Traditional Online Colleges May Not be the Right Option for an Online Associate's Degree in Business

When beginning a career in business it’s helpful to have a degree. Oftentimes, the problem is that, without the degree, it’s difficult to get a job, but without the job, it’s difficult to afford the degree. So, the best option for the student is to find a cheap tuition rate for an associate online business degree. Online courses offer the flexibility the student may need to pursue a degree while maintaining a career.

There are often many programs to choose from when it comes to an associate’s degree including but not limited to marketing, business administration, and business communications. The variety of courses will appeal to many prospective careers, and the degree can increase the salary by about $8,000 from a high school diploma alone.

Phoenix College online, one of the fore runners of online education offers an associates degree in business administration; however, the tuition rate is $345 per credit hour. This is more than most traditional colleges that offer this degree, several of which also offer the degree online. Kaplan is in a similar situation, not listing the tuition rates on the website, forcing the prospective student to download the catalog only to learn that it costs $416 per unit or credit hour.

Online colleges, such as Phoenix College online and Kaplan, have become more and more main stream, but they aren’t the only way to obtain an associate’s degree. Many in state colleges offer online or blended degree options. Often this leads to the cheapest tuition rate for the student because they are working with local colleges and qualify for both federal and state tuition assistance.

The State University of New York, in fact, offers a cheap tuition rate for an associate online business degree to distance learning students in any state. With credits starting at just $120.00 a credit hour to achieve the degree in one of their many community colleges to $207.00 a credit hour to get an associate’s from a main campus of the SUNY schools, it’s definitely one of the cheap tuition rates for an associate online business degree.

Thomas Edison Online College, a division of Thomas Edison State College, offers an associate’s degree in business administration for approximately $11,000 for the sixty credit hour degree. This course focuses on building core business skills and offers a seamless transition to a bachelor’s degree in business administration. Other similar schools offer the degree between $22,000 and $30,000 and can be found at www.distance-education.org.

Although many well-known online schools charge tuition rates of as much as $416 per credit hour, a cheap tuition rate for an associate online business degree is available at traditional universities.

For more information:

State University of New York, Distance Education program: http://sln.suny.edu/. Here you'll be able to find all the degrees offered and what community colleges and traditional colleges offer each program.

For a list of colleges similar to Thomas Edison Online College, check out www.distance-education.org which will list many traditional colleges that offer online degrees and the average cost of the program.