Students studying online in the Teaching and Learning Center on UMSL’s South Campus. (Photo by August Jennewein)

Reasonable tuition, generous financial aid, a healthy student-teacher ratio and a high six-year graduation rate earned the University of Missouri–St. Louis a top spot among the 50 best online education and teaching degrees for 2018.

Ranked by Affordable Colleges Online, UMSL came in first in the state of Missouri and No. 8 nationally thanks to its College of Education’s four fully online master’s in education degree options.

Students can earn a teaching certificate and an MEd online through the college’s Teach in 12 program, which offers online MEd concentrations in elementary education, special education or secondary education – all achievable within 12 months. A focus on education outside K-12 classrooms is available online as well through studying community education.

The College of Education boasts an additional five partially online graduate degrees in educational psychology (MEd and PhD available), elementary education, secondary education, and adult and higher education.

“It’s absolutely necessary to meet our students where they are and provide accessible quality education that’s convenient and as effective and rewarding as the classroom experience,” said Ann Taylor, dean of the College of Education. “We’re proud to have our online programming recognized. We understand teachers are busy, but that should never hold them back from continuing to grow as educators when and where they can. Online options make that possible.”

Rankings were based off October 2017 data from The Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System, a program managed by the National Center for Education Statistics, which surveys over 7,500 colleges annually.