Top 100 Affordable Criminal Justice Schools

Choosing an Affordable Criminal Justice College

As future college students weigh their options, affordability is often, and often should be, top of mind. While students want to choose the best program available, they can do so while ruling out schools that are too expensive for their families to afford. Some factors students should consider include the following.

The first is, are they affordable? Students and their families can speak to the financial aid offices of the schools they are most interested in to see if any fees can be waived and if they can gain enough support to be able to afford a school’s tuition cost. Schools normally charge tuition per credit hour. Most courses offer three credits, which means they will multiply the per-credit amount times three. Students taking 12 credits get a general idea of their tuition this way.

Next, what financing options will the student and their family have available? Rather than paying the entire sticker price, students should choose as many options as they have available to bring this cost down; grants, scholarships, and work-study are good ideas. Student loans, whether federal or private, should be the last option. The student’s parents may have employers who offer tuition assistance; if one or both parents are active-duty military, this is also an option as children of active-duty military may qualify for financial assistance.

Next, students need to find flexible course options that easily fit into their daily schedules. For instance, if they have to hold down a part- or full-time job, this can make college attendance a challenge.

Finally, students and their parents should look at degree outcomes. This means the likelihood of finding a job in their major. The Bureau of Labor Statistics (BLS) is an excellent resource; it publishes data on job outlook for careers and it also provides maps that show location quotients for specific careers in each state. Students can also find projected salaries here.

Having all of this information available before the student makes their choices about which colleges they want to attend may make that decision easier. Knowing that a degree program like criminal justice offers a favorable outlook for both employment and salary makes the choice easier as well.

Online Options

Some programs have been designed to meet the professional and educational needs of people who are already working in this field. These programs are set up to help law enforcement professionals with career advancement.

However, some online criminal justice degrees will meet the needs of students who want to prepare for entry-level criminal justice positions. Depending on the individual situations of students who want to earn criminal justice degrees, there are online degree programs, and online schools, that teach on the subject. Some of the course offerings may include research methods, corrections, forensic science, juvenile justice, leadership, management, criminology, court systems, criminal law, and civil and criminal investigations.

A bachelor’s degree program may require senior students to complete a senior project, which allows them to demonstrate the depth and width of their knowledge of this field. Students who are considering whether their current circumstances, such as work and family, will allow them to devote time to school may want to focus more on finding online programs that can fit school into their current schedule. They should verify for themselves whether the program, as designed, meets their needs as new students who are preparing to enter criminal justice careers. A little closer reading tells new would-be students if the program is intended as professional development for current law enforcement professionals or a new degree for students just getting into the field.

Criminal Justice Graduates Earn More After College

Students who earn a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice can expect to earn an average of $59,000 annually. Once they’ve graduated, they may find a position as a security manager. These professionals earn around $68,000 each year, depending on job duties and the size of their employer’s company. As a probation officer, graduates could earn an annual salary of $39,000, while as a police officer or sheriff’s patrol officer they would earn near the average of $54,000 annually. Fraud investigators with this degree may earn $66,000 and security directors earn closer to $92,000.

Law enforcement professionals who have earned their Master of Science in Criminal Justice may work as probation officers, earning $45,000. A security manager may earn $89,000. After working for several years in law enforcement a law enforcement professional with a master’s degree may advance to become a police chief and earn $84,000 or more annually. If this individual instead chooses to work for a federal law enforcement agency such as the CIA, they may work as an intelligence analyst, earning $70,000.

Crime analysts who have earned their Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice may earn between $34,000 and $50,000, though this all depends on their geographical region, past experience, and level of education. Detectives and criminal investigators may hold their Bachelor’s in Criminal Science and they should expect to earn anywhere between $36,000 to $60,000 per year.

Forensic psychologists should hold a master’s in psychology, although, in rare cases, a forensic psychologist with a bachelor’s degree may work in this field. These specialists earn between $57,000 and $80,000. Special agents usually work for state and federal investigative agencies. They may work on investigating financial crimes, major robberies, violent crimes, and fraud, or they may even on terrorism task forces.

Considering that the average person in the U.S. makes around $37,000 per year if they do not earn a college degree, it’s obvious that earning a degree in criminal justice can improve your lifetime earnings dramatically.