Instead, we’ll tell you.

First, we’ll introduce you to the ten (10) best online colleges.

Then we’ll introduce you to the next best ten (10) and the online degrees they offer.

Our educational experts investigated hundreds of online colleges and universities across the globe before choosing the top twenty (20). Some award only online degrees; others are traditional colleges and universities offering both campus-based and online education. All are fully accredited by agencies recognized by the United States Department of Education (not the “bogus” agencies listed on some websites).

Every one of our top twenty (20) distance education colleges offers financial aid to qualified students, and many offer scholarships and/or tuition installment plans. As you will see, almost everyone can afford the cost of online education.

Many offer accelerated degrees, credit for life experience, and/or credit by examination. In fact, we think you will be very pleasantly surprised by how quickly you can earn a fully accredited degree online, and by the variety of online degrees available.

Our rankings were determined by a team of experienced educators who investigated more than 200 online colleges and weighed factors which include overall academic quality, breadth of degree offerings, availability of academic and other student support services, willingness to consider life experience and/or military credit (DANTES), accelerated degree options, overall cost, scholarship availability, tuition installment and financial aid options, institutional stability, and overall reputation.

Only you can determine which online colleges and which online degrees can best meet your individual needs. Our goal is to save you some time by giving you a list of what we think are the twenty (20) best online colleges and universities. We are not suggesting that online college #1 will necessarily be a better choice for you than college #20. In fact, we advise and encourage you to request free information from any of the colleges below which interest you.

We also suggest that you add this site to your favorites list and visit weekly until you have made your final college choice as we plan regular updates and revisions as we learn more about the online colleges we have listed (and others which may take their places).

Here is # 1…our choice for the overall best online college or university. This university features low tuition, accelerated degree options, a great reputation, and a variety of bachelors and masters degree programs.

The online university we selected as the #2 best online college or university is a leader in online education accredited by the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools. More than 70% of their students receive financial aid unrelated to financial need, they award credit for previous coursework and training, and more than 1,300 companies and government organizations have agreed to pay some or all of their employees’ tuition. Online degrees are awarded at the bachelors, masters, and doctoral (PhD) levels.

Our #3 ranked online degree granting university has been offering top quality distance education to working adults since 1970. Like our top ranked and second ranked online college, this university is definitely worth investigating. In addition to numerous online masters and PHD degrees in a wide variety of majors, the University offers an online bachelors degree in business administration.

This inexpensive university is an entirely online education institution. Currently, it offers nearly 120 bachelors, masters, and doctoral degree programs.

Our #5 rated online university, nationally accredited by the Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC), earned its high ranking because of its 30 years of experience, service to more than 30,000 students, and associate, bachelors, and masters degree programs in business, psychology, and education.

Online College # 6 is accredited by the Commission on Higher Education of the Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools. Few online colleges offer the combination of this institution’s reputation and such a wide variety of top quality online bachelors and masters degree programs. Several degree programs were developed in association with the very top colleges and universities in the United States, including Ivy League Columbia University, Stanford University, Carnegie Mellon University, and the University of Chicago.

The #7 ranked online college is relatively inexpensive and very well-regarded throughout the world. It offers a number of very career-focused programs, including online masters and bachelors degree programs in some fairly unusual areas such as human resources management, health education, conflict and negotiation management, public management, and law and expert witness studies, in addition to more traditional programs in business, education, information technology, and more.

Our # 8 best online college is really a consortium of top universities. This consortium should probably be in the top top two or three online colleges and universities, but we can’t decide how fair it is to compare individual colleges and universities to consortiums. In any case, here is a group of great educational institutions offering degrees of all kinds, financial aid, tuition installment programs, accelerated degrees, and more.

This online university features advisors who work very closely with each student on an individual basis, and an exceptionally interesting variety of degree programs. Because it is one of the first universities to offer distance education to working adults, it is well attuned to their needs.

Online College #10 deserves to be on everyone’s top ten list. In fact, because it was founded specifically to meet the needs of working adults, because it offers the most flexible, individualized distance education options of any college we have investigated, and because its low tuition makes it a big educational value, we will probably move this great state college to our top five soon. If you check it out, you’ll see why.

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