopThe advantages of online classes are many. First and foremost, 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 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.
Back to Top
Pursing your degree online doesn’t mean you need to settle for a 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.
To be considered among the best online colleges, schools must offer degrees that cater to a variety of interests. In order to be included on this list, we require that an online college have at least 6 online degrees in at least 3 fields of study at the bachelor’s level. This demonstrates a college or university’s commitment to online learning and to making accessible learning options for more students with differing educational desires.
Tuition + fees
$12K
Acceptance
85%
Graduation
65%
Student body
39K
Median SAT/ACT
1235/25
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
84%
Graduation
72%
Student body
26K
Median SAT/ACT
1235/25
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
88%
Graduation
66%
Student body
74K
Median SAT/ACT
1240/25
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
82%
Graduation
73%
Student body
25K
Median SAT/ACT
1230/26
Tuition + fees
$16K
Acceptance
65%
Graduation
83%
Student body
29K
Median SAT/ACT
1290/29
Tuition + fees
$12K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
72%
Student body
35K
Median SAT/ACT
1210/27
Tuition + fees
$12K
Acceptance
96%
Graduation
66%
Student body
25K
Median SAT/ACT
1195/25
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
76%
Graduation
73%
Student body
33K
Median SAT/ACT
1235/26
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
68%
Student body
25K
Median SAT/ACT
1210/26
Tuition + fees
$13K
Acceptance
68%
Graduation
78%
Student body
32K
Median SAT/ACT
1275/28
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
88%
Graduation
59%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1079/23
Tuition + fees
$12K
Acceptance
70%
Graduation
63%
Student body
35K
Median SAT/ACT
1165/24
Tuition + fees
$12K
Acceptance
65%
Graduation
60%
Student body
16K
Median SAT/ACT
1180/25
Tuition + fees
$48K
Acceptance
71%
Graduation
76%
Student body
15K
Median SAT/ACT
1225/27
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
93%
Graduation
51%
Student body
9K
Tuition + fees
$6K
Acceptance
45%
Graduation
74%
Student body
60K
Median SAT/ACT
1255/27
Tuition + fees
$49K
Acceptance
56%
Graduation
79%
Student body
10K
Median SAT/ACT
1275/27
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
84%
Graduation
57%
Student body
35K
Median SAT/ACT
1155/24
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
81%
Graduation
61%
Student body
19K
Median SAT/ACT
1227/25
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
95%
Graduation
49%
Student body
19K
Median SAT/ACT
1110/21
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
88%
Graduation
65%
Student body
24K
Median SAT/ACT
1115/22
Tuition + fees
$10K
Acceptance
85%
Graduation
52%
Student body
17K
Median SAT/ACT
1120/22
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
58%
Graduation
67%
Student body
48K
Median SAT/ACT
1195/25
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
92%
Graduation
58%
Student body
19K
Median SAT/ACT
1065/21
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
74%
Graduation
59%
Student body
9K
Median SAT/ACT
1125/23
Tuition + fees
$12K
Acceptance
73%
Graduation
48%
Student body
15K
Median SAT/ACT
1110/22
Tuition + fees
$5K
Acceptance
75%
Graduation
56%
Student body
26K
Median SAT/ACT
1160/24
Tuition + fees
$32K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
56%
Student body
4K
Median SAT/ACT
1114/21
Tuition + fees
$56K
Acceptance
54%
Graduation
85%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1280/29
Tuition + fees
$23K
Acceptance
50%
Graduation
54%
Student body
75K
Median SAT/ACT
1150/24
Tuition + fees
$39K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
73%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1255/27
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
89%
Graduation
50%
Student body
10K
Median SAT/ACT
1045/22
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
96%
Graduation
50%
Student body
13K
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
100%
Graduation
44%
Student body
20K
Tuition + fees
$29K
Acceptance
53%
Graduation
55%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1130/24
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
48%
Student body
12K
Median SAT/ACT
1150/23
Tuition + fees
$8K
Acceptance
87%
Graduation
58%
Student body
17K
Median SAT/ACT
1140/24
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
67%
Graduation
53%
Student body
12K
Median SAT/ACT
1116/24
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
73%
Student body
19K
Median SAT/ACT
1185/25
Tuition + fees
$39K
Acceptance
63%
Graduation
66%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1122/24
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
67%
Graduation
39%
Student body
5K
Median SAT/ACT
1155/21
Tuition + fees
$16K
Acceptance
75%
Graduation
69%
Student body
15K
Median SAT/ACT
1235/26
Tuition + fees
$13K
Acceptance
67%
Graduation
47%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1080/23
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
78%
Graduation
50%
Student body
12K
Median SAT/ACT
1075/23
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
82%
Graduation
57%
Student body
27K
Tuition + fees
$11K
Acceptance
95%
Graduation
53%
Student body
19K
Median SAT/ACT
1080/21
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
80%
Graduation
54%
Student body
6K
Median SAT/ACT
1119/22
Tuition + fees
$7K
Acceptance
88%
Graduation
59%
Student body
18K
Median SAT/ACT
1095/22
Tuition + fees
$14K
Acceptance
67%
Graduation
46%
Student body
7K
Median SAT/ACT
1050/21
Tuition + fees
$9K
Acceptance
83%
Graduation
37%
Student body
14K
Median SAT/ACT
1050/20
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