25 Best Online Business Degree Programs [2024 Guide]

Looking for online business degree programs for 2024? You can compare business specializations, career paths, salaries,  and online programs here.

Should you consider earning your online business degree? If you’ve ever dreamed about owning your own business or working in the fields of business administration, management, human resources, or something similar, an online business program could help you cultivate the skills you need to achieve your goals.

Online Business Degrees

If you’re interested in pursuing post-secondary education in the field of business, there are several different routes you may take.

Below are some of the most popular online business degrees:

• Business Administration (no specialization)
• Accounting
• Finance
• Human Resources
• Management
• Marketing
• Organizational Leadership

You could work towards your bachelor’s in business administration, but that’s not the only business degree available online.

Business Administration

A degree in business administration may be a great choice if you want well-rounded knowledge of the business field.

This degree can help you learn all the basics, including sales, finance, human resources, operations, marketing, and, of course, business administration. It may also be an excellent choice if you’re hoping to one day open your own business.

Because the goal of this program is to provide students with a balanced overview of the business world, the classes are usually quite comprehensive. While working towards this degree, you’ll likely take many of the following classes:

• Foundations of Business
• Principles of Intermediate and Advanced Accounting
• Microeconomics and Macroeconomics
• Ethics of Business
• Fundamentals of Quality Control
• Computer Systems and Networking
• Marketing
• Operations of Management
• Logistics
• Human Resources
• Effective Leadership

By the time you’ve finished taking these and other courses and earned your degree, you should be well-equipped to operate your own business or successfully manage someone else’s.

Accounting

If your interest in business tends more towards the financial and budgeting areas of the field, you might want to work towards your bachelor’s degree in accounting instead of general business.

Accounting might be right for you if you enjoy working with numbers, are intrigued by complex problems or puzzles, are detail-oriented, like math, have excellent personal financials, or take pleasure in sorting and organizing data.

Courses for this degree are typically focused heavily on math, accounting, economics, and finance. Other courses may include studies on taxation and tax laws, auditing, and accounting for non-profit and government entities.

In addition to working strictly in business accounting, people with this degree often become tax specialists, bookkeepers, bankers, corporate accountants, auditors, and loan administrators.

Finance

A business degree in finance is very similar to a degree in accounting. In fact, many online programs combine these two fields into one degree known as a Bachelor of Science in Accounting and Finance. Many colleges do still offer the programs separately, though.

If you’re interested in taking the finance degree path, being good with money, math, budgeting, and financial analysis will be beneficial.

You may also prefer a finance degree to an accounting degree if you’re looking to open up your career opportunities a little bit. With a finance degree, you could pursue work in many of the same positions as with an accounting degree. You could also potentially find work in other places, including positions within:

• Credit unions
• Private banks
• Investment banks
• Commercial banks
• Insurance companies
• Brokerage firms
• Corporate management

These are only a few of the doors that a degree in finance can help you open.

Human Resources

If you enjoy working with people and are a good communicator, you may use those skills to transition into the field of business, particularly in human resources. Earning a bachelor’s in human resources can help prepare you to work in a multitude of different business areas because the field of human resources is vital to most businesses.

There are numerous job duties that may be required of you in human resources. These include recruitment and new hire orientation, explaining tax information, benefits, and new policies to employees, assisting with entrance and exit paperwork, mediating disputes, and helping with payroll.

Classes for this degree are typically designed with these duties in mind. Some topics you’ll likely be required to study are business and organizational ethics, employee development, effective training practices, legal issues concerning human resources, behavioral science, budgeting, accounting, and tax law.

Management

Pursuing your degree in management could open up many opportunities for you. In addition to helping you obtain the skills you’d need to run your own business or manage a business, it may also open up other non-management jobs for you.

A sample curriculum for the field of management may look something like this:

• Financial Management
• Applied Economics (Micro and Macro)
• Applied Operations
• Marketing Management
• Global Economics
• Positive Leadership and Organizing
• Effective Business Strategy
• Risk Assessment and Cost Analysis
• Legal and Ethical Environment of Business
• Cost Measurement and Control
• Applied Business Statistics and Analytics

The main focus of many human resources classes is to teach you effective leadership and team-building skills, as well as the broad basics of finance and economics. Learning about human behavior and group dynamics is also beneficial to these types of jobs.

In addition to becoming a small business owner or taking a position in mid- or upper-management, you may also pursue work as a policy analyst, management consultant, sales representative, or senior recruiter with this degree.

Marketing

If sales and advertising are more your forte, pursuing a marketing degree might be an advantageous decision for you. Being creative, outgoing, personable, innovative, communicative, hardworking, and comfortable with research can help you succeed in a career in marketing. Most marketing programs are geared towards cultivating these traits in students.

Pursuing this degree can help you become proficient in sales, marketing, academics, self-expression, and critical and innovative thinking. In addition to courses in national and global marketing, marketing research and techniques, service marketing, product marketing, and nonprofit marketing, you’ll also probably be required to take courses in other areas of business.

These might include courses in finance, economics, human resources, leadership, and team-building skills. Potential jobs after earning this degree include jobs in public relations, sales, design, social networking, advertising, event planning, and fundraising.

Organizational Leadership

Though degree programs in organizational leadership are often very similar to degree programs in management, a degree program in organizational leadership typically focuses more on leadership within a teamwork setting. Jobs in organizational leadership require working more with others in a team as opposed to being separate from the team but managing it.

Classes often include studies on risk assessment and bid negotiation, budgeting and controlling costs, and team-building and leadership skills.

Earning this degree can help you pursue jobs in a number of different fields, usually ones where numerous people work together, such as hotel management, hospital administration, and construction overseer.

Business Degree Curriculum

No matter which particular specialization you choose as your major, there are some core classes you’ll likely be required to take in all business majors. Some of these are the following:

1. Introduction to Business: This course surveys all phases and aspects of business organization, including management, marketing, production, HR, and accounting.
2. Financial Accounting: This class helps students learn the basics of business accounting, including accumulating data for financial statements, revenue measurement and recognition, and cost measurement.
3. Human Relations in Business: This course applies behavioral science theories to help students learn to mediate workplace disputes, effectively communicate with their team, and make effective decisions.
4. Business Communications: The goal of this course is to teach students how to communicate effectively within the workplace, including face-to-face interactions and other inner-office communications, such as e-mails, memorandums, phone calls, and letters.
5. Introduction to Marketing: This course introduces students to various integrated marketing strategies, including finding the target audience for a product and creative advertising.
6. Small Business Management: This class is designed to give students a wide overview of any and all factors related to successfully beginning and maintaining a new business. Topics may include information systems management, human resources management, financial management, sales, marketing, promotional strategies, business forecasting, and successful business plan creation.
7. Computerized Accounting Principles: This class moves beyond traditional accounting into using the computer for accounting purposes.
8. Principles in Finance and Investments: This is a very important course in both finance and investments. It introduces students to such concepts as financial planning, financial analysis, money management, managing investments, credit, taxes, budgeting, effective financial decision-making, and investing towards retirement.
9. Introduction to Business Law: This is a general overview of business law, with a particular emphasis on uniform commercial code and contracts.
10. Independent Study in Business: This is usually one of the final courses a student takes before receiving their degree. It’s an independent, in-depth research project on a specific aspect of the business field. Students usually get to choose this aspect, but it has to be approved by their adviser.

The class names may change depending on your particular university, but the concepts behind the classes are usually very similar.

Business Administration Degree Careers & Salary

The following is a list of some of the most lucrative careers you can pursue after earning one of these business-related degrees. The salary data for each career is the annual average salary according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics.

In addition to getting your bachelor’s degree, you can also pursue further education, for example, by enrolling in an online MBA program or online DBA program.

Should I Get a Business Degree Online?

If you aspire to enter into a business career, enrolling in an online degree program may help you achieve that goal. Furthermore, online degree programs in particular are often great for adults busy with full-time jobs, children, or other responsibilities that make commuting to and from college extremely inconvenient or even impossible.

An online accredited program is usually just as reputable as an on-campus program. It may also allow you to create your own schedule and take your classes whenever they’re most convenient for you. This convenience is why online degrees are becoming so popular.

Accreditation for an Online Business Degree

Accreditation ensures a degree is worthwhile. It’s what makes it impressive to employers and allows your credits to be transferrable. There are three main types of business school accreditation.

The first and most prestigious is regional accreditation. A degree from a regionally accredited university should be accepted by most other colleges in the U.S. if you want to transfer your credits. It also makes it more respected by employers.

The other two accreditations acceptable for business degrees are the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB) accreditation and the Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs (ACBSP) accreditation. These are known as programmatic accreditations because they’re specific to business programs, not whole universities.

Founded in 1916, the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business was created specifically to provide accreditation to business schools and business programs. The AACSB is the world’s largest business education alliance and connects students, educators, and business professionals in an effort to create the next generation of leaders.

It generally takes a business school four to five years after the first assessment to become AACSB accredited.

The Accreditation Council for Business Schools and Programs was founded in 1988 and has over 1,200 campuses in over 60 different countries. It accredits schools from the associate level to the doctoral level.

Its accreditation focuses on evaluating student learning outcomes, ensuring the highest-quality teachers, and continually improving its accreditation process. Earning a degree from an ACBSP accredited school should help you gain all the skills you need to become a successful businessperson.

Financial Aid for Online Bachelors in Business Degrees

As long as you’re enrolled in an online business program with accreditation, you’ll probably be eligible for financial aid. At the associate and bachelor’s degree levels, the first thing most students want to do is apply for a Pell Grant using the Free Application for Federal Student Aid (FAFSA).

Filling out the FAFSA is usually easy, can be done online, and typically takes less than 30 minutes. Applying puts you into the applicant pool for a Federal Pell Grant and federal loans, both subsidized and unsubsidized. These grants and loans have nothing to do with your GPA, ACT/SAT scores, or skills. They’re based solely on financial need.

If you fall into a certain income bracket and are in good standing with the U.S. Department of Education, you should be eligible for these. The Pell Grant is free money that doesn’t have to be repaid. The loans do have to be repaid, but they have pretty good interest rates.

Scholarships are the other form of financial aid for which you could potentially be eligible. The first place you may want to look is your university’s website. Most university websites have a financial aid tab where you can find any scholarships they offer.

There are two main types of school-specific scholarships—merit- and talent-based. Merit-based scholarships are awarded based on academics. Talent-based scholarships are awarded to students with exceptional talents, such as artistic, musical, or athletic talents.

You can also look for any local or state scholarships people or businesses in your area are sponsoring. Finally, there are dedicated scholarship websites out there that list hundreds of scholarships from all over the U.S. Two of these are Scholarships.com and Fastweb.com.

What Is the Best Online College for a Business Degree?

Regrettably, there’s no one specific college we can point out to you as being the best online business college. However, there is an online business college that is best for you, and doing your research can help you find it.

First, you can look for colleges with the business specialization you want to major in. The program you choose also needs to meet your budget and schedule. Once you find the college that has what you need at the price you can afford that also allows you to take classes when it’s convenient for you, then you’ve found an online business program best for you.

Can You Earn a Business Degree Online?

It’s never been easier to earn your business degree online. Whether you’re working towards your associates degree in business administration online or your bachelor’s, master’s, or even doctoral degree in business, there are plenty of online programs out there.

It is important to check the accreditation status of any school before enrolling, though. This can usually be found on the school’s website.

How Much Does It Cost to Get a Business Degree Online?

The cost for an online degree program will vary depending on a number of factors, the most prominent of these being the university itself. Each college has its own tuition and fees. These are usually listed on a college’s website under an “admissions” or “cost of attendance” tab.

Another large factor is your state of residence and the state in which your college is located. Two students may have to pay vastly different amounts to attend the same college simply because one of them pays in-state tuition and the other lives outside the state and pays out-of-state tuition, which is usually quite a bit higher.

In these cases, you can look for schools that offer a uniform e-rate, which allows students in any state to pay the same rate as long as they’re taking online classes only.

What Can You Do with a Business Degree?

Business degrees can lead to a wide variety of different career paths. You might own your own business or manage someone else’s. You might work in human resources, consulting, finance, accounting, marketing, or sales.

Many of the options are listed above in the separate specialization sections. A bachelor’s degree in business may also lead you to graduate school if you decide to go that route.

What Is the Cheapest Online Business Degree?

While there’s no specific college we can list as the “cheapest online business degree,” there are some things to consider when looking for lower costs. First of all, you can look for a college in your state so you don’t have to pay out-of-state tuition. Otherwise, you can look for schools that offer in-state tuition or a special rate to online-only students.

If you have previously earned college credits, you can also look for a school that’ll accept all or at least most of them as transfer credit. This will keep you from having to retake—and repay for—many classes over again. You never want to pay for the same class twice if you can help it.

What Is the Difference between BBA, BSBA, and BABA?

There are three different bachelor’s degrees in the business field. The BBA (Bachelor of Business Administration), the BSBA (Bachelor of Science in Business Administration), and the BABA (Bachelor of Arts in Business Administration).

These three degrees are equally respected within the business community. Furthermore, they typically take approximately the same length of time to earn and cover a lot of the same material.

The only real difference between them is that you’ll likely have a little leeway when it comes to the types of electives you take. Your core business classes might also be slightly different for each degree, but not by much, and even the different classes will likely cover much of the same information.