Best Online Colleges in Vermont 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 Vermont.

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Vermont is a New England gem. It's famous for skiing, maple syrup, and rural living. Manufacturing ranks as the state's fourth largest industry, due mostly to its concentration on food product manufacturing. However, Vermont's economy is more diverse than just that. The top industry is real estate, which is followed by social services such as education and healthcare. Professional and business services rank high in the economic standings, as well, as does retail trade.

For employment, Vermonters have a wide variety of choices available. Like many states, Vermont's workers find most opportunities in education and government. Close behind is trade, transportation, and utilities; professional services; and manufacturing post strong employment numbers. Happily, most of Vermont's employment sectors are posting positive job growth. Of those that are posting negative growth, that retraction is often less than one percent and never more than two percentage points, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

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Online Higher Education in Vermont

Vermont is a small state with a small body of college students. The state is so small that it may be easy for students to commute to a university or community college. Nevertheless, online education has a significant presence in the student population. In fact, of the state's total undergraduate student population, nearly a third is enrolled in exclusively online degree programs. Yet another third is enrolled in at least one of their college courses via the online medium. The remaining students are not enrolled in any online courses whatsoever. The figures for graduate students are a bit different and demonstrate a near equal division between online-only graduate students and their traditional classroom peers. Only a small percentage of Vermont's graduate student population is enrolled in some sort of hybrid master's degree program.

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When it comes to the cost of attending college, Vermont's higher education system is a bit more expensive than some other states. However, given the small population, it may be assumed that the higher price pays off with small class sizes. Speculation aside, the gross tuition costs for a Vermonter is only around $13,000, whether they are in a graduate or undergraduate program. Out-of-state scholars face gross tuition costs of around $29,000, while non-resident graduate students have gross tuition costs of $22,000. Naturally, Vermont's private colleges have higher gross costs. In fact, these students pay over $44,000 for tuition alone. However, their financial aid packages may reduce those costs significantly.

Vermont doesn't seem to have special pricing available for online courses. However, online students can use that medium's inherent flexibility to reduce costs. That is, an online student who has strong time management skills can hold down a job while pursuing an online undergraduate degree. They can also find the most affordable living situation in Vermont and thus reduce their costs that way. By comparison, traditional campus university students in Burlington must budget for that city's cost of living.

Our School Rankings Methodology

To arrive at a list of the best online colleges in Vermont, our researchers delve deep into the numbers. They first seek out the best data from government sources at the Department of Education. Since we want to help students find the best programs, we look at student-focused data points such as the retention rate, graduation rate, student to faculty ratio, and alumni salary outcomes.

The retention rate may be unfamiliar to many who don't engage with educational research. That figure shows how many first-time, full-time students return to a campus for their second year. A high ratio indicates high satisfaction with the school's curriculum, faculty, and campus resources, among other elements of higher education. The graduation rate likewise demonstrates fidelity and satisfaction with a school. Our researchers also consider the transfer out rate alongside the graduation rate. This is because a transfer student often moves on to a more competitive school from which they are likely to graduate.

Ultimately, our ranking methodology is designed to provide students with an objective measure of their top academic choices. They can then weigh their personal proclivities against the data. This way, students can make the best, most well-informed decision for higher education.