Start with what is missing. The federal College Scorecard does not publish a national average cost for online degrees against campus degrees, so any article that gives you one as a single figure got it from somewhere other than the federal data.
What the Scorecard does publish is more useful than an average, because it goes school by school. Three fields do most of the work, and each one misleads if you read it alone.
The three fields
| Field | What it is | Why it matters |
|---|---|---|
| Average net price | What students actually paid after grant and scholarship aid, reported for 2023-24 in the current data. | Sticker price tells you little. Net price is closer to what you will actually pay. |
| Completion rate | The share of students who finished, measured over eight years in the Scorecard. | A cheap program you do not finish is the most expensive outcome available, because the debt survives and the credential does not. |
| Median earnings | Earnings of former students, reported at four years after entry. | It gives the cost something to be measured against. On its own it says as much about who enrolled as about what was taught. |
A low net price at a program with a poor completion rate is not a bargain. High earnings at a highly selective institution partly reflect the students it admitted. Compare all three together, for the specific institutions you are actually choosing between.
Watch the timeframes. Completion is measured over eight years and earnings at four years after entry, so these are not snapshots of one cohort moving together. They work for comparing two schools. They do not predict what will happen to you.
Where the online-versus-campus question actually lands
Because no federal average compares the two formats, the comparison has to be made institution by institution, which takes more work and gives a better answer.
Look up each institution you are considering, note the three fields above, and compare like with like. Frequently the same institution offers both formats, in which case you are comparing delivery rather than schools, and the accreditation is identical because it attaches to the institution.
List the costs the Scorecard leaves out in your own math: technology fees, proctoring charges, travel to any required in-person component, and the income you do or do not give up. Those differ by format more than tuition often does, and they are the part a net-price figure cannot capture.
Before the numbers matter at all
Two checks come first, because they can disqualify a program regardless of how its figures look.
The first is accreditation, checked in the public records and not just on the school’s own page, which is the subject of our note on verifying accreditation. The second, if you are headed for a license, whether the relevant state board accepts the qualification, covered for nursing in evaluating a nursing program.
If the goal is a specific occupation, put the wage data into the same calculation from the start. Our notes on the medical pay range, the nursing career path and hospital jobs with no experience set out what the federal figures show, and working while in nursing school covers studying alongside a job.
Scorecard questions
Are online degrees cheaper than campus degrees?
The College Scorecard publishes no national average comparing the two, so there is no federal figure to quote and we will not make one up. Compare net price at the specific institutions you are considering, and add the format-specific costs the Scorecard does not carry, such as technology fees, proctoring and travel to any in-person requirement.
What is net price and why not use the sticker price?
Net price is what students actually paid after grant and scholarship aid, reported for 2023-24 in the current data load. Published tuition is a starting figure that many students do not pay. Net price is closer to what you will pay, so it is the one to compare across schools.
Why does the completion rate matter more than the cost?
Not finishing is the worst financial outcome: you keep the debt and never get the credential. A low net price at a program with weak completion is not the bargain it appears to be. The Scorecard measures completion over eight years, so read it alongside price, not separately.
Do the earnings figures predict what I will earn?
No. They report median earnings of former students at four years after entry, which reflects who enrolled and what fields they studied as much as what the institution taught. Use them to compare institutions against each other, not as a forecast of your own income.
Sources
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Every figure in this article traces to a government record or to a named independent, non-commercial research body. We do not cite affiliate comparison sites for data.
- U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard Published 2026-06-10Supports: The College Scorecard publishes institution-level average net price (what students paid after grant and scholarship aid, reported for 2023-24 in the data load of 10 June 2026), completion rates measured over eight years, and median earnings of former students measured four years after entry. It does not publish a national average cost comparing online with campus programs.
- U.S. Department of Education Database of Accredited Postsecondary Institutions and Programs (DAPIP) Published 2026-01-01Supports: DAPIP records institutional and programmatic accreditation status and is a lookup rather than a ranking.
- U.S. Department of Education Accreditation in the United States Published 2026-01-01Supports: Institutions must be accredited by an agency recognized by the Secretary of Education to participate in federal student aid programs under Title IV; the Department recognizes accreditors rather than accrediting institutions itself.
Figures last verified August 30, 2026.