Affordable online finance bachelor’s degrees (2026)

Fee units, residency eligibility, and placement conditions come from each school’s published terms:

The University of Texas Permian Basin: Credits are semester credits. The program page states 'Finance: 120 Credits' and that the program is 'delivered in an asynchronous, 100% online format'. The online tuition schedule publishes $219.22 tuition per credit hour and lists a $108.12 online degree program fee per credit plus one $35 fee per term. UTPB's 2026-27 Online Program (AP) fee schedule lists different per-credit fees, including athletics, library services and technology fees, for a printed per-credit fee total of $166.62. The two schedules do not match, so ask Student Accounts which fees apply to you. Select upper-level business courses also add $30 per credit in differential tuition. The capstone course 'MNGT 4375 - Strategic Management' carries a supplemental fee; ask what it costs.

Western Carolina University: Credits are semester credits. The degree is a 120-credit B.S.B.A. in Finance: "The degree requires 120 total hours: 42 hours of liberal studies, 38 hours of business core, 21 hours in the major, plus electives." The programme page describes it as "a residential program on the Cullowhee campus" and lists the online modality only for the Financial Planning concentration: "All Concentrations - Cullowhee Campus; Financial Planning Concentration - Online". The online route is therefore the Personal Financial Planning concentration of the same 120-credit degree. Two residency tiers are published for distance learning, so both are modelled. North Carolina residents pay $41.67 per semester hour plus $26.04 of fees; an out-of-state student in the current cohort pays $291.66 plus $26.04. The out-of-state figure is a cohort rate set by North Carolina law: "Undergrad - AY26-27 NC Promise Cohort ... $291.66". A non-resident undergraduate "who enrolled in Summer 2025, Fall 2025, and/or Spring 2026 and who maintain continuous enrollment remain[s] eligible for the previous rate" of $208.33 per semester hour, so an earlier cohort pays less than a new student. The fee column is carried as one per-credit mandatory fee. The university's own itemised distance learner fee page totals $26.03 per credit hour ($22.66 Education & Technology + $.04 Association of Student Government + $.83 Enrollment Management + $2.50 Campus Security) while the tuition table prints $26.04, so the one-cent difference is the university's own rounding. No complete fee list beyond these four distance fees and no separate application or graduation charge is published on either page. The rate applies to distance-learning course sections: "Fees for Distance Education include Education and Technology, Association of Student Government, Security and Document fees" and the university states that "Tuition rates are reviewed and set annually by the North Carolina legislature". Ask WCU what share of a finance student's courses are available as distance sections. The degree page also publishes a Financial Planning concentration that "will have completed the educational requirements to sit for the Certified in Financial Planning (CFP) exam". That is the university's own statement about exam eligibility; it is not a licensure or earnings promise.

Lamar University: Credits are semester credits. The university's degree page publishes "Degree: Bachelor of Business Administration - Major: Finance - Hours: 120 - Delivery Options: On-Campus Online", and the catalog entry "Finance (BBA) ... Total Hours: 120" confirms the whole-degree total in semester credit hours. The online program page publishes "Per Credit Hour $314" with the footnote "*University fees are included in the tuition listed", so this is a bundled published rate rather than a pure tuition figure. Lamar publishes no exhaustive fee list for the online program, so the per-credit fee line stays unconfirmed, coverage is partial and no total is shown. Lamar's campus schedule separately lists resident and non-resident rates (Fall 2026 and Spring 2027: $259.49 resident and $687.49 non-resident total tuition at one credit hour, with per-credit fees on top of both) and states that "Tuition and fee rates can vary based on student program, instructional method or campus location". The online program page publishes a single rate and names no residency category, so it is modelled as one wildcard tier; ask Lamar whether your state changes the online rate, because the campus tables show that residency matters elsewhere in the university. The page prints a second asterisk on "Credit Hours 120**" that its own text never explains; the 120 total is therefore taken from the degree page and the catalog entry above rather than from the online page. Transfer: "Transfer Credits - Up to 90 hours". The admissions section says only regionally accredited coursework is eligible for transfer credit. The online page also says "Check to see if the program is offered to residents in your state before applying", so confirm state authorisation for online delivery. Admission carries a $25 application fee, which is not folded into the per-credit fields.

Missouri State University: Credits are semester credits. The rate is Missouri State's online (Internet-Based Instruction) undergraduate rate, the same for Missouri residents and non-residents. It is not the campus rate, which is $678.00 per credit for non-residents. College of Business courses numbered 100-599 add a $55.00 per-credit enrollment fee. Student services fees are billed each term: $70 per credit hour up to 9 hours or $630 for 9 or more, plus a $200 athletic and an $85 technology fee each semester. Supplemental course fees may also apply, so ask for the current fee list. The degree requires at least 120 semester hours. The finance major block is 29-33 hours with a “Corporate and Investments option (24 hours)” or a “Financial Planning option (21 hours).”

Metropolitan State University: Credits are semester credits. The university states the finance BS can be completed "on campus, online or by combining on campus and online courses" and that program requirements are the same regardless of delivery mode, so the published per-credit rate is the one used here. The program page requires at least 20 credits of business core, required, elective and capstone work to be "completed at Metro State". Those credits must be earned from Metro State. The page does not say whether they can be taken online, so ask the university. The page does name a fully online route for the degree. The published standard course fee of $42.30 per credit covers campus services and includes the $13 per-credit parking fee, which the university says it charges to all students including those taking only online courses. Course-specific charges (lab kits, subscriptions, licenses, supplies, special equipment) vary by course and are not included. You pay a published $20 graduation fee, charged once. Ask the university for its full fee schedule, because the course-specific charges above are not a complete list.

Southern New Hampshire University: Credits are semester credits. The program page now states both inputs in one sentence: "At SNHU, the online undergraduate finance degree costs $354 per credit hour and requires 120 total credits to complete." SNHU counts the degree in semester credits; its published explanation of credit hours gives "Bachelor's degree: 120 semester credits, or 40 classes" and its catalog states that "the unit of credit ... for all modalities is the semester hour". Transfer: "SNHU allows you to transfer in up to 90 credits, requiring a minimum of 30 credits to be taken at SNHU". The page's own example prices a 30-credit transfer at $354 per credit. The university's online tuition page publishes a one-time $100 conferral fee and no per-credit mandatory fee line, so the per-credit fee field is left unconfirmed rather than set to zero. Ask SNHU for the rest of its fee list. The financial section of the catalogue also lists a separate online business degree with a finance concentration; that is a different product from this B.S. in Finance and is not priced here.

Northwest Missouri State University: Credits are semester credits. This is a B.S. in Finance with a Financial Management designation on the same 120-credit program, not a separate finance major. The published rate is "pay-by-the-course tuition, which is the same for in-state and out-of-state students" with "a $39 per course fee". The $39 is billed per course, not per credit, so add it per course on top of the per-credit rate. The asterisk on the published $368 rate is defined on the same page: "*Tuition and fees are based on current rates. Textbooks and laptops are not included with tuition. A one-time fee of $20.50 will be charged for remote proctoring of required Assessment of Core Proficiencies." Published transfer ceiling for this program is up to 82 hours. That is a maximum, not a promise that any particular credits will be accepted. A one-time $20.50 remote proctoring charge is billed once. The page says tuition and fees are based on current rates. The table shows whole dollars, so this $20.50 one-time charge appears in the known-fee column as $21.

University of Massachusetts Dartmouth: Credits are semester credits. The program page states "For the BS in finance, you'll complete total 120 credit hours, consisting of University Studies courses, business foundation courses and finance courses" and links the 2026-2027 undergraduate catalog. The online schedule publishes one undergraduate row - "Online and on-campus undergraduate courses: Tuition $370" - with a Technology Fee of $50 that is marked "online only", a $6 Library Access Fee and a College Fee quoted as a $21-$78.67 range. No residency categories appear anywhere in the schedule, so the rate is modelled as one wildcard tier; the campus rate for on-campus students is the same $370, only the fee mix differs. The college fee depends on which college offers each course: "Charlton College of Business (CCB) $22" per credit for business courses against "College of Arts & Sciences (CAS) Level 1 $21" and "Level 2 $45" for others. A finance degree includes University Studies courses, so the $50 and $6 fees are carried as the per-credit figure and the business college fee is not multiplied across every credit. Ask UMassD which college fee applies to your course mix. The schedule also publishes a one-time $220 graduation fee, a $30 per-semester registration fee and a $75 per-semester late fee. Only the graduation fee is carried in the one-time field; the per-semester charges are not per-credit amounts and are not averaged into the rate. Transfer: "students with existing credits may transfer up to 90 credits from a regionally accredited institution". Teaching is mostly asynchronous: "The majority of our online courses are taught asynchronously."

Colorado State University Global: Credits are semester credits. The BS requires a 24-credit finance core plus one required 12-credit emphasis (Corporate Finance or Financial Planning); the emphasis is part of the same degree. The school publishes a tuition guarantee: "it's locked for the duration of your program as long as you stay continuously enrolled." That covers a student who stays enrolled from first class to last. It is not a promise about the rate a future student will pay, and it does not cover a student who stops out and re-enrols. The published transfer ceiling has a sub-cap inside it: "Up to 90 total credits (and 64 from community colleges) can be transferred into a bachelor's degree at CSU Global." The calculator above takes only how many credits you have, not where they came from, so a community-college transfer above 64 credits would show a price the school may not honour. The 90 is the published outer ceiling, not a guarantee that any particular credit is accepted. Military tuition assistance, employer benefits and financial aid can change your bill; ask the school which of them you qualify for. The published $0 statement ("CSU Global charges $0 in student fees - no out-of-state fees, athletic fees, per-credit fees, or any other hidden charges", alongside "Fees: $0" in the cost table) covers student fees only, not the application charge or materials, so ask the school for its full fee list. The school publishes a $25 application fee. The page offers "a code to waive the $25 application fee" only after you complete a form, so ask whether you can get the code. Its separate materials-cost average ("In the 2024/25 academic year, the average cost per course for books and materials was around $65") is not a per-credit fee. A payment plan also carries a non-refundable $25 enrollment fee.

Wilson College: Credits are semester credits. The program page lists the major's own requirements and then states that students "must also fulfill all other requirements in the degree to obtain 120 credits for graduation", so the whole degree is 120 semester credits built from 3-credit courses. Wilson publishes one online rate per program level and no residency categories: "Undergraduate Programs (excluding nursing) $402 per credit hour". The program page bills "6-14 credits per semester" and describes the coursework as asynchronous with "no set class times". The same tuition page lists a "Resource fee $55 per credit hour" with no program limit, carried here as a per-credit mandatory fee. The page publishes no complete required-fee schedule, no application fee and no graduation fee, so fee coverage stays partial and no total is shown. No transfer ceiling is published. The page only says the degree "typically takes four years to complete on a full-time basis, but could be significantly reduced pending transfer credit", so ask Wilson how many credits it will accept. Wilson College Online is a private college; the published schedule does not name a residency tier, so one rate applies wherever you live.

Oregon State University: Credits are quarter credits. This is a quarter-credit degree: "A minimum of 180 quarter credits are required to graduate with your online degree in finance". Those 180 quarter credits are not 180 semester credits, so the credit unit has to be read as quarters when the price is compared with a semester-credit school. The two official pages now agree. The $409 figure is the base rate for "All undergraduate programs (unless listed below)"; "Finance (B.A./B.S.): $438/credit" is the program's published differential rate, which the rates page says applies "to students who take Ecampus courses in any subject" in that program list. The finance rate is the one modelled here. Residency does not change the price: the program page prints "No additional charge for nonresident students". "All per-credit costs below include a $15 per credit distance education fee", so that charge is already inside the $438 and is not added a second time. The Ecampus schedule is not an exhaustive fee list, so the per-credit fee line stays unconfirmed, coverage is partial and no total is shown. A one-time $450 undergraduate matriculation fee is charged to "All newly admitted degree-seeking or certificate-seeking students", and the domestic undergraduate application fee is $65. Only the $450 is carried in the one-time field; the application fee is stated here instead. In-residence rule: "a minimum of 45 credits of the last 75 credits in this degree program must be completed at Oregon State (online or on campus)". A transfer ceiling in credits is not published. The optional honours degree adds $270 per term at 1-11 credits or $540 per term at 12 or more credits, and the optional financial-planning option sits inside the same degree. Neither is part of the rate above. The program page's own rate line is an estimate: "Based on current tuition rates ... Does not include course materials and associated fees and expenses."