Earning your masters degree online can be a terrific opportunity to advance your career, no matter which field you are in. We live in a fast-paced world and it can be difficult sometimes to find “normal” study hours, which is why an online masters degree in finance could be the best option, particularly for those already in the workforce.
Finance is a very exciting field for those that love numbers. It’s also a very rapidly expanding industry that has a lot to offer careerwise. According to the Bureau of Labor Statistics, job growth for finance managers comes in around 20%. That’s almost three times faster than the national average! That is just one of the careers you can hold with a finance degree. Businesses rely on those with a finance degree to keep things moving in the right direction, and there are plenty of other paths you could take, working one on one and dealing with peoples’ personal finances, working for a government agency, and so on. Overall, the field of finance is projected to grow as much as 12% over the next decade, a rate that is also higher than the national average.
Masters Degrees in Finance
There are multiple levels of finance degrees, and you can hold plenty of jobs with a bachelor’s degree, but you may find that there is a lot to gain from earning your master’s as well. A bachelor’s program in finance will have a curriculum designed to give students a very basic understanding of finance, and it will open up doors for you in a multitude of entry-level positions. At the master’s level, you can choose to specialize your education into one area of finance, which will help you hone in on the job you truly want.
At the master’s level, you can choose from an MBA with a concentration in finance or a Master of Science in Finance. Each of these will cover the core principles of finance, like macroeconomics, financial planning, financial risk and mitigation, and more. You can concentrate (through electives or a specialization track at the school of your choice) in an area of finance that you’re most interested in. Some options could include Corporate Finances or Financial Services.
By taking the next step and tailoring your education, you will expand your career horizons and be more prepared for the job that you’re after. The additional skills you will gain in analytics, business, and even psychology while you’re earning your master’s in finance will make you a highly competitive candidate as well.
Earning a Masters in Finance Online
When you have decided to take the next step in your finance education, picking a school can be kind of tough — especially if you’re someone who already has a family, a career, or some other obligations. Online education offers a great solution to that.
Online master’s degrees in finance are not hard to come by at all; there are plenty of different schools to choose from. Some of them may offer a certain concentration that an institution local to you doesn’t, which provides you with a great opportunity. Online degree programs are also very flexible. A lot of them feature asynchronous learning, so you’re not bound to a certain class schedule. You also will very rarely have to appear on campus, if at all. Some programs allow you to earn your degree right from the comfort of your own home. So, you don’t have to worry about commuting or relocating.
Finance masters degrees online also have some other benefits. You could see lower costs associated with earning your degree because there may be fewer fees, fewer materials to buy, and many schools allow online students to pay the same tuition rate as in-state students.
If this sounds like something you would like to capitalize on, we’ve ranked the thirty best online masters degrees in finance in this article to kickstart your research. All of the schools were ranked according to the following.
Methodology
To create our ranking of the top online master’s degrees in finance, we started by collecting a list of schools that met a few initial ranking criteria. Each school had to offer at least one distance-based master’s program in finance, either in a hybrid or fully-online format. Master of Business Administration degrees were included along with Master of Science in Finance degrees. Financial engineering, financial analytics, and any other finance-related master’s degrees were considered. Each school, in order to be eligible for this ranking, had to be based in the United States and hold proper accreditation. No for-profit schools were considered for this ranking.
Once the list of schools was gathered, they were scored out of a possible 300 points. There were three factors that were used to create the final score.
- Freshman Retention Rate (⅓ of final score)
- Graduation Rate (⅓ of final score)
- Affordability(⅓ of final score)
The top 30 online master’s degrees in finance are ranked in ascending order below based on their final scores. In the event of a tie, we chose to use the alphabetical ordering of the school names to determine their placement. We would like to note that no institution is ever given any preferential treatment of any kind, for any reason. We take pride in being transparent about our methodology and presenting you with an honest ranking full of great degree programs to help you select the program that fits your needs.
All of the information used to rank the schools and presented in this article was collected from the school’s websites whenever possible. Additional data was collected from the National Center for Education Statistics and U.S. News & World Report. All of the cost information presented was collected based on Niche.com’s report of the Average Net Price. These rates were accurate at the time of writing but, based on your individual circumstances, you may pay a different amount.
