LSUS leads Louisiana for most affordable online bachelors’ programs

LSU Shreveport was ranked 1st in Louisiana and 15th in the nation by OnlineU for the Most Affordable Online Bachelor’s Degrees. OnlineU aims to connect students with programs that fit their budgets. All schools on the list have tuition rates under $8,000.

“We’re pleased to be announced as a low-cost leader for online undergraduate programs within the state,” Vice Chancellor for Strategic Initiatives Dr. Julie Lessiter said. “As part of our mission we offer high quality, affordable baccalaureate degrees that prepare our graduates to be successful in both career and life through the many educational opportunities they experience at LSUS.”

The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) only provides reliable tuition costs for campus-based degree programs, yet many college ranking sites rely on this data to rank online degrees. Optimal’s OnlineU is clearing up this misinformation by manually researching tuition rates for online degree programs. The company researched 40,576 tuition rates to compile the rankings for the associate, bachelor’s, master’s, and doctoral levels, providing a more accurate resource for online students to easily compare schools based on cost and degree level.

Incorporating the metric Salary Score, first introduced earlier this year on OnlineU’s sister website GradReports, the rankings allow students to quickly and easily compare colleges based on alumni salaries in the year after graduating and colleges whose program offerings outperform the same programs at other schools. LSUS was ranked #3 in the 2021 rankings of Best Colleges for a Bachelor’s Degree in Louisiana by GradReports earlier this year.