Best Online Associate Degrees in Nebraska 2024
Top Online Associate Degree Programs in Nebraska
- Western Nebraska Community College
- Southeast Community College
- Northeast Community College
- Metropolitan Community College
- Central Community College
- Western Nebraska Community College
- Southeast Community College
- Northeast Community College
- Central Community College
- Metropolitan Community College
- Northeast Community College 17 to 1
- Western Nebraska Community College 17 to 1
- Central Community College 15 to 1
- Metropolitan Community College 14 to 1
- Southeast Community College 11 to 1
- Northeast Community College $3,240
- Metropolitan Community College $3,060
- Southeast Community College $2,856
- Central Community College $2,820
- Western Nebraska Community College $2,556
- Central Community College
- Metropolitan Community College
- Northeast Community College
- Southeast Community College
- Western Nebraska Community College
- Metropolitan Community College
- Central Community College
- Northeast Community College
- Southeast Community College
- Western Nebraska Community College
- Southeast Community College 11 to 1
- Metropolitan Community College 14 to 1
- Central Community College 15 to 1
- Northeast Community College 17 to 1
- Western Nebraska Community College 17 to 1
- Western Nebraska Community College $2,556
- Central Community College $2,820
- Southeast Community College $2,856
- Metropolitan Community College $3,060
- Northeast Community College $3,240
What is an Associate Degree?
An associate degree is a two-year degree that can be earned at state community colleges, vocational schools, and most accredited colleges and universities.
What will I study with an associate degree?
The associate degree provides an introductory level college education. You will usually take an array of liberal arts or humanities courses along with introductory level courses in a specific subject area. Most associate degree programs are available to both on campus students and online students.
Why get an associate degree?
There are several good reasons to get an associate degree. An associate degree is an affordable and accessible way to get a college education while improving your earning potential. The associate degree is popular both among students looking for entry-level work in their field, and for those who are already working.
The online degree is particularly popular at the associate level because so many students must balance work responsibilities and studies. Online courses and complete online programs make it possible for students to earn associate credits and degrees without disrupting daily work responsibilities.
The associate is also a far more affordable and accessible alternative to earning a bachelor’s degree. The associate degree takes about half as long to earn as a bachelor’s degree. Associate students need 60 credits to graduate, versus the 120 credits needed for a bachelor’s degree. And many state community colleges offer low tuition rates.
Can I get a job with an associate degree?
You can get an entry-level job in your field with an associate degree. Many students will use the associate degree as a way to get relevant job training before entering the job market. In fact, many associates will pursue entry level work in their field while earning a bachelor’s degree through online education.
Should I get an associate degree before pursuing a bachelor’s degree?
You may want to get an associate degree first to save money, or improve your admission chances, before getting a bachelor’s degree. The associate degree is a popular stepping stone for students who will seek a bachelor’s degree. When you earn an associate degree from an accredited state community college, you can usually transfer your credits toward your bachelor’s degree program.
Can I get an online degree at the associate level?
You can definitely get an online degree at the associate level. A growing number of online colleges offer high-quality associate-level online courses and complete online programs. Online students will typically take the same courses and curricula as on campus students.
Are associate degrees from online colleges respected?
Online degrees at the associate level are respected as long as these online degrees come from accredited community colleges or two-year schools. Regional accreditation is important when it comes to online colleges. If you plan to go into a bachelor’s degree program at a regionally accredited school, you must earn your online degree from a regionally accredited associate degree program.
If you need more answers to frequently asked questions about online degrees, we can help.
Featured Programs
Best Online Associate Degrees in Nebraska
- #1 Best Community Colleges in Nebraska 2024 #2 Best Online Associate in Health Information Technology & Informatics
Tuition + fees
$3K
Graduation
34%
Student body
2K
Career Outlook for degree at Western Nebraska Community College
Cost of Degree: $3,000Expenses: $14,169Starting Salary: $33,800Cost Recoup Time: 6 yearsPaid back at 15% of annual salaryAt Western Nebraska Community College, students can choose from a diverse array of associate programs. Roughly 93% of its graduates either land a job or pursue continuing education.
What we love about Western Nebraska Community College:
Student success and academic excellence are two of the most important goals of Western Nebraska Community College. Their programs and services are innovative, engaging, and enriching.
Western Nebraska Community College is ideal for students who:
Want to attend a supportive community college.
Western Nebraska Community College might not be the best fit for students who:
Prefer to attend a college with more transferable credits.
Online Associate Degrees
AA/AS in Business Administration
Concentrations
- Accounting
- Business Administration
- Management Information Systems
- Required Credits: 65
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AAS in Business Technology
Concentrations
- General Business Technology
- Medical Office Management
- Information Technology Technical Support
- Business Technology - Staff Accountant Option
- Required Credits: 60-62
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AA in Information Technology
- Required Credits: 61-63
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AAS in Health Information Technology
- Required Credits: 65-66
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
Tuition + fees
$3K
Graduation
31%
Student body
13K
Career Outlook for degree at Southeast Community College
Cost of Degree: $3,388Expenses: $12,745Starting Salary: $40,200Cost Recoup Time: 5 yearsPaid back at 15% of annual salaryAside from its numerous associate degree programs, Southeast Community College also offers a practical transfer program for students who want to save time and money. With value for your money, they focus on making their program offerings world-class and top-notch.
What we love about Southeast Community College:
Southeast Community College understands its students’ needs, constantly embracing state-of- the-art facilities and modern technological infrastructure.
Southeast Community College is ideal for students who:
Want to attend a well-improvised community college.
Southeast Community College might not be the best fit for students who:
Prefer to have more food options in the cafeteria.
Online Associate Degrees
AA in Accounting
- Required Credits: 60
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AA/AAS in Business
- Required Credits: 60
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AA in Business Communications
- Required Credits: 60
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AAS in Office Professional
- Required Credits: 63
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AA/AAS in Criminal Justice
- Required Credits: 60
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AAS in Law Enforcement and Homeland Security
- Required Credits: 60
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AAS in Adult and Juvenile Services and Corrections
- Required Credits: 60
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
- #5 Best Community Colleges in Nebraska 2024 #5 Best Online Associate in Agribusiness Degree Programs 2025
Tuition + fees
$4K
Graduation
51%
Student body
7K
Career Outlook for degree at Northeast Community College
Cost of Degree: $3,840Expenses: $12,309Starting Salary: $38,400Cost Recoup Time: 5 yearsPaid back at 15% of annual salaryA well-rounded, affordable education is a top feature at Northeast Community College in Norfolk. Students can choose from about 130 degree programs.
What we love about Northeast Community College:
The college offers an inclusive learning environment that allows students to collaborate, enriching learning opportunities even more.
Northeast Community College is ideal for students who:
Want to attend a community college that is focused on serving their locality.
Northeast Community College might not be the best fit for students who:
Prefer more rigorous classes.
Online Associate Degrees
AA/AAS in Accounting
- Required Credits: 60
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AA in Business Administration
- Required Credits: 60
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AAS in Business
- Required Credits: 63
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AA in Criminal Justice Corrections
- Required Credits: 60
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AA in Criminal Justice Law Enforcement
- Required Credits: 60
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AA/AS in Academic Transfer
- Required Credits: 60
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AA/AAS in Early Childhood Education
- Required Credits: 60
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AA in Education - Elementary
- Required Credits: 60
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AA in Education Paraprofessionals
- Required Credits: 60
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AA in General Studies
- Required Credits: 60
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AA in Library and Information Services
- Required Credits: 60
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AA in Social Science
- Required Credits: 60
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AA/AS in Agriculture - College Transfer
- Required Credits: 60
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
Tuition + fees
$3K
Graduation
25%
Student body
21K
Career Outlook for degree at Metropolitan Community College
Cost of Degree: $3,285Starting Salary: $33,800Metropolitan Community College offers online associate degrees that are career-focused. Students of color account for about 31% of the student population.
What we love about Metropolitan Community College:
The school features open-access education, where students are the main focus of professors and staff.
Metropolitan Community College is ideal for students who:
Want to attend a very diverse college.
Metropolitan Community College might not be the best fit for students who:
Prefer to have more rigorous classes.
Online Associate Degrees
AA in Business Transfer
- Required Credits: 93
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AS in Accounting
- Required Credits: 95-98
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AS in Business Management Generalist
- Required Credits: 99-102
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AS in Computer Science
- Required Credits: 92
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AS in Management Information Systems
- Required Credits: 93
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AS-T in Computer Programming
- Required Credits: 94.5
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AAS in Criminal Justice
Concentrations
- Corrections
- Law Enforcement
- Required Credits: 94.5
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AS in General Studies/Academic Transfer
- Required Credits: 91.5-93
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AA in Liberal Arts/Academic Transfer
- Required Credits: 91.5-93.5
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AS in Health Information Management Systems
Concentrations
- Medical Office Management
- Medical Coding and Billing
- Required Credits: 92.5
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AS in Health Data and Information Management
- Required Credits: 104-104.5
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
Tuition + fees
$3K
Graduation
43%
Student body
10K
Career Outlook for degree at Central Community College
Cost of Degree: $3,360Expenses: $11,952Starting Salary: $32,800Cost Recoup Time: 6 yearsPaid back at 15% of annual salaryProducing workforce-ready graduates is the primary aim of Central Community College. They offer a total of 37 online associate degrees that take two years or less.
What we love about Central Community College:
Each degree addresses the standard required by businesses, organizations, and industries of their employees. The school also utilizes distance learning technologies to elevate the quality of its online programs.
Central Community College is ideal for students who:
Seek an innovative college.
Central Community College might not be the best fit for students who:
Prefer numerous student activities.
Online Associate Degrees
AAS in Quality Technology
- Required Credits: 63
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AAS in Business Administration
- Required Credits: 64
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AAS in Business Technology
- Required Credits: 64
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AAS in Accounting
- Required Credits: 65
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AAS in Information Technology and Systems
- Required Credits: 63
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AAS in Criminal Justice
- Required Credits: 62
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AAS in Early Childhood Education
- Required Credits: 62
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AAS in Health Information Technology
- Required Credits: 71
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
AAS in Environmental Health and Safety
- Required Credits: 61
- Completion time: None Reported
- Format: Online
Nebraska is just one of many states offering online associate’s degrees. To check out our rankings, look into the best online associate’s degrees in Vermont, Rhode Island, South Carolina, and more!
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.
Resources for Online College-Bound Students
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.
