Psychology is one of the most versatile subjects in academia. Students with a degree in this field can work in counseling or behavioral analysis as well as research, education, criminal justice, business, and many other industries. As such, earning a Master of Psychology online is a flexible and affordable way to not only enhance but expand your career prospects.
Each year, more and more accredited schools are offering graduate programs through distance education. In other words, there's never been a better (or more convenient) time to earn a master's degree online!
The majority of accredited online master's programs in psychology have either a general or educational focus. Some also offer concentrations in industrial/organizational psychology or quantitative/research methods. Less common are degrees in business psychology, forensics, and sports/health psychology. But options exist in all these areas and more – all you have to do is pick the one that's best for you!
The 25 Best Online Psychology Master's Degrees Ranking Methodology
Selection Criteria
For this ranking, we focused on public and private (non-profit) colleges and universities that offer master's degrees in psychology online. The program must be actively graduating students and charge an affordable tuition rate to be eligible for consideration. For this ranking, that meant that we only considered colleges with average* tuition costs of no more than $20,000 per year (as reported on College Navigator).
*We calculated an approximate cost for public schools by taking the mean of their in-state and out-of-state rates.
Ranking Factors
We then defined five characteristics of top online psychology graduate programs. These are:
Accessibility: What percentage of classes are available online? Are campus visits required? What about internships or weekend residencies?
Academic Breadth: Does the program offer any concentrations with the psychology program? How many?
Academic Uniqueness: Does the program offer one or more specializations in a particularly unique/uncommon focus area?
Advanced Opportunities: Is a PhD program also available?*
Affordability: How much is tuition?
*Of course, the mere presence of a PhD psychology program does not guarantee that the school offers a high-quality master's degree. However, it does indicate a greater likelihood that master's degree students will have access to advanced coursework and to faculty who are actively conducting research.
We researched each eligible program and gave them a score in each of the above categories. All five metrics received the same amount of weight in our final ranking. Finally, we tallied the results and gave each school a final score out of 100 points. Read more about the top online psychology graduate programs below!
Featured Online Programs
Figuring out where to apply? These top, accredited schools offer a variety of online degrees. Consider one of these accredited programs, and discover their value today.
Thanks for reading our ranking of the 25 best cheap master's degrees in psychology online!
Sources:
IPEDS Data Center
College Navigator
