There’s no doubt about it. Getting your degree – either a Master’s or bachelor’s – is a great way of upping your chances of scoring a better job or climbing the ladder faster within the organization at which you’re already working.
But things are different for adults returning to college life: they have less time to pursue their studies, have different needs (like online courses) and financial constraints are more pressing. College and university information hub, College Factual, ranks places of higher learning into a handful of different categories. One of those is the Best Colleges for Returning Adults, in which the company rates which institutions offer a great education and best meet the needs of returning adults. (See our gallery below for College Factual’s Top 10.)
Number one on College Factual’s list is Excelsior College. Located in Albany, New York, the private college is made up entirely of part-time students— over 38,000 of them. More than 2,600 of whom are Post-9/11 G.I. Bill recipients. The school ranks highly for its online courses in business, management and marketing but really shines in its online coursework in engineering, health, nursing and liberal arts. Students graduating in the 2013-2014 academic year reported going on to jobs with an average salary of $50,000.
In the 2-spot on College Factual’s ranking is Charter Oak State College, based in New Britain, Connecticut. About 80% of the public school’s students are part-timers, and its online courses in liberal arts studies are among its most popular for returning adults. Graduates went on to starting positions that paid $37,000 a year. One drawback, it would seem, is that the only degree the school offers beyond a bachelor’s is a Master's in Organizational Effectiveness and Leadership.* Adults looking to advance their educations in areas other than that one would need to look elsewhere.
Number three in the ranking is the University of Maryland - University College, located in Adelphi, Maryland. For those living in-state, the college offers a discount of 45% off tuition and fees. A full year’s tuition for in-staters adds up to more than $28,000 (according to 2014-15 figures). For students from out of state, the cost exceeds $34,000—both of those prices are calculated without any financial aid, so students in need can cut those costs.
For returning adults, University of Maryland’s online courses prove most popular in subjects like business, accounting, communications/media, and computer sciences. The average starting salary for graduates in 2014 was $45,000.
For information on College Factual’s methodology for its Best Colleges for Returning Adults ranking, visit its explanation page here.
*Update: A previous version of this story stated that Charter Oak State College did not offer a Master's program. It has been corrected to state that it offers one in Organizational Effectiveness and Leadership.
