Liberty is cheapest at about $52,700 for 120 credits, and the lowest per-credit rate is not always the cheapest degree. Per-course fees, quarter credits and pace swing the total by tens of thousands.
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An online bachelor's degree at the five schools we priced costs between about $52,700 and $90,000 before transfer credit, and the cheapest per-credit rate does not always give the cheapest degree. We built those totals from each school's own published rates for 120 semester credits, then added the fees that sit outside the headline. They are our arithmetic, not a quote from any school, and your bill will differ with your major, your pace and the credit you bring in.
Liberty University lands lowest at roughly $52,700. The University of Arizona Global Campus follows near $65,000, Colorado Christian University at $67,800, Purdue Global near $73,000, and Arizona State University anywhere from $65,000 to $90,000 depending on pace and major.
Liberty lists $410 per credit hour for full-time online undergraduates in 2026-27, $475 part time, and a $349 technology fee each semester. Course materials for online undergraduates are free. Over 120 credits at 12 hours a semester that is $49,200 of tuition and $3,490 of fees, which is where $52,700 comes from.
The trap sits at 11 hours. Liberty defines full time as 12 or more, and below that every hour reprices to $475, so eleven credits cost $5,225 and twelve cost $4,920. Taking less costs more. Its financial policy page also lists a $50 withdrawal fee per semester and a $150 late fee if you miss Financial Check-In.
The University of Arizona Global Campus advertises $460 per credit, the lowest per-credit headline among the five except Purdue Global's quarter-credit rate. Then it adds a $115 technology fee per course and about $125 for books and course materials per course. Assume three-credit courses, which is what the degree page shows for the courses it lists, and the effective rate is about $540 per credit. A 120-credit bachelor's becomes about $64,800, plus a $150 graduation fee.
We could not confirm the credit load of every course, so the total is an estimate. The page also states no tuition guarantee. Fees are refundable only if you do not attend beyond day three of a course, or week three under what UAGC calls its Promise schedule.
Colorado Christian University charges $494 per credit plus $71 in resource fees, or $565 all in, for Summer 2026 through Spring 2027. Across 120 credits that is $67,800. Unusually, the page says tuition is guaranteed for up to six years with continued progress toward a degree. It also says tuition and fees may change without notice, so ask what the guarantee covers in writing.
Add-ons exist. A $50 e-cashier fee per semester. $50 per credit to extend a course. A service charge of 1.5 percent a month on open balances that are not on an approved installment plan.
Purdue Global's $371 per quarter credit hour looks like the lowest rate in the field, and it is not. A bachelor's there needs 180 quarter credits, with one semester credit equal to 1.5 quarter credits. So the semester-credit equivalent is about $557. Multiply 180 by $371 and you get $66,780, then add a $345 resource fee each term. On 18 ten-week terms, our assumption of two five-credit courses a term, that adds $6,210 for about $73,000 in total.
Two features change the picture. Indiana residents pay $280 per quarter credit and no resource fee. And ExcelTrack, a competency-based option for select programs, charges $2,500 a term for bachelor's degrees in fields such as business, cybersecurity and health care administration, plus the $345 resource fee. ExcelTrack is not eligible for VA benefits or federal tuition assistance, and military tuition reductions do not apply to it. The same page warns of one-off fees such as $1,500 for the EL206 course and $100 per skills assessment in some programs.
Arizona State University lists $580 per credit hour for most online undergraduate programs in 2026-27, plus program fees. We could verify only the resident table in the Fall 2026 schedule. At three hours, tuition is $1,740 and fees add $164 in the lowest college-fee group or $518 in the highest (business, engineering, nursing). At 12 hours, resident tuition is capped at $6,089 and the total runs from $6,531 to $7,947 a semester.
That produces two very different bills. Take three credits at a time and 120 credits cost roughly $76,000 to $90,000. Go full time as an Arizona resident and ten semesters cost roughly $65,000 to $79,000. The cap is a resident benefit; the page says out-of-state students get no tuition cap, and we did not verify the non-resident fee table. Textbooks and computers are extra, and a $75 nonrefundable application fee comes first.
Bring 60 semester credits, the amount an associate degree typically carries, and the totals roughly halve on our arithmetic: about $26,300 at Liberty, $32,400 at Arizona Global, $33,900 at Colorado Christian, $36,500 at Purdue Global and $32,700 to $39,700 at Arizona State for a full-time resident. Whether your credits transfer is the variable no rate sheet can show.
Liberty says an undergraduate can transfer up to 75 percent of a degree. Purdue Global's own degree page claims the average bachelor's student pays $15,000 and takes 2.3 years, a figure that only makes sense for students arriving with large credit blocks. Ask each school for a written transfer evaluation before you pay a deposit or an application fee, because Arizona State's $75 buys a decision, not a credit audit.
They leave out financial aid, which can change the net price substantially, and the figures assume you finish. Many students do not. The U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard publishes graduation rates and typical earnings by school, and its entry for the University of Arizona Global Campus shows 47 percent of students withdrawing within eight years. Paying per credit for a degree you do not finish is the worst outcome in this category, and the one the price tables hide.
This is not financial advice. For your own net price, use the Department's College Navigator and each school's net price calculator, and talk to a financial aid office before you borrow.
Keep reading
Run three checks in order: the accreditor, the school's federal graduation and earnings numbers, and the date of your first full refund. All five schools passed accreditation, so graduation data is what separates them.
Read the guide →Both schools are public nonprofits that used to be for-profit. Purdue Global still pays Kaplan up to 13 percent of revenue under a 30-year contract; UAGC became part of the University of Arizona in 2025.
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