Online History Degrees

A history degree can be earned online at the bachelor’s and master’s level from accredited universities across the country. Our directory tracks 219 online history programs at 146 schools in 43 states, made up of 133 bachelor’s degrees, 85 master’s degrees, and a single doctorate.

The number of available online history degrees is small considering our database includes nearly 2,500 history degrees nationwide. That means only one in eleven history programs and one in eight schools from our database offer an online track. So while many great schools offer history degrees online, it’s a smaller field for distance learners.

Can You Earn a History Degree Online?

Yes, at the bachelor’s and master’s level, and the degree is the same. At most universities the online version is taught by the same department that teaches on campus, and the diploma and transcript name the university without recording how you attended.

There are no essential in-person requirements like labs, clinical placements, or field experiences, so history is an ideal major for online learning. You will read, research and investigate, and make your case in writing (thesis, research paper, etc.). The biggest challenge is staying on top of your coursework while studying from home.

The one exception is history Ph.D. programs, which are not available online (outside of Liberty University). We’ll cover that below.

Online History Degrees by Level

Master’s degrees are the most likely to be offered online, followed by bachelor’s degrees. As you might expect, online history Ph.D. programs are almost nonexistent.

Count of Online History Degrees by Level

Level	Online History Programs	Total History Programs	Share Offered Online
Bachelor’s	133	1,690	7.9%
Master’s	85	555	15.3%
Doctoral	1	254	0.4%

Online Associate Degrees in History

Online associate degrees in history are widely available. Community colleges across the country offer them, and so do large online universities including Liberty University and American Public University System. Most are associate of arts degrees, built to feed into a bachelor’s program instead of standing on their own.

Our directory covers four-year institutions, so we do not list associate programs. The reason to consider one anyway is money. Two years of general education and introductory history courses at community college tuition, transferred into an online bachelor’s, can cut the total cost of the degree by a large margin.

Transfer is the part to get right. Before you enroll, ask the four-year school how many credits it accepts, which of your specific courses will count toward the history major instead of general electives, and whether it has an articulation agreement with your community college. Get the answer in writing. Credits that transfer as general electives still cost you time even though they showed up on the transcript.

Online Bachelor’s Degrees in History

Online bachelor’s degrees in history are the largest group in our directory, with 133 programs at brand-name schools like UNC Greensboro, Penn State World Campus, and Arizona State.

Most of these programs are built the same way. Expect about 120 credits over four years of full-time study, starting with general education and broad surveys of United States and world history, then a methods course on how historians handle evidence, then upper-level seminars, and finally a research paper or senior seminar.

Bachelor’s degrees are where transfer credits matter most. Many online history bachelor’s programs are built for students who already have college credit, and often accept as many as 90 prior credits toward the history B.A. If you have an associate degree (or an unfinished bachelor’s), then ask about max transfer credits. It is the single best way to reduce the cost of your online history degree.

Start your search with our ranking of online bachelor’s in history programs, which includes our full directory of 130+ online history bachelor’s degrees.

Online Master’s Degrees in History

The master’s level has the most online options relative to how many programs exist. Our directory counts 84, including Missouri State, Indiana University, and Sam Houston State.

Most require 30 to 36 credits. Full-time students finish in one to two years, and studying part-time while working is very common and completely normal in these programs. The structural question that matters more than length is how the degree ends. A thesis is original research defended before a committee. A capstone project is applied work, often a curriculum unit or a public history deliverable. Some programs offer both, and the choice shapes what the credential can do for you afterward.

One plan deserves a caution. Using an online master’s as a stepping stone into an on-campus Ph.D. program is common, and it is harder than most applicants expect. Doctoral admissions committees weigh the research you can show and the faculty who can vouch for it. That is achievable online. It takes deliberate work, and the degree by itself will not do it.

Our ranking of online master’s in history programs covers the top programs, costs, and unique offerings. You can also browse every online history master’s degree.

Online Ph.D. in History Programs

Liberty University runs the only fully online history doctorate in our directory. Out of 251 doctoral history programs we track, Liberty’s Ph.D. in History is the one that can be completed entirely at a distance.

The scarcity is structural, and it is not a gap in our data. History doctorates are built around funded teaching assistantships, seminar cohorts that move through the program together, archival travel, and several years of close work with a dissertation advisor. That model has not moved online the way coursework-based degrees have.

Academic hiring committees also tend to view online doctorates as weaker preparation for research careers. Someone aiming at a tenure-track position should weigh that seriously before committing five or more years.

If you are serious about a history Ph.D., our Ph.D. in history guide covers what the degree involves, how funding works, and what the academic job market actually looks like.

Online History Specializations

Online history students can specialize in a period, region, or approach, but finding degree tracks takes some digging. Specialization shows up in three different ways:

• Named concentrations inside a general history degree: Some schools attach formal tracks to a standard history degree, so the specialization appears on your transcript. American Public University System and Arizona State both do this, with tracks in areas like American, European, and global history.

• Specialized programs: A smaller number of schools run the specialization as its own degree, such as an online bachelor’s in public history or a master’s in military history. These are the easiest to find because the focus is in the program name.

• Building a focus through electives: This is the most common route and the least visible. Many online history programs offer no formal concentration at all, yet the upper-level elective slate lets you take most of your coursework in one area. Nothing on the diploma says so, but the transcript and your writing sample do the same work when you apply for a job or a graduate program.

That third route is why program titles undercount what is actually available. Our directory flags a concentration when a school formally names one, so a program that quietly offers six courses in your area of interest never gets counted.

The practical move is to read the course catalog instead of the marketing page. Look at which upper-level seminars the department actually runs, how often they run, and whether the faculty listed alongside them work on what you want to study. A program with no named concentration and four active faculty in your period is a better fit than one with your concentration in the title and nobody teaching it.

Accreditation for Online History Degrees

History degrees have no specialized accrediting body, which makes this simpler to check than in fields like nursing. Nursing students need to check that programs have ACEN or CCNE accreditation, but there’s no equivalent for history programs. Instead, just be sure schools have institutional accreditation from an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education.

Six agencies handle the bulk of institutional accreditation in the United States: the Higher Learning Commission, the Middle States Commission on Higher Education, the New England Commission of Higher Education, the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools Commission on Colleges, the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, and the WASC Senior College and University Commission. Liberty University is accredited by SACSCOC, Penn State by Middle States, and Excelsior University by Middle States.

Accreditation decides three practical things. It determines whether you can use federal financial aid, whether your credits will transfer, and whether graduate programs will accept the degree.

Online campuses of established universities usually don’t need their own accreditation. For example, a Penn State World Campus diploma is the same as what on-campus Penn State students receive. But when in doubt, double-check!

To summarize, the risk isn’t online delivery but enrolling at a school with no recognized accreditation, otherwise known as a diploma mill. Reputation comes from the university, so a school respected for its campus programs generally brings that standing to its online ones.

What an Online History Degree Costs

Online history degrees are priced by the credit hour. Among the online programs in our rankings, where we verified every rate by hand, bachelor’s tuition runs from about $350 to $790 a credit and master’s tuition from $345 to $1,169. Programs outside those rankings reach lower, and the cheapest we have found is Clayton State University’s online B.A. in History for $23,584. See our FAQ below for more information.

The most useful thing to understand about online pricing is that many programs charge one flat rate regardless of where you live. Public universities normally charge out-of-state students far more than residents. A large share of online programs drop that distinction entirely, which means an out-of-state student can sometimes pay less to attend a university online than to sit in its classrooms.

Comparing per-credit rates alone will mislead you, because credit requirements vary. Master’s programs in our rankings run anywhere from 30 to 45 credits, so a program charging twenty percent less per credit can still cost more for the finished degree. Multiply the rate by the credits required before you compare anything.

Transfer credit is the other lever, and it applies mostly at the bachelor’s level. Where online bachelor’s programs state a maximum, 90 credits is by far the most common cap. That is three years of a four-year degree, and it changes the price of finishing more than any tuition rate will.

How Online History Classes Work

Online history courses are usually asynchronous, which means there are no set meeting times and you work through each week’s material on your own schedule. A minority run live sessions instead, such as SUNY Brockport’s M.A. in History, which holds its graduate seminars in real time, and Texas Tech’s M.A. in History, which the university classifies as synchronous. Those are worth seeking out if you learn by discussion.

Discussion boards are the part online students complain about most, and the complaint is about time rather than difficulty. Many courses require an opening post plus replies to classmates every week, and the volume piles up across a full course load. Ask how many posts a week a course expects and whether they are graded on substance or on word count. The answer says a lot about how seriously a program treats its online sections.

The research and writing work much as they do on campus. Digitized archives and your school’s subscription databases cover most of what an undergraduate paper or a master’s project needs.

Is an Online History Degree Worth It?

An online history degree is worth the money when you have a specific use for it, and considerably less so when you do not. A few considerations matter more than the rest:

• The skills are the product. You are buying training in research, argument, and writing. The facts are not the point. Most graduates use the training and not the history.
• Online delivery is best for certain goals. It works well for public history, museum work, K-12 teaching, and local roles. It’s less helpful if you’re aiming at a research career or a doctorate.
• History-specific jobs are competitive. Academia, museums, archives, and libraries generally expect an advanced degree, and openings are limited.
• Employability has to be deliberate. Internships, a practical minor, and comfort with data or spreadsheets do more for a job search than the degree by itself.
• School reputation is a fair question to ask. It applies equally to campus programs, and it is worth weighing alongside accreditation.

How to Choose an Online History Program

Choosing an online history program comes down to six checks, and working through them in this order disqualifies unsuitable programs fastest.

• Accreditation. Confirm the institution has regional accreditation. Schools without accreditation do not deserve your time or money.
• Licensure, if you plan to teach. A history degree by itself does not put you in a K-12 classroom, but some programs build the credential in. UNC Greensboro lets history students pursue teacher certification alongside the major, and Grand Canyon University offers a B.A. in History for Secondary Education. Licensure rules are set state by state, so confirm what your state requires before you pick a program.
• Hidden campus requirements. Some online-branded programs require summer sessions, orientations, or a defense on campus. Ask directly and get the answer in writing.
• Format and workload. Find out whether courses are asynchronous or meet at set times, how long each term runs, and what weekly participation actually involves.
• Faculty and library access. Check that someone on the faculty works on the period or region you want to study, and that online students get the full subscription database access.
• Start dates and transfer limits. Ask how often you can begin and how many prior credits the program will accept toward the degree.

Online History Degree FAQ