CHAPEL HILL — When it comes to online college education, apparently North Carolina’s universities still have a ways to go.
College Consensus recently published its ranking of the 50 Best Online College and Universities, and no higher education institution from the Old North State made the cut, including Duke University, UNC-Chapel Hill and NC State.
Western Carolina, however, cracked the top five.
Instead, the University of Florida took the first spot again this year, with Rutgers University-New Brunswick, The University of Illinois, Western Carolina, and The University of Iowa rounding out the top five.
The College Consensus methodology pulls together college rankings from top publishers, including Forbes, Money, U.S. News & World Report, The Wall Street Journal, Wallethub and Washington Monthly. It then averages student reviews from sites like Cappex, Niche, Student Review and more, to get the full picture of how students see their colleges.
“Online college education has come a long way,” the Chapel Hill-based firm said in its release. “While predatory, unscrupulous online ‘colleges’ once threatened to make online degrees a punchline, today the most prestigious colleges and universities – from the Ivy League to research giants like MIT and Stanford – offer fully online programs. In other words, the best online colleges for undergraduates are some of the best colleges, period.”
To qualify for the ranking institutions have to have a Consensus Score and offer at least five fully online bachelor’s degree or bachelor’s completion programs.
To get the full list, go here.
