Survey Ranks Top 25 Best Buys Online Engineering Degrees

The survey of 56 distance learning master’s revealed online learners should be prepared to pay as little as $5,280 or as much as $67,500. “Shopping around for an online degree is increasingly the best form of college financial aid,” comments GetEducated.com’s CEO and Chief Analyst, Vicky Phillips.

Premiering at the number one spot this year is North Carolina State University (North Carolina) with a modest cost of $5,280 for an online Master of Engineering or Master of Civil Engineering for state residents. Out-of-staters will pay significantly more ($20,000) for the same degree.

California’s State University Dominguez Hills snagged the #2 spot for affordability with a $5,500 Master’s in Quality Assurance for applicants nationwide. Master of Science Engineering degrees from Mississippi State ranked #3 ($6,848-$8,217).

The nationwide survey, the only of its kind, identified several trends in higher education pricing that directly impact consumers as they go online to earn master’s or doctorate degrees.

Twenty-four of the twenty-five Best Buys come from publicly funded universities

Capitol College (Maryland) (#15) is the only private college that made the Best Buy list.

More public universities are offering their degrees online at low in-state tuition rates regardless of the applicant’s state of residency.

Example: Eastern Michigan University (#10) allows any student nationwide to earn a master’s for just over $10,000. The University of Wisconsin Platteville (#20) offers a flat rate tuition that results in a very affordable price tag of just over $15,000.

Name-brand public colleges that made the Top 25 Best Buy list included: California State University Long Beach (#14), California State University Dominguez Hillls (#2), Oklahoma State University (#5), The University of Tennessee (#7), Boise State University (#11), The University of Illinois Chicago (#22), and the University of Wisconsin Platteville (#20), among others.

The top three ranked most expensive distance learning master’s in engineering were, in order: (1) Massachusetts Institute of Technology ($67,500); (2) Stanford University; and (3) Carnegie Mellon ($42,336).

The complete list of the Top 25 Ranked Best Buys in Online Engineering Degrees can be accessed at http://www.geteducated.com/articles/top25bestbuyengdegreeonline.htm

Complete details of the 56 graduate engineering programs surveyed for the 2005 Best Buy list are available inside the clearinghouse’s free downloadable ebook, GetEducated.com’s Best Distance Learning Graduate Schools, Technology 2005. This free consumer-oriented publication profiles more than 90 online grad school options (USA) in computer science, engineering, and allied technology areas. Download the free ebook at: http://www.geteducated.com/bdlgs_tech.htm

About GetEducated.com:
Founded in 1989, GetEducated.com, LLC is the safest place in cyberspace to shop for your online degree ™. In a nationwide campaign against online diploma mills, the clearinghouse accepts neither advertising nor listings from unaccredited online colleges or from colleges “accredited” by bogus agencies. The clearinghouse operates the Diploma Mill Police, (SM), a free online degree accreditation verification service designed to protect online degree seekers from fraud, and publishes a series of free downloadable guidebooks to online colleges.

CONTACT:
Goldie McPike
Information Services
GetEducated.com, LLC
Essex Junction, VT. 05456
802-879-1379
Email: goldie@geteducated.com
Website: http://www.geteducated.com