The 2027 list of online corrections degree programs holds 24 programs, 6 at the associate’s level, 13 at the bachelor’s level and 5 at the master’s level. At the associate’s level Bluegrass Community and Technical College comes first, with a score of 56.2
out of 100. It charges an online student from another state $198 a credit and 40% of its transfer students earn a credential within eight years. Each school describes, on its own program page, either an online degree in corrections or a corrections concentration inside a criminal justice degree.
On the associate’s list, 6 of the 118 ranked online associate’s programs are in corrections or name a corrections concentration.
Bluegrass Community and Technical College is first, and sits 33rd on the full online list with a score of 56.2 out of 100.
The lowest price of the group is $102 a credit, at Metropolitan Community College Area.
Bluegrass Community and Technical College lists its Criminal Justice associate in applied science among the programs students can complete online, and the degree splits into corrections, criminal justice, law enforcement, and security and loss prevention tracks after a shared technical core.
Each track totals 61 to 64 credits
The program can be completed online
Students choose a Corrections, Criminal Justice, Law Enforcement, or Security and Loss Prevention track
Northeast Community College's Criminal Justice Associate of Arts splits into Law Enforcement and Corrections concentrations, taught in person in Norfolk, Nebraska and online, with Law Enforcement also in South Sioux City, Nebraska and in hybrid form.
61-65 credits over 2 years
Two concentrations: Law Enforcement and Corrections
Classes are offered in person in Norfolk, Nebraska or online
ECTC’s Criminal Justice associate degree is built around tracks in corrections, criminal justice, law enforcement, and security and loss prevention, and the college lists it among the programs students can earn without coming to campus.
61-64 total credits
Students choose a corrections, criminal justice, law enforcement, or security and loss prevention track
ECTC lists the program among its online credentials
Metropolitan Community College offers its Associate of Applied Science in Criminal Justice with Corrections or Law Enforcement options, plus a Criminal Justice Transfer degree mapped to a guided pathway into UNO's bachelor's program.
The Associate of Applied Science offers Corrections and Law Enforcement options
The Criminal Justice Transfer degree follows a guided pathway to UNO
Academy graduates may receive up to 22.5 credit hours
West Kentucky Community and Technical College has every criminal justice associate student finish one track, in corrections, criminal justice, law enforcement, or security and loss prevention, and lists the associate degree among the credentials students can earn completely online.
The college lists the associate degree among credentials earned completely online
Each student completes one of the Corrections, Criminal Justice, Law Enforcement, or Security and Loss Prevention tracks
Blue Ridge CTC lists its Associate of Applied Science in Criminal Justice in on-campus, hybrid and online formats, with concentrations in community corrections management, criminology, victim services and strategic studies.
60 credit hours
Formats: on campus, hybrid and online
Admission requires a high school diploma or equivalent
On the bachelor’s list, 13 of the 187 ranked online bachelor’s programs are in corrections or name a corrections concentration.
University of Massachusetts-Lowell is first, and sits 2nd on the full online list with a score of 72.9 out of 100.
The lowest price of the group is $292 a credit, at Western New Mexico University.
UMass Lowell offers its criminal justice bachelor's on campus and entirely online, with options in policing, corrections, homeland security and crime and mental health, plus a paralegal option that runs online only.
SNHU teaches its Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice online with a general track or one of 8 specializations, and runs a separate Bachelor of Science in Justice Studies on its campus in Manchester, New Hampshire.
120 credits
The criminal justice degree is taught online in 8-week terms
SNHU accepts up to 90 transfer credits toward the degree
Liberty University offers its Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice both 100% online in 8-week courses and as a residential degree in Lynchburg, Virginia, and its catalog shows which specializations run in each format.
120 credit hours
Offered 100% online in 8-week courses or as a residential program in Lynchburg, Virginia
The online program is asynchronous, with no required class meeting times.
Bemidji State's Criminal Justice, B.S. offers four emphases (Corrections, Police Science, Tribal Justice and Victimology), and the university says the program is offered 100% online and 100% on campus.
120 semester credits
The program is offered 100% online and 100% on campus
Emphases in Corrections, Police Science, Tribal Justice and Victimology
Franklin's B.S. Criminal Justice Administration is taught 100% online in 6- and 12-week courses, and Franklin lists 28 credit hours toward it for completing the Ohio Police Officer Training Academy.
100% online, with 6- and 12-week courses
Franklin lists 28 credit hours for the Ohio Police Officer Training Academy
120 semester hours, with up to 90 transfer credits accepted
Rowan University's criminal justice bachelor's is its Law and Justice Studies B.A., which requires an internship and is offered on campus and through Rowan Online.
120 semester hours, with at least 30 credits at Rowan
Every major completes a criminal justice internship
The degree is offered online through Rowan Online and at the Camden, New Jersey campus
Transfer applicants need at least 12 college-level credits
$609 a credit, online rate
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The major's Law and Justice requirements include Theories of Crime and Criminality, Criminal Justice Research, a Criminal Justice Internship, Law and Human Rights and a writing-intensive seminar, plus Law and Justice electives such as Critical Issues in American Law Enforcement and Parole, Probation and Community Corrections. Rowan Online students can add a concentration in community corrections, crime mapping and crime analysis, or forensic studies. Students take the program on campus, including evening major courses at the Camden Academic Building in Camden, New Jersey, or online through Rowan Online.
Rowan Online admits first-year students with a high school diploma or equivalent and transfer students with at least 12 college-level credits and a GPA of 2.0. At least 30 credits must be completed at Rowan, and students who start at Rowan College at Burlington County or Rowan College of South Jersey can finish through a 3+1 pathway. B.A. students can apply after their second year to a dual degree program that leads to both the B.A. and a graduate M.A. in five years.
Kean offers criminal justice as both a B.A., which students can take through its fully online Kean Global division, and a technical, applied B.S. listed under its campus in Jersey City, New Jersey.
Each degree requires 120 credits
The B.A. is offered online through Kean Global
B.A. students choose a law, corrections, policing or general track
Park University's Criminal Justice Administration, B.S. is offered online or on campus with online courses, with concentrations in law enforcement and corrections and a choice between an agency internship and a writing project course for students already employed in the field.
Western New Mexico University teaches its Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice asynchronously online, with Corrections and Policing concentrations that can each be completed entirely online.
Courses are delivered asynchronously online
Concentrations are offered in Corrections and Policing
Courses are sequenced for graduation in four years of full-time study
UW-Platteville offers its criminal justice major as both a B.S. and a B.A., says both can be completed online or on campus, and lets students add an optional emphasis in corrections, law enforcement, or substance use disorders counseling.
Both the B.S. and the B.A. can be completed online or on campus
Optional emphases: Corrections, Law Enforcement, Substance Use Disorders Counseling
A completed Wisconsin law enforcement academy earns 15 credit hours of transfer credit
Online bachelor’s programs in corrections, ranked 11 to 13
Rank and school
Corrections focus
Cost per credit
Completion
Graduates
Format
Score
11
Bowie State University Bowie, MD
Community-Based Corrections
$708
50%
89
Online or on campus
43.3
12
Post University Waterbury, CT
Correctional Counseling; Corrections
$629
28%
87
Online or on campus
42.2
13
Central State University Wilberforce, OH
Corrections
$454
34%
204
Online
38.6
Cost per credit is the rate the school’s page publishes, read between October 7, 2026 and October 14, 2026, or else its 2023-24 IPEDS per-credit charge.
Master’s Online Corrections Degree Programs
On the master’s list, 5 of the 57 ranked online master’s programs are in corrections or name a corrections concentration.
Liberty University is first, and sits 10th on the full online list with a score of 56.4 out of 100.
The lowest price of the group is $355 a credit, at University of the Cumberlands.
Liberty University's Master of Science in Criminal Justice is a 36-credit-hour degree taught 100% online in 8-week courses or in a residential format on the Lynchburg, Virginia campus with an optional supervised thesis.
36 credit hours
Fully online in 8-week courses, or residential on the Lynchburg, Virginia campus
John Jay's Criminal Justice MA can be taken on campus or completed fully online, and pairs a core in criminal justice theory, courts, policing, corrections, research methods and policy analysis with a specialization such as Police Administration or Terrorism Studies.
36 credits
Offered on campus or fully online
Admission requires a bachelor's degree, and the program looks for an undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher
The online programs are flexible and let students study anywhere and anytime.
Cumberlands' online Master of Science in Criminal Justice Administration pairs a justice administration core with one emphasis area chosen from fields such as corrections, law enforcement, juvenile justice and digital forensics.
The University of Arizona Global Campus teaches this master's online in accelerated 6-week courses, and every student completes a specialization in homeland security or in law enforcement and corrections administration.
39 credits, or 36 for students exempt from the introductory course
Courses run in accelerated 6-week sessions
Admission requires a bachelor's degree with a GPA of 2.0 or above
Albany State University teaches its Master of Science in Criminal Justice both face to face and fully online, and the online version is limited to the corrections and law enforcement concentrations.
30 semester hours
The degree is offered face to face and fully online
The online program offers the corrections and law enforcement concentrations
An online corrections degree points toward two jobs the site covers, and each has a guide: the correctional officer guide and
the probation officer guide. In BLS’s May 2025 wage survey, 380,500 correctional officers and jailers (SOC 33-3012)
had a median of $58,940 a year, and 89,390 probation officers and correctional treatment specialists (SOC 21-1092) had a median of $66,270.
Correctional officers enforce rules and keep order in jails and prisons, supervise people in custody and inspect facilities for security and safety. Probation officers supervise people placed on
probation instead of sent to prison, and correctional treatment specialists, also called case managers or correctional counselors, advise probationers and parolees and develop rehabilitation plans for them.
Pay and employment for the two corrections jobs, May 2025
The two jobs ask for different amounts of school. BLS lists a high school diploma as the typical entry education for correctional officers and a bachelor’s degree for probation officers and
correctional treatment specialists, so the degree matters most on the probation side. For correctional officers the Federal Bureau of Prisons is where a degree changes the starting point: its
direct-hire posting qualifies a bachelor’s degree in any field at GL-05, and 9 semester hours of graduate study in criminal justice at GL-06. The federal courts ask probation and
pretrial services officers for at least an undergraduate college degree.
By employer, correctional officers earned a median of $74,630 in federal government, $59,990 in state government and $58,500 in local government, and probation officers and correctional treatment specialists earned $70,260 in local government and $66,270 in state government.
Looking ahead, BLS projects that overall employment of correctional officers and bailiffs will decline 7 percent from 2025 to 2035, with about 30,000 openings a year still expected, all of them from workers who transfer to other occupations or leave the labor force. For probation officers and correctional treatment specialists it projects growth of 3 percent, about as fast as the average for all occupations, with about 7,900 openings a year.
Where a Bachelor’s Degree Is the Rule for Probation Officers
A bachelor’s degree is the typical entry education for probation work, and Florida, North Carolina and Texas go further and write it into a statewide rule:
Florida requires a bachelor’s degree for correctional probation officers (Florida Criminal Justice Standards and Training Commission employment requirements).
North Carolina requires a bachelor’s degree for probation and parole officers (12 NCAC 09G .0209).
Texas requires a bachelor’s degree to be appointed as a community supervision (adult probation) officer (Tex. Gov. Code section 76.005(b)).
BLS pay and employment in the states with a bachelor’s degree rule for probation officers, May 2025
Probation officer medians in these states run from $50,960 in Florida to $62,220 in North Carolina, all below the national median of $66,270, and correctional officer medians run from $49,710 in Florida to $52,670 in Texas, all below the national $58,940. Together the three states count 15,900 of the 89,390 probation officers and correctional treatment specialists in the BLS survey, about 18 percent.
How Schools Name Their Corrections Concentration
Schools word the corrections track of an online corrections degree in more than one way.
15 of the 24 programs call the concentration Corrections, and the other 9 use their own wording or make corrections the degree itself. The table gives each name as the school writes it, with the programs that use it.
Corrections concentration names at the listed schools
Name the school uses
Programs
Corrections
15 programs: Bluegrass Community and Technical College; Northeast Community College; West Kentucky Community and Technical College; University of Massachusetts-Lowell; Southern New Hampshire University; Bemidji State University; Franklin University; Kean University; Park University; Western New Mexico University; University of Wisconsin-Platteville; Post University; Central State University; University of the Cumberlands; Albany State University
Community Corrections
1 program: Rowan University
Community Corrections Management
1 program: Blue Ridge Community and Technical College
Community-Based Corrections
1 program: Bowie State University
Correctional Counseling
1 program: Post University
Corrections & Human Services
1 program: Liberty University
Corrections Administration
1 program: CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice
Corrections Management
1 program: Liberty University
Corrections Track
1 program: Elizabethtown Community and Technical College
Criminal Justice - Corrections
1 program, where corrections is the degree’s own name: Metropolitan Community College Area
Law Enforcement and Corrections Administration
1 program: Ashford University
3 concentrations on the list are named for community corrections:
Community Corrections (Rowan University), Community Corrections Management (Blue Ridge Community and Technical College) and Community-Based Corrections (Bowie State University).
What Counts as an Online Corrections Degree
A program is on the online corrections degree list through its profile: the online degree it describes carries corrections in its own name, or it names a corrections concentration. Corrections is part of the degree’s
own name at 1 of the 24 programs, and the rest name it as a concentration.
11 of the programs are fully online, and 13 are offered online or on campus.
19 programs also appear on the law enforcement list, because the school’s degree names a concentration in each field.
The online corrections degree list is not a ranking of its own. Each level starts from the national online ranking and keeps only the programs where the online degree its school describes is in corrections, or names a concentration in it. The order and the scores are that ranking’s, so the
rank on a card counts only the programs on this list. On the online lists the price scored is what an online student from another state pays for one credit: the rate the program's own page publishes for online students, else its out-of-state or all-students rate, else the out-of-state per-credit charge the school reported to IPEDS. The program pages behind the list were read between October 7, 2026 and October 14, 2026, and
the methodology page gives the weights.
Questions About the Online Corrections Degree
What Is an Online Corrections Degree?
It is a degree a student can take online that is in corrections, or one in criminal justice that names a corrections concentration. Corrections is part of the degree’s own name at 1 of the 24 programs on this list, and the rest name it as a concentration. The concentration names are Corrections, Corrections Track, Community Corrections Management, Corrections & Human Services and Community Corrections, as each school words them.
Which Online Corrections Degree Costs the Least?
At the associate’s level it is Metropolitan Community College Area, at $102 a credit, against $327 at Blue Ridge Community and Technical College. At the bachelor’s level it is Western New Mexico University, at $292 a credit, against $708 at Bowie State University. At the master’s level it is University of the Cumberlands, at $355 a credit, against $855 at CUNY John Jay College of Criminal Justice. Each figure is the cost of one credit for an online student from another state, as the program’s own page prices it or, failing that, as IPEDS reports it. The cheapest online criminal justice degree page compares per-credit rates.
What Does an Online Corrections Degree Lead To?
An online corrections degree points toward two jobs the site covers, correctional officer and probation officer. BLS counted 380,500 correctional officers and jailers in May 2025, with a median of $58,940 a year, and 89,390 probation officers and correctional treatment specialists, with a median of $66,270. BLS lists a high school diploma as the typical entry education for the first job and a bachelor’s degree for the second.
Which States Require a Bachelor’s Degree for Probation Officers?
Florida, North Carolina and Texas each have a statewide rule that requires a bachelor’s degree for probation officers. BLS counted 15,900 probation officers and correctional treatment specialists in those states in May 2025, about 18 percent of the 89,390 nationwide. The probation officer guide has the pay for every state.
Do You Need a Degree to Be a Correctional Officer?
BLS lists a high school diploma as the typical entry education for correctional officers, so an online corrections degree is not what most correctional officer jobs ask for. The Federal Bureau of Prisons is where a degree changes the starting point: its direct-hire posting qualifies a bachelor’s degree in any field at GL-05 and 9 semester hours of graduate study in criminal justice at GL-06.
Can I Finish an Online Corrections Degree Without Visiting Campus?
11 of the 24 programs are fully online by the school’s own page, and 13 are offered online or on campus. Each card names the degree the school describes and links to its program page.
How Is the Online Corrections Degree List Ordered?
A program’s place follows its place on the national online ranking at its level, which scores cost, graduate earnings, completion, online experience, track record and program reputation, so the online corrections degree list is that ranking read in the same order. The methodology page gives the weights.
Sources for the Online Corrections Degree List
Awards, charges, completion and online enrollment: the Department of Education's IPEDS data:
IPEDS completions and distance education, 2023-24; IPEDS tuition and fees and per-credit charges, 2023-24; IPEDS
graduation rates; and IPEDS Outcome Measures and fall 2024 enrollment, from the 2024 provisional release.
Programs are counted under the criminal justice codes in the federal CIP 43.01 series.
Program names, credit counts, formats, entry requirements and published prices: each school's own program pages, read between October 7, 2026 and October 14, 2026.
