Best Online Colleges in Connecticut of 2025

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University Headquarters (HQ) is an industry-leading, independent educational organization that provides independent college rankings using a proprietary formula to create first class, unbiased rankings. The team at University HQ strives to provide accurate and trustworthy rankings that highlight the best programs in Connecticut.

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Preliminary employment numbers in Connecticut for 2021 were fairly stable. Beginning in June, approximately 1,650,000 held jobs in the state; in November, this number rose to 1,709,300. Reinforcing this, the unemployment rate started at 7.7% in June, then steadily fell to 6% in November.

Looking at specific sectors, information services appeared to maintain its employment numbers but, looking at the 12-month percentage change, jobs fell by up to 3.8%. On the other hand, manufacturing maintained its employment numbers, ending the period with a 2.4% increase. Professional and business services showed stronger percentages, ending with a 5% increase in employment.

As prospective students begin their school search once they graduate from high school, learning what this data means may help them to decide if college is the right thing for them. They can also decide at this point, once they decide what industry they are interested in, if they want to go to a community college or a four-year college.

Students may also choose to attend an online college program based on their work or family obligations. Distance learning, or online courses, are available for these students from many schools throughout the state. Just over 87,000 students were exclusively enrolled in online classes in a recent year, and 64,581 students took some online classes and some on-campus courses. Undergraduate students are more likely to be online learners, taking online courses exclusively, while graduate students do so at a much lower rate.

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Education Level & National Average Median Compensation

NO FORMAL EDUCATION	HIGH SCHOOL DIPLOMA	ASSOCIATE DEGREE	BACHELOR’S DEGREE	MASTER’S DEGREE	DOCTORAL DEGREE
$36,816*	$46,748*	$55,016*	$77,636*	$90,324*	$109,668*

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Online Higher Education in Connecticut

The rates for tuition and other fees vary widely, especially between public and private schools, as one is subsidized by the state for in-state students and the other is not. One private university charged students over $59,400 in tuition and fees, though another private college and seminary charged its students the lowest tuition and fees in the state at $8,720.

When you review the cost of attendance for 2021, you’re likely to see it divided into in-state and out-of-state for both undergraduate and graduate students because of the difference between public and private institutions. Undergraduate in-state students paid $27,010 for tuition, fees, books, supplies, and room and board while out-of-state students paid around $39,601. Graduate in-state students paid $32,323 and out-of-state graduate students paid $44,887.

For students concerned about the costs of college, the lowest undergraduate tuition and fees were charged by schools such as Holy Apostles College and Seminary, Charter Oak State College, University of Phoenix-Connecticut, Hartford Seminary, and Post University. The highest undergraduate tuition rates were at Wesleyan University, Trinity College, Connecticut College, Yale University, and Fairfield University.

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Our School Rankings Methodology

More and more students are looking for information about online colleges in Connecticut. Reviewing school rankings informs students and their families which schools are more likely to help them achieve their goals without completely emptying their wallet or putting them in tremendous debt.

Our rankings use a wide variety of information that can help students to make an informed decision that could affect the rest of their lives. Here are just some of the data that we use to help create these rankings.

The graduation rates show how many students were able to graduate within the expected time frame, which helps future students decide if the school is likely to help them succeed. The net price refers to the amount of money students and their parents pay for their education after receiving financial aid. This is lower than the tuition sticker price, which combines all of the fees and charges into one figure without taking financial aid into account.

Our ranking methodology also looks for the average graduate’s salary or return on investment (ROI). This informs students of the degree programs with the best ROIs. The retention rate is the percentage of first-year students who stay for their second year, letting students know if those who have attended previously decided that it wasn’t worth it to attend for a second year. Student to faculty ratio is an important consideration for students if they are looking for a school or program where they will be able to communicate with professors easily.

As you can imagine, reputation is not easily quantified. Instead, it can be based on the opinions of current and former students. Incoming students are looking for the education and outcomes they want to have and providing a mix of objective and subjective information is the best way to help them make the best decision they can.