Today, for the very first time, U.S.News and World Report released rankings for the best online bachelor’s and graduate degree programs.
To be included in the report, programs had to have at least 80 percent of their course content available online.
The online bachelor’s degree programs were ranked in three categories: student engagement and assessment, faculty credentials and training, and student services and technology. Master’s programs online had similar categories but were reviewed for student engagement and accreditation, rather than assessment.
For this first year, programs were not given a numerical ranking for overall program quality. Instead, schools were included in an honor-roll list for programs that performed well across a series of criteria.
The top online bachelor’s programs (not in numeric ranking order):
Florida Institute of Technology
University of West Florida
Westfield State University
Pace University
The best online master’s programs in graduate education (not in numeric ranking order):
Auburn University
Bowling Green State University
Brenau University
Fort Hays State University
George Washington University
Northern Illinois University
Pennsylvania State University-University Park
Sam Houston State University
Syracuse University
University of Houston
University of Massachusetts-Amherst
University of South Florida
University of Nebraska at Kearney
Wright State University-Main Campus
U.S.News also established honor rolls for online graduate programs in engineering, business, nursing, and computer information technology.
For more information on the response rate and methodology behind the survey, click here.