How We Rank Online Degree Programs

Our rankings compare online degree programs within one subject at a time, such as accounting, cybersecurity or healthcare administration. Every ranking is written and reviewed by the Degree College Online Editorial Team. We look at the same four things, in the same order, for every program.

1. Accreditation comes first

A school must hold institutional accreditation from an accreditor recognized by the U.S. Department of Education or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA) before any of its programs is considered. Accreditation is a gate, not a score: a school without it is never ranked, however low its price or strong its marketing.

Where a field has its own programmatic accreditor (for example in nursing, business or social work), we note whether a program holds it, because some licenses and employers expect it.

You can check any school yourself in the Department of Education's Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs or in CHEA's directory.

2. Graduation rate

A degree is only worth paying for if students finish it. We look at how many students who start at a school go on to complete, using federal data such as the College Scorecard and NCES IPEDS. Federal completion figures do not always separate online students from campus students, so we treat them as a signal about the school rather than a precise measure of one program.

3. Cost per credit

Programs differ in length, so we compare tuition per credit hour rather than a single sticker price, using the rates schools publish. We also note fees that apply to online students, and whether in-state and out-of-state online students pay the same rate. Tuition changes every year: always confirm the current figure with the school.

4. Transfer credit

Many online students already have college credit, an associate degree or military training. Programs that accept more prior credit can shorten the degree and lower its total cost, so we look at each school's published transfer policy.

What we do not do

We do not rank schools by how much they pay us. Some schools and partners advertise on this site, and links to them may earn us money; that never moves a program up a list or past the accreditation gate. We do not publish scores, weights or statistics we cannot source.

If you spot something out of date, please contact us and we will check it. Read more about how we write and correct articles in our editorial standards.