10 Cheap Online Graduate Education Programs for Out-of-State Students

The U.S. News Short List, separate from our overall rankings, is a regular series that magnifies individual data points in hopes of providing students and parents a way to find which undergraduate or graduate programs excel or have room to grow in specific areas. Be sure to explore The Short List: College, The Short List: Grad School and The Short List: Online Programs to find data that matter to you in your college or graduate school search.

Similar to in-person programs, online graduate degrees in education can come with a variety of benefits, including pay bumps, promotions and an expanded knowledge base. But unlike their on-campus counterparts, virtual programs have the advantage of allowing busy professionals to get a leg up while avoiding the commute to campus.

Prospective students looking for the right master's degree in education have a few factors to consider, including reputation, specializations offered and last but not least -- cost. And it turns out a degree's price tag can vary significantly depending on the program.

[Learn about the challenges of pursuing an online graduate degree in education.]

The per-credit cost for out-of-state students pursuing online master's degrees in education ranged from $200 to about $1,390 in 2014-2015, according to data reported by 242 ranked schools to U.S. News in an annual survey. On average, out-of-state students at those schools paid about $593 per credit.

The good news for cost-conscious consumers is that plenty of schools -- 31 , to be exact -- charged less than $350 per credit for out-of-state students. And at the 10 schools with the lowest per-credit fees for out-of-state students, costs were $263 per credit or less.

Many programs with the lowest per-credit costs for out-of-state students were based in the Southwest or the Midwest. Texas has five schools on the list, for example, while Kansas has two.

[Discover what employers think of your online master's in education.]

Below are the 10 online graduate education programs with the lowest out-of-state, part-time tuition on a per-credit basis. Schools designated by U.S. News as Unranked were excluded from this list. U.S. News did not calculate a numerical rank for these programs because they did not meet certain criteria that U.S. News requires to be numerically ranked.

Several schools on the list are designated as Rank Not Published. U.S. News calculates, but does not publish, a numerical rank for RNP schools.

Don't see your school in the top 10? Access the U.S. News Education School Compass to find tuition data, complete rankings and much more. School officials can access historical data and rankings, including of peer institutions, via U.S. News Academic Insights.

U.S. News surveyed 252 schools for our 2014 survey of online graduate education programs. Schools self-reported myriad data regarding their academic programs and the makeup of their student body, among other areas, making U.S. News' data the most accurate and detailed collection of college facts and figures of its kind. While U.S. News uses much of this survey data to rank schools for our annual Best Online Graduate Education Programs rankings, the data can also be useful when examined on a smaller scale. U.S. News will now produce lists of data, separate from the overall rankings, meant to provide students and parents a means to find which schools excel, or have room to grow, in specific areas that are important to them. While the data come from the schools themselves, these lists are not related to, and have no influence over, U.S. News' rankings of Best Colleges, Best Graduate Schools or Best Online Programs. The tuition data above are correct as of Aug. 11, 2015.

Devon Haynie is an education reporter at U.S. News, covering online education. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at dhaynie@usnews.com.