Contact: Maridith Geuder
STARKVILLE, Miss.--A national survey ranks Mississippi State University third in the nation in "best buys" among accredited, online engineering degree programs.
In a biennial survey released June 14, GetEducated.com, based in Essex Junction, Vt., ranked MSU behind only North Carolina State University and California State University (Dominguez Hills) for affordability. The survey considered 56 accredited distance-learning master's degree programs in engineering and was based solely on tuition costs.
Tuition for MSU's online master of science degrees in engineering ranged from $6,848 to $8,127, for a two- to three-year program of study, as reported by the publication. Among the most expensive online degrees was one offered by Massachusetts Institute of Technology at $67,500.
"We believe that distance education provides an affordable and flexible alternative for many professionals who work full time," said Mark Binkley, director of MSU's Academic Outreach and Continuing Education.
"The university first began offering engineering courses in a distance education format in 1989 and today has approximately 89 students enrolled from all over the world in our engineering courses," he added. More than 60 percent are from locations in Mississippi.
Engineering graduate degrees available at Mississippi State via distance learning include industrial engineering; electrical and computer engineering; civil engineering; and mechanical engineering. MSU also offers an online software engineering certificate program and a materials engineering certificate program.
Among other online programs are broadcast meteorology; workforce educational leadership; master of arts in teaching; interdisciplinary studies; food science, nutrition, and health promotion; and business administration.
For more information about distance learning at Mississippi State, see www.aoce.msstate.edu. For a complete listing of the best buys, see www.geteducated.com/articles/top25bestbuyengdegreeonline.htm.