Best Online Cybersecurity Degrees in 2027

The best online cybersecurity degree is a bachelor’s from a regionally accredited school that holds a CAE-CD designation or ABET accreditation, charges a rate you can afford, and lets you finish the labs on your own schedule. This page ranks 26 online cybersecurity bachelor’s programs on graduation rate, earnings after graduation, total tuition and that CAE-CD or ABET status. Right now the order starts with University of Cincinnati-Main Campus, followed by Champlain College and Stevenson University. Each program’s card shows its cost, format and credentials, and the methodology page explains how the scores work.

How We Rank Online Cybersecurity Degrees

This is a bachelor’s ranking. Master’s programs and associate degrees sit on other pages, including the online IT master’s ranking and the associate degree ranking. Every program here is a bachelor’s degree in cybersecurity or a close variant such as cybersecurity and digital forensics, and every one can be completed online.

The order rests on four measures. The school’s graduation rate carries 40% of the score. Median earnings one year after finishing, for the school’s graduates in the field, carry 25%. Total published tuition carries 25%, with lower totals scoring higher. ABET accreditation or a CAE-CD designation carries the last 10%, with ABET earning the full share and CAE-CD half. When a program has no data for one of the four, that factor counts at the middle of the field.

Where the Programs Are

The programs sit in 18 states, and 9 are at public schools. Another 13 are private nonprofit and 4 are private for-profit. The mix matters because the three types price very differently, which the cost section below breaks out.

Asynchronous or Live Online Classes

Format is the difference that changes your week the most. Of the programs that state how they deliver classes, 3 are fully asynchronous, 3 mix live and recorded sessions, and 0 require every session live. The count of programs that state their delivery is 6, so many schools simply don’t say, and you should ask an advisor.

Asynchronous programs such as Western Governors University and University of Nebraska at Omaha let you work around nights or rotating shifts, because nothing meets at a fixed hour. Excelsior University lists asynchronous delivery too, but its page also describes hybrid courses with required in-person sessions at its site in St. Petersburg, Florida, so read the fine print on any program that offers both. At the live end, Syracuse University describes live class sessions and interactive course videos for its cybersecurity administration degree, and ECPI University offers its bachelor’s on campus or online.

If you work a fixed schedule, live sessions give you structure and a cohort. If your hours change week to week, asynchronous is the safer choice. Neither is better in the abstract, and format is not part of the score, so weigh it yourself against the order above.

What You Study in an Online Cybersecurity Degree

The published curricula on this page share some building blocks: general education, an IT base, networking, operating systems and programming, then defensive and offensive security topics. A capstone or project closes out several of them. Course names differ from school to school.

Sample Course Sequences

The published curricula show the pattern. Immaculata University lists Cybersecurity Fundamentals, Introduction to Linux, Defense in Depth and Vulnerability Assessment & Penetration, then IT Security Governance and a Cybersecurity Capstone. Stevenson University lists Network Security-Firewalls, IDS, and Counter Measures beside Intrusion and Penetration Testing, Incident Response and Investigation, and Forensic Evidence Collection Tools and Techniques. University at Albany builds from Technical Foundations of Cybersecurity and Information Systems Security and Assurance toward Reverse Engineering and Malware Analysis. Western Michigan University lists computer programming, ethics, foundations of cybersecurity, cryptology concepts and techniques and Windows System Administration among its core courses, and its program culminates in a Senior Engineering Design project. Bellevue University lists Introduction to Cyber Threats, Technologies and Security and Securing Access Control among its courses, and describes an introduction to problem solving and computer programming in Python.

Other curricula add newer topics. University of Maryland Global Campus includes Introduction to Programming in Python and Artificial Intelligence Security, ending in a Cybersecurity Technology Capstone. Syracuse University teaches Securing Artificial Intelligence, and its core courses focus on cybersecurity strategy, risk management, network security and digital infrastructure protection.

Online Labs

Labs are where an online program earns its keep. Champlain College says its labs use a Forensic VDI and its forensic exercises use tools such as Autopsy and EnCase. American Public University System integrates a cyber range, a virtual environment for hands-on exercises. University of Missouri-St Louis describes a sandboxed environment with a private cloud, servers and workstations, and North Greenville University says its labs run in secure cloud environments, so you install nothing special on your own computer. Ask any program you consider how its labs work, and whether you can see them before you enroll.

Cybersecurity Compared with IT, CS and MIS

A cybersecurity major differs from an IT degree in emphasis. IT teaches you to run systems, security teaches you to defend them, and computer science goes deeper into theory and software. Management information systems sits closer to business. The IT vs. computer science guide covers the first split, and the best online IT bachelor’s degrees ranking is the better fit if you want the broader IT major.

What CAE-CD Means for an Online Cybersecurity Degree

CAE-CD stands for Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense. The National Security Agency sponsors the program, and the NSA’s Centers of Academic Excellence page is the place to look for designated institutions. There are 454 designated institutions across all designation types, which is why the label by itself doesn’t separate one school from another.

The designation belongs to the school and its curriculum, not to you. It tells you the institution or program met the requirements the NSA sets for the designation. For you, it shows up in two places. Designation lets a school compete for the Department of Defense Cyber Service Academy and apply for the National Science Foundation’s Scholarship for Service program, which matters if you want a scholarship tied to government work. And it signals that the curriculum has outside review, which is useful when you can’t walk the campus.

Which Ranked Programs Hold It

18 of the 26 programs on this page are at a CAE-CD school. The group includes Stevenson University, Champlain College, Kennesaw State University and University of Missouri-St Louis, along with several large online universities. A designation can belong to an institution or to a program, so confirm on the NSA list that the program you’re applying to is the one covered. The CAE map lets you search by state.

Alignment language is not the same as designation. Excelsior University says its degree is aligned with the academic requirements set by the NSA and the Department of Homeland Security, and that is worth reading as a statement about the curriculum. The designated list is the place to confirm status.

When It Should Decide Your Choice

It isn’t a guarantee of quality in every course, and it isn’t a license. Choose on it when you want government or defense work, or a school that government employers recognize. Otherwise treat it as one signal beside cost and format. For a ranking built around the designation, see the CAE-CD schools ranking.

The practical test is simple. Search the school name in the NSA directory, find the program or the institution entry, and read the designation type. An institution or program must apply for re-designation every five academic years. If a school advertises the label but you cannot find it on the list, treat the claim as unconfirmed and ask the admissions office to point you to the entry.

ABET Accreditation for Online Cybersecurity Degrees

ABET accredits individual programs, not whole schools, and its accredited program search lets you check a specific degree. 5 programs on this page hold ABET accreditation for a cybersecurity or closely related computing program.

Who Holds It

University of Cincinnati-Main Campus says its Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity is accredited by the Computing Accreditation Commission of ABET. Western Governors University and Purdue University Global say their cybersecurity degrees are ABET accredited. Western Michigan University and Capella University complete the group, though Capella University notes that its FlexPath option is not ABET accredited, so check which format you would take. 3 programs hold both ABET and CAE-CD, which is the strongest pairing on the page.

How ABET and CAE-CD Differ

ABET is rarer than CAE-CD, and the two measure different things. CAE-CD is a designation sponsored by the NSA. ABET evaluates the program itself against published criteria, and for cybersecurity programs its computing criteria call for at least 45 semester credit hours of computing and cybersecurity course work. ABET says it offers accreditation to programs only, not to degrees, departments, colleges or institutions. A program with neither can still be good, especially at a regionally accredited school with strong labs, but you’ll have to judge it on the curriculum itself.

Institutional Accreditation Comes First

Before either label, the school itself needs regional accreditation, because that decides whether your credits move to another college or count toward a master’s. All 26 ranked programs sit at an institutionally accredited school. 10 are accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, 8 by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, and 4 by the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges. You can confirm any school at CHEA.

If an employer you are targeting lists ABET in its job postings, filter for it. A deeper list is on the ABET-accredited online IT degrees ranking.

The same logic applies to ABET, which keeps its own searchable list. Check that the exact degree name appears there, with the correct campus or online delivery noted, since an accredited computing program at a school does not make every other degree at that school accredited. Ask whether the online delivery of the degree is covered by the same accreditation.

How Much an Online Cybersecurity Degree Costs

Published online rates on this page run from $192 to $972 per credit, and the median is $470. The spread is wide, and the table below splits it by school type. Total bachelor’s tuition runs from $23,040 to $114,885, with a median of $59,880. Those totals multiply the online rate by the credits you’d need and leave out fees, books and lab software.

Per-Credit Rates by School Type

Rates are per credit as each school bills it, and some schools bill by the quarter credit. The gap between in-state and out-of-state is real: Old Dominion University lists $281 per credit for Virginia residents and $972 for everyone else, and University of Nebraska at Omaha lists $436 for Nebraska residents against $928 for others. 4 ranked programs split their rates by residency, so check which rate applies to you.

Fees Beyond Tuition

11 programs publish fees. Champlain College lists $150 one-time graduation fee, Stevenson University lists a $0 fees, and College of Our Lady of the Elms charges a $110 technology fee per semester. A technology fee repeated every term adds up across a degree, so ask for the full fee schedule before you compare.

Flat-Rate Pricing

Not every program bills by the credit. 1 program uses flat-term pricing: Western Governors University charges $4,425 per 6-month term and lets you complete as many courses as you can in that term. Fast, self-directed students can finish more courses per term and pay less overall, while slower students pay the same flat amount for less progress.

Paying for It

Federal student aid applies to accredited programs, so start with the FAFSA at studentaid.gov. Some employers reimburse tuition, so ask HR before you enroll, and ask whether the benefit is paid up front or after you finish each course, since that changes how much you carry in the meantime. Veterans can use GI Bill education benefits: for private schools, the VA says it pays net tuition and mandatory fees up to $30,908.34 for the current academic year. For a cost-first view of the whole field, use the cheapest online IT degrees ranking.

How Long an Online Cybersecurity Degree Takes

A bachelor’s is 120 credits, and at full time that is four years, or eight semesters. The programs on this page range from 90 to 127 credits with a median of 120. The low end is University of Missouri-St Louis, which lists 120 credits for its IST emphasis, and Northwood University offers a reduced-credit applied science degree at 90 credits. Quarter-system schools such as Purdue University Global (180 quarter credits) and Drexel University (185 credits) count differently, so don’t compare their totals to semester programs directly.

Full-Time and Part-Time Pacing

How fast you finish turns on your course load each term, and accelerated terms compress the calendar. Of the 13 programs that state a term length at all, 10 run terms of eight weeks or shorter. 2 of those run terms of five weeks or less.

Accelerated Examples

Champlain College runs 7-week terms and says taking two classes per term works out to just over two years on average to earn the degree. Immaculata University takes one seven-week course at a time and says all major requirements can be finished in less than three years. College of Our Lady of the Elms advertises finishing in ten months with 8-week sessions and two courses at a time. ECPI University uses 5-week terms.

The Tradeoff of Short Terms

Short terms keep you focused on one or two subjects, and they also remove slack. Miss a week of an eight-week course and you have lost an eighth of it. If your job has busy seasons, pick a program that lets you take a term off, and check how often new terms start: 1 program starts monthly and 7 publish start dates at all. Western Governors University starts a new term on the first of every month, which suits people who can begin at once.

Prior experience shortens the timeline in a second way. A competency-based program such as the one at Western Governors University lets you move through coursework by demonstrating what you already know, and the school says students with experience in cybersecurity or transfer credit may finish faster. A program on a fixed calendar makes you sit through every course on schedule. If you already work in IT support or networking, a competency model or a certification-credit policy is worth asking about alongside term length.

Transfer Credit for an Online Cybersecurity Degree

Transfer credit can cut both time and cost. Among 9 programs that publish a transfer limit, the cap runs from 90 to 90 credits, with a median of 90. Against a 120-credit bachelor’s, that is three-quarters of the degree. The remaining credits come from the school you graduate from.

Associate-to-Bachelor’s Pathways

If you hold an associate degree in IT or networking, a cybersecurity bachelor’s is the natural next step, and the online IT associate degrees ranking covers where to start. Syracuse University and University of Maryland Global Campus each accept up to 90 transfer credits, and American Public University System does too. College of Our Lady of the Elms says most students transfer in four to six courses of its nine-course liberal arts core. Capella University allows 135 transferred quarter credits out of its 180 quarter credits.

Credit for Certifications

5 ranked programs grant credit for industry certifications: Drexel University, College of Our Lady of the Elms, Excelsior University, Southern New Hampshire University and Purdue University Global. Southern New Hampshire University says earlier credit or certifications such as CompTIA A+, Network+ and Linux+ may transfer. Drexel University names CompTIA, Microsoft, Oracle, Cisco, SANS Institute and Red Hat. Old Dominion University says certifications from CompTIA, ISC2, GIAC and Offensive Security may count for credit. Ask for the credit table in writing before you pay for an exam.

Prior Learning

Some schools assess work experience for credit. Stevenson University says undergraduate students can earn credit for what they learned through previous work and life experiences, and University of Mary says you can request a portfolio review for prior learning credits. Military training can count too: Old Dominion University describes an agreement that may grant credit to service members and veterans.

Keep the receiving rules in mind. Schools set residency requirements, and Old Dominion University requires a minimum number of credit hours to be completed with it. University of Maryland Global Campus publishes a transfer cap of 90 credits, and American Public University System publishes the same figure. The cap is a ceiling, and your own transcript decides how much you actually get. Request an unofficial evaluation before you apply, and compare it across two or three schools, because the same community college credits can be worth different amounts at different universities. Grades matter too: Drexel University requires a C or better on any transfer credit.

Online Cybersecurity Degrees and the Security+ Exam

CompTIA Security+ is an entry-level security certification and a common one to plan around. CompTIA’s Security+ page covers the current exam version and what’s changing. Check there for the price and exam format before you budget, because both change when a new version launches.

What the Coursework Covers

The programs on this page teach topics such as network security, cryptography, forensics and incident response, which overlap with what security certifications test. Coursework is not the same as exam preparation or an exam voucher, so check what each school actually includes.

Programs with Built-In Certifications

Programs differ sharply on how far they go. 8 ranked programs name specific certifications. Western Michigan University says students will be prepared for Network+ and Security+. North Greenville University says exam preparation is built into every cybersecurity course and that students can pursue up to thirteen certification exams. Western Governors University includes up to sixteen industry certifications. Excelsior University says its curriculum prepares students to take certification exams such as CISP, CEH, Security+, Network+, CHFI, SSCP and ESCP. Monroe University says students work toward industry certifications including CompTIA A+, Security+, Network+ and Cloud+ and Cisco’s CCNA and CyberOps Associate. Capella University says students can earn Google IT Support, CompTIA A+ or AWS certifications at no additional cost, which is a different set from Security+.

The online IT degrees with certifications ranking covers programs that build certifications into the degree. University of Mary offers stackable certificates aligned with ISC2 Cybersecurity, CySA+, PCNSA and Network+, each of which you can apply toward the bachelor’s.

When to Sit for It

Ask two questions of any school that mentions the exam: whether the voucher is included in tuition or billed as a fee, and whether passing counts for course credit. Some schools let a passed exam count toward a course, as University of Maryland Global Campus does when a certification exam is used in place of a final exam for the matching course.

ECPI University lists Security+ and CEH certification preparation among its program highlights. If you already work in IT support, you may want the certification sooner. Use the CompTIA certification pages to plan the next step.

Careers After an Online Cybersecurity Degree

The roles a cybersecurity degree feeds into are covered by three BLS occupation codes. Pay figures are the May 2025 OEWS survey, and growth and openings come from the 2025-35 Employment Projections.

BLS publishes one occupation for both network administrators and systems administrators, so those two jobs share a row.

Security Analyst Pay

Information security analysts earn $62.11 an hour at the median. The bottom tenth earn $75,090 and the top tenth earn $199,850. Per BLS, the typical entry education is a bachelor's degree. See the information security analyst career page and the salary page for detail by experience level and state.

Where Graduates Start

Some graduates begin in a neighboring role. The administrator code is projected to change by -4.1% through 2035 while still posting 13,400 openings a year. Read the systems administrator career page for that neighboring role. The management track at $175,140 usually needs years of experience first; the IT manager career page explains the path.

Certifications That Pair with Each Role

Security+ fits an analyst or an administrator starting out. Later certifications such as CISSP suit senior analysts and managers, and Cisco’s CCNA fits those who lean toward networking. The certifications section links to guides for each.

A degree is not a hiring guarantee at any level. Internships, competitions and a home lab give you something concrete to show. University of Maryland Global Campus points to a cybersecurity competition team and a virtual security lab, and a program with co-op rotations, such as the one at University of Cincinnati-Main Campus, puts work experience on the resume before graduation. Ask each school what its graduates did in the first year, and which employers hired them. Two or three real job titles from a recent class tell you more than a placement percentage.

Stack the degree with a certification and a portfolio. A short write-up of a lab you built, a forensic exercise you worked or a report from an incident response simulation gives a hiring manager something to read, and it shows you can do the work the degree describes.

How to Choose an Online Cybersecurity Degree

Start with what you need the degree to do, then check each point below against the program page. Each item carries one example from the ranked list.

Match Accreditation to Your Goal

If you want federal work, filter for CAE-CD first. Kennesaw State University is a public CAE-CD example with a low published rate of $192 per credit. If you want an engineering-style credential that travels across industries, filter for ABET, as at University of Cincinnati-Main Campus. If neither matters to you, confirm regional accreditation and move on.

Check Delivery and Start Dates

Look at whether classes are asynchronous, and how often terms begin. University of Nebraska at Omaha is asynchronous and fully online, and Western Governors University starts every month. A program that begins only in the fall costs you months if you apply in January.

Compare Total Cost and the Rate

Multiply the rate by the credits, then add fees. Bellevue University lists $459 per credit across 127 credits, for $58,293 in tuition, while Monroe University lists $700 and $84,000. Similar degrees can differ by tens of thousands of dollars, and the affordable master’s ranking shows the same pattern at the graduate level.

Read the Transfer Policy

If you hold credits, a generous policy such as American Public University System‘s up to 90 credits can cut years from the timeline. Ask for a transfer evaluation before you commit.

Ask About Embedded Certifications

If you plan to sit for Security+ or CEH, check whether the program includes preparation or a voucher. ECPI University lists Security+ and CEH preparation within its degree.

Check the Labs and Faculty

Finally, ask who teaches and how the labs run. University of Maryland Global Campus says full-time cybersecurity professionals teach its courses. North Greenville University says its labs run in secure cloud environments, and Champlain College says its forensic labs use a virtual desktop environment. Ask to see the lab environment before you enroll.

Write down the answers for each school you consider and compare them side by side. The answers on delivery, total cost, transfer and certifications will usually narrow a list of 26 to two or three.

Online Cybersecurity Degrees by State

The ranked programs are not spread evenly. New York has the most with 4, led by Syracuse University, Excelsior University and University at Albany. Each state has its own page on programs by state, listing the online options at schools there.

Top States

• New York: 4 programs, 1 public, lowest in-state rate $366.
• Maryland: 2 programs, 1 public, lowest in-state rate $337.
• Michigan: 2 programs, 1 public.
• Nebraska: 2 programs, 1 public, lowest in-state rate $436.
• Pennsylvania: 2 programs, 0 public.

Why In-State Rates Matter

Public schools usually charge residents far less, so an online student in Maryland can pay $337 per credit at University of Maryland Global Campus, against $499 for out-of-state students. In Virginia, Old Dominion University lists $281 for residents. Check whether your state has a public option before you consider a private one, and note that 4 public programs split their rate by residency while 2 charge everyone the same.

Choosing a State Page First

Start with your own state page if you live in one of the five listed, since the in-state rate is usually the best deal. If you do not, open the state pages for neighbors and compare them against the national list. A public school two states away may still price lower than a private school in your home state.

Out-of-State Online Students

You aren’t limited to schools in your own state, since the programs are online. Residency rules still decide your rate, so confirm eligibility with the school. Kennesaw State University and University of Missouri-St Louis are public options in Georgia and Missouri, and a school in another state can still be the cheapest choice if it charges everyone one rate.

Several states also host programs from out-of-state online universities that enroll students everywhere, so a state with few schools does not mean few options for you. Use the state pages to see what sits close to home, which public schools charge residents less, and which private schools sit near you for any campus visits or on-site sessions a program might require, then compare those against the national list above. Pennsylvania is a case in point: its 2 ranked programs are all private, so a resident there compares private rates from the start and looks harder at transfer credit and employer assistance to bring the total down. In Michigan, by contrast, 1 of 2 programs is public, which gives residents a lower-cost option to price first.