Top Online Universities

by Janice Mueller

Searching for the Top Online Universities?

The Online Education Database is one of the most reliable sources of the list of top online universities in the nation today. The organization came up with this list of top online universities using many criteria and an comprehensive metric rating system.

Walden University – Accredited Online University

Top Online Universities

Walden University is regionally accredited, the highest level of accreditation possible.

Accelerated degree programs: Walden University offers 8-week online classes. Since traditional semesters are usually 16 weeks long, you can see the benefit of enrolling in an 8-week class: you earn your college credits MUCH faster.

Walden University offers accredited online Bachelor’s, Master’s, and Doctorate degrees online.

Over 50 online degrees in over 200 areas of concentration are available in fields such as:

  • Business / Accounting / Finance (Bachelor’s, Master’s, Doctorate)
  • Management / Leadership (Bachelor’s, Master’s, Doctorate)
  • Political Science (Bachelor’s)
  • Health Studies / Health Care Management (Bachelor’s, Master’s, Doctorate)
  • Psychology / Forensic Psychology / Clinical Psychology (Bachelor’s, Master’s, Doctorate)
  • Communications (Bachelor’s)
  • Child Development / Child Studies (Bachelor’s, Master’s, Doctorate)
  • Computer Information Systems / Information Technology (Bachelor’s, Master’s)
  • Criminal Justice / Homeland Security / Public Policy (Bachelor’s, Master’s, Doctorate)
  • Education / Teaching (Bachelor’s, Master’s, Doctorate)

Read more or get a program guide from Walden University.

Top Online Universities

Institutions that were included in the list of top online universities had to meet the following criteria: accreditation, inclusion in the College Navigator, having more than one online program, and offering at least half of its programs online if the school has on-campus programs.

Accreditation is an important criteria for these top online universities since it is one of the things that employers look for when hiring new workers. The College Navigator is a government-commissioned organization that has information on universities. This information is helpful for prospective students in comparing schools throughout the country.

Once the schools met these criteria, a ranking metrics was used to come up with the list of top online universities. The metrics used to come up with the top online universities were the number of students accepted every term, financial aid offers, the number of students who graduate, peer web citations, the number of students who remain with the school term after term, scholarly citations, student-faculty ratio, and number of years of accreditation.

Each university was ranked 1 to 44 for each metric. Highest score got a rank of 1. And the school with the lowest average rank was the top online university overall.