Online learning often provides busy students — juggling work, family or other responsibilities — a flexible way to earn their degree.
“You have the opportunity with online to locate anywhere you want to be,” says Dave Cillay, chancellor of Washington State University Global Campus. “We’ve had students that chose to travel the world while they studied online. We’ve had others that live at home and study online. It really comes down to what the expectations of the student is. There are a number of students that want to relocate to a campus and live with other students on that location. That’s great, but there are others that don’t.”
Like with any college degree, cost is one of many factors that students consider when deciding where to attend. Here’s what to know about the differences between earning a bachelor’s degree online and in person.
[Read: 5 Advantages of an Online Bachelor’s Degree]
Online vs. On-Campus Bachelor’s Degree Costs
?Costs vary per program, so students should do their research. Of the 115 assessed private colleges that provided 2025-2026 tuition data to U.S. News in an annual survey, for instance, the average per-credit tuition cost for an on-campus degree was $1,228, while online degree programs charged an average of $542 per credit.
Online learning isn’t always cheaper. The average in-state tuition cost per credit at the 140 assessed public colleges that reported this data to U.S. News was $342 for on-campus students and $356 for online learners.
Many colleges keep tuition costs the same for in-person and online programs, so the main difference is in the fees, experts say.
?”The tuition is the same because the educational experience is the same, but other fees associated with campus would not be applied to online programs,” says Asher Haines, associate provost of the School of Professional Studies at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
Both groups of students pay varying technology fees. But on-campus students also often have additional expenses like housing, dining and parking.
Online students, on the other hand, may “need to budget for basic technology such as a computer, a webcam with a microphone and dependable internet service,” Erin Arthur, academic innovation director at Daytona State College in Florida, wrote in an email.
[Read: How Online Classes Work: 6 Frequently Asked Questions]
Financial Aid for Online Students
Online learners enrolled at an accredited institution are eligible for the same federal financial aid as on-campus students, such as Pell Grants, work-study and loans.
It’s important to start the financial aid process early, experts say. The first step is filing the Free Application for Federal Student Aid, which typically opens every October.
“The sooner you fill out the FAFSA, the better,” says Bob Collins, senior adviser and vice president of the Office of the President at Western Governors University. “Many institutions will use that FAFSA to not only award their federal financial aid, but they may make decisions about their institutional aid as well. And some states consider it for the state-funded student assistance.”
There are other financial aid options for adult learners to consider, including employer tuition assistance or veterans benefits, experts say.
Choosing Between Online and In-Person Degree
There are hundreds of schools and degree programs to choose from, and Collins recommends using the U.S. Department of Education’s College Scorecard to help narrow down the college search.
“When you use that tool, you can compare and contrast schools by cost of attendance,” he says. “You can look at their median earnings and their median debt. That is the most powerful tool that students and families can use to compare between colleges and universities and between programs of study. Take a look at the results of their graduates and the College Scorecard captures that.”
Before deciding between an online or on-campus degree program, students should understand their objectives “for that college experience,” Cillay says.
[Read: Tips for Deciding Whether Online College Learning Is Right for You]
Do they want to have that “residential campus experience where they’re participating in all the student activities and great events that happen on our thriving campus?” Haines says. “Or do they have other obligations where they’re balancing their work, their family and they’re not necessarily looking for that traditional residential experience? That should be what drives their decision on what to do.”
It’s important to note that colleges differ in their approaches to online learning. Some provide online learners with the same opportunities as in-person students, such as access to extracurricular activities.
?”We’ve got a number of different activities that students can take advantage of — from virtual tailgates to book clubs to dance parties that happen online,” Cillay says. “We’ve got an opportunity for students to become part of the student government. Not all universities have that and not all students want that. … What we say is we offer the full college experience, we just do it in a different location and we do it virtually.”
Students who choose online education may have costs related to creating and maintaining a productive learning space. They “should keep in mind the physical environment they will need to set up and work in to be successful,” Arthur says. “For example, will their working space have the privacy they need to take an online proctored assessment or successfully complete a final paper?”
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The Cost of an Online Bachelor’s Degree originally appeared on usnews.com