No. Through your program, you will achieve the same learning outcomes as a student in the equivalent face-to-face degree would, and your diploma will be identical to that of a traditional student who took face to face classes.

Tuition rates are the same for online courses and traditional face-to-face courses, but fees differ somewhat. There is an additional online course fee of $40 per credit for online courses; however, many campus fees are waived for online courses (e.g., activity fee, gym building fee, SUB use fee). You can access the tuition and fees site here.

Our online degree programs require the same courses as the face-to-face versions of these degrees. This means that an online degree will involve the same number of credits that a traditional face-to-face degree would.

The length of your enrollment depends on the amount of time you have available to spend on coursework. If you take a full load of classes (15+ credits) each semester, an Associates degree is designed to take 4 semesters, and a bachelor's degree is designed to take eight semesters. Because a “Bachelor of Applied Science” degree requires that you have already completed an Associate of Applied Science degree, it is designed to take four semesters. If you attend part-time, the degree will take longer. 

You may also have transfer credits from another institution that can shorten the length of your degree. Our academic advisors will work with you to help you complete your degree as efficiently as possible given your situation and your goals.

In the United States, the most widely recognized form of university accreditation comes from regional accreditation boards, which assess the quality and efficacy of universities. MSU-Northern is accredited by a regional accrediting body called the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities (NWCCU). This means that all of our academic degree programs, including our online degree programs, are accredited. Regional accreditation is important because it makes it much more likely that your credits will transfer, should you decide to attend a different institution.

If you still need to apply, visit our application page here. Once you’ve been admitted, please visit our Admitted Student page to find your next steps.

Scholarship criteria at MSU-Northern do not distinguish between online and face-to-face students, so you will have all of the same scholarship opportunities as a face-to-face student. For more information, see the scholarships page here.

Yes. MSU-Northern’s online courses have the same content and learning objectives as the face-to-face versions of these courses. Faculty instructors work with our Office of Teaching and Learning Excellence to incorporate effective teaching methods for online learning.

According to a 2015 meta analysis conducted by researchers at Vanderbilt University, 92% of studies comparing student achievement in traditional versus online programs found that “distance and online education is at least as effective, if not better, than traditional education” (https://jolt.merlot.org/Vol11no2/Nguyen_0615.pdf, p. 315).

Online programs do tend to require a higher level of self-discipline and time management on the student’s part than traditional face-to-face programs. For this reason, however, many employers that hire our students view the completion of online coursework as evidence of a strong work ethic and strong organizational skills.