The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College, The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matter to you in your college or graduate school search.
An online bachelor’s degree can come with a hefty price tag. But there are still many low-cost programs for out-of-state students — in some cases, even less than other programs for in-state students.
[Discover the top 20 online bachelor’s degree programs.]
Among the 133 ranked online bachelor’s programs at public schools that submitted these data to U.S. News in an annual survey, Fitchburg State University in Massachusetts tops the list of the cheapest for out-of-state students during the 2016-2017 school year. The school charges $133 per credit and requires 120 credits to graduate for a total program cost of $15,960.
To put things in perspective, a prospective online student from Florida, for example, would pay less for Fitchburg State’s online bachelor’s program than for Florida International University‘s. FIU charges $212 for Florida residents, bringing the total cost to $25,440 for 120 credits.
[Ask five financial questions before getting an online degree.]
The average total cost among the 10 online bachelor’s programs that charge the least is $23,436 for 2016-2017. That’s significantly lower than programs on the other end of the spectrum such as West Virginia University, which charges out-of-state students $1,040 per credit for a total of $124,800.
These data don’t, however, account for the fact that many online students enter undergraduate programs with some college credit earned already — something for prospective students to consider. Online programs usually charge students by credit rather than semester, which is common for traditional undergraduate programs.
[Explore what to know about financial aid in online programs.]
Below is a list of the undergraduate online programs where out-of-state students had the lowest total cost during the 2016-2017 school year. Unranked schools, which did not meet certain criteria required by U.S. News to be ranked, were not considered for this report.
| School name (state) | Out-of-state cost per credit | Credits needed to graduate | Out-of-state total program cost | U.S. News rank |
| Fitchburg State University (MA) | $133 | 120 | $15,960 | 81 (tie) |
| College of Coastal Georgia | $136 | 120 | $16,320 | 165 (tie) |
| Montana State University–Billings | $183 | 120 | $21,960 | RNP* |
| University of Central Arkansas | $207 | 120 | $24,840 | RNP |
| Fort Hays State University (KS) | $207 | 120 | $24,840 | 15 (tie) |
| University of Alaska–Fairbanks | $212 | 120 | $25,440 | 132 (tie) |
| Georgia Southern University | $204 | 126 | $25,704 | 92 (tie) |
| Minot State University (ND) | $216 | 120 | $25,920 | 180 (tie) |
| Sam Houston State University (TX) | $216 | 120 | $25,920 | 54 (tie) |
| Georgia College & State University | $289 | 95 | $27,455 | 28 (tie) |
* RNP denotes an institution that is ranked in the bottom one-fourth of its rankings category. U.S. News calculates a rank for the school but has decided not to publish it.
School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.
U.S. News surveyed more than 300 colleges and universities for our 2017 Best Online Bachelor’s Programs rankings. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News’ data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Colleges rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News’ rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The tuition data above are correct as of Jan. 10, 2017.
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10 Low-Cost Online Bachelor’s Programs for Out-of-State Students originally appeared on usnews.com
