West Texas A&M University's online bachelor's degree program is one of the most effective in the country for providing students with "affordable degrees in a reasonable amount of time," according to the latest annual rankings from a national publication.
WT's online bachelor's degree program weighed in at ninth place among 357 programs evaluated by U.S. News & World Report for the publication's 2018 Best Online Programs rankings, tying with Colorado State University and the University of Oklahoma.
More than 1,200 students are enrolled in WT's online bachelor's program, which costs about $295 per credit hour for out-of-state students, according to the magazine ranking.
To derive its rankings, U.S. News & World Report looked beyond admitted students' test scores and high school class ranks. Each school was scored on a mix of student participation, use of different online learning techniques, instructors' academic credentials and survey results from high-ranking school officials, according to the publication's methodology.
Other Texas institutions made the list including Sam Houston State University, University of North Texas and the University of the Incarnate Word, which tied for the next-highest rankings for Texas schools with online bachelor's degree programs: 47th place.
Other WT rankings in U.S. News & World Report's analysis were:
• Online M.B.A. program: 36th out of 282 programs, tied with five schools including Hofstra and Kansas State University
• Online graduate business degree (specialized non-M.B.A.): 18th out of 165 programs, ranked just ahead of George Washington University.
• Online graduate information technology degree: 12th out of 55 schools, ranked just ahead of Syracuse University
• Online nursing: 118th out of 159 schools
During the Fall 2017 semester, WT registered 2,043 graduate students and 1,201 undergraduate students who took all of their coursework online, according to to school numbers.
Mike Smith is a digital content producer for Panhandle PBS. Contact him at mike.smith@actx.edu, on Twitter at @newsmithm and on Facebook.
Learn Here is sponsored by Education Credit Union.
