The best online colleges for your money

While most students opt for the traditional residential college experience, an online degree can be a good option for someone who’s also working full time while earning a degree, or for older, non-traditional students.

According to the most recent U.S. Department of Education online enrollment survey, as reported by The Simple Dollar, 5.5 million students in the U.S. are taking online courses, with 2.6 million taking online classes exclusively.

Finding high quality affordable colleges

Of course, not all online colleges are created equal. Before investing in an online degree, it’s important to make sure the college offer a quality educational experience and consider factors like faculty credentials, student services, and tuition costs.

Online colleges often get a poor reputation because of the proliferation of for-profit online colleges, which offer a subpar education at a high cost.

However, more established, non-profit universities are also beginning to offer online degree programs that provide a quality education at a lower cost than a traditional bachelor’s degree.

Top 25 best online colleges

To make it easier for students to find affordable, high quality online colleges, The Simple Dollar put together a directory of 300 of the best online colleges. They evaluated universities based on their affordability and rankings over the past two years.

Check out their ranking of the top 25 below.

Penn State’s online college topped the list, followed by Western Kentucky University and Daytona State College.

One SUNY online college (from our home state of New York) also made the list, with SUNY Delhi’s College of Technology ranking 18th.

All of these colleges, unlike many for-profit online universities that leave students with high debt, offer a high quality education at a low cost. Tuition at these top 25 colleges ranged from just $92 to $751 a semester–far less than the tuition cost at most traditional 4-year universities.

Maximize ROI when choosing a college

Whether it’s online or in person, it’s important to carefully evaluate your college decision and make sure you’re getting the best value for your money.

Investing in a quality education will pay off over time, but you should do everything you can to make college affordable before taking out student loans. Reducing college costs upfront and earning a degree from a quality college will help you maximize the return on your college investment.

If you need help figuring out how to pay for college, apply for financial aid, or make college more affordable, we can help. Give us a call at 888-234-3907 or contact us here and we’ll get back to you within 24 hours.