Data source
U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard, Most Recent Cohorts Field-of-Study file (released June 10, 2026), cross-referenced against each institution's own online-program and tuition pages. This is the same underlying dataset that powers the federal College Scorecard website, earnings, debt, and completion figures are drawn from IRS tax records and NSLDS federal loan data linked to IPEDS institutional reporting, not self-reported school surveys.
We identified candidate programs using the Scorecard's DISTANCE field-of-study indicator, then individually verified each candidate against the school's own admissions or online-program page to confirm the specific bachelor's degree is actually offered in a fully or substantially online format. Not just that the institution offers some distance credential in the broader field. Two schools that initially scored well by the raw data (the University of Utah and the University of Minnesota–Twin Cities, both for finance) were dropped after direct verification showed their "online" credential in that field is a graduate program, not the undergraduate degree. We flag this because it's the exact kind of error that produces inflated, padded rankings elsewhere, and we'd rather publish a shorter, accurate list.
Data vintage
The scoring formula
Each program is scored 0–100 as a weighted percentile rank against every other verified program in its category pool:
Higher is better. This is the single largest factor because it is the most direct proxy for whether the degree actually translated into a better-paying job.
Lower debt relative to earnings is better. A program that costs more but leads to proportionally higher earnings is not penalized as heavily as one that just costs more.
Lower is better. We use in-state rates because most of these programs are open nationally at a flat or near-flat rate; where out-of-state pricing differs meaningfully we show both figures on the program's card.
Higher is better. This is an institution-wide figure, not a program-specific one, because the federal data does not break out completion rates by individual major.
We required a minimum reported cohort size of 40 students per field-of-study record to exclude programs too small for the earnings and debt figures to be statistically meaningful, and we excluded any candidate missing earnings, debt, tuition, or completion data outright rather than estimating a gap.
What we won't do
- We will not accept payment, "featured placement," or any other consideration from a school to appear or rank higher. There is currently no affiliate program on this site at all, any future affiliate relationship will be disclosed on the specific pages it affects, and it will not change the underlying scoring formula.
- We will not invent a ranking position, a statistic, or a quote. If we can't verify a figure against a primary source, we leave the program out rather than estimate.
- We will not pad a short, honest list with borderline entries to make it look more comprehensive. See our online economics degree ranking for an example. It's three schools, not ten, because that's what the verified data supports.
Corrections
If a program on any ranking page has closed, changed its online availability, or if you find a factual error in our figures, email jus@honestquo.com with the specific claim and a source. We’ll correct it and note the update date on the affected page.
See the rankings this methodology produced
Finance, business, economics, and commercial banking, all scored the same way.
View All Rankings