Methodology

To be included in the rankings, all colleges had to meet the following criteria:

1. Offer the particular graduate program online
2. Offer academic and career counseling services
3. Enroll both full-time and part-time graduate students
4. Have at least 1 percent of their graduate students enrolled solely in distance education classes
5. Have awarded at least one graduate degree in that subject between 2011 and 2014

Once we had our list of schools for each subject and degree level, we ranked them on five criteria, using the weights specified:

1. Affordability, based on the in-state average tuition for full-time graduate students and the in-state per credit hour charge for part-time graduate students, National Center for Education Statistics, 2014: 30%
   
   
2. Flexibility, based on the ratio of part-time to full-time graduate students and the percentage of graduate students enrolled in any distance education courses, National Center for Education Statistics, 2014: 15%
   
   
3. Program Prominence, based on how many of the master’s degrees awarded in the past three years were from this particular program, National Center for Education Statistics, 2011-14: 20%
   
   
4. Student Success, based on the ratio of the number of students receiving master’s or doctoral degrees to the total number of graduate students enrolled over three academic years, National Center for Education Statistics, 2011-14: 15%
   
   
5. Related Degrees, based on the number of degrees the school offers that are in a similar subject, National Center for Education Statistics, 2014: 20%

All of the data used in our rankings is available through the National Center for Education Statistics’ Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System.