2021 Best Online Colleges & Degrees
In order to help students deal with rising tuition costs and combat the student debt crisis, we've launched the first ever online college rankings to utilize salary and debt data by program. For each online degree, we calculated a 10-year return on investment using these program-specific outcomes data. We identified colleges we believe are worthy investments because of their low average student debts and high median alumni salaries, as reported by the U.S. Department of Education's College Scorecard. View Rankings »
Reviews
We have collected over 85,000 ratings and reviews from students. Learn which schools are improving graduate outcomes at GradReports and GraduatePrograms.
Rankings
We independently research thousands of colleges to identify the ones offering the best quality and price. View our rankings at OnlineU.
Scholarships
Each year we give away $260,000 of our profit in needs-based scholarships. Visit our scholarships page to learn more and see our recent winners.
Optimal helps prospective students make informed, data-driven decisions to improve their collegiate experience and their post-college careers. We provide over 85,000 in-depth student reviews and college rankings for every major based on alumni salaries and manually researched tuitions. Our tools provide accessible and transparent data regarding cost and earning potential, allowing students to choose educational paths to success without the burden of insurmountable debt.
Thought Leadership
Should Students Pay Full Price for an Online Education During the Pandemic?
While the future of higher education may be uncertain this school year, one thing is clear. Students don’t want to pay the same price for online classes as they would for in-person instruction. Many schools...
The Class of 2020: Optimal’s New Teammates Share Perspectives on Online Learning and Graduating Into a Pandemic
Last spring, millions of students across the country were unexpectedly thrown into online classes when higher education made the switch to remote...
College in the COVID Era: Students Share What Went Well and How Schools Can Do Better
Surveys conducted early in the pandemic show students were not happy with the quality of education when classes initially moved online due to COVID-19. Since then, schools have worked to improve...
SCHOLARSHIPS
As part of our mission to make college more accessible, Optimal has given away $676,961 of our profit in need-based scholarships since 2010.
Recent Winner - Online Degree Scholarship
"I am so honored to be selected as the Online Degree Recipient. I hope to apply these funds for my degree so that I can one day contribute such a generous amount of financial aid to another. Thank you again, Optimal, for making this happen for someone in my circumstance."
Community College Scholarship
ELIGIBILITY: Students enrolled at a public community college, junior college, technical college, or city college, and working towards a certificate, diploma, or degree at the associate’s level or a first-time bachelor’s level.
Military Scholarship
ELIGIBILITY: Students who are veterans or active members of the U.S. military and are enrolled at a private or public educational institution, and working towards a certificate, diploma, or degree.
Undergraduate Scholarship
ELIGIBILITY: Undergraduate students enrolled at a private or public educational institution, and working towards a certificate, diploma, or degree at the associate’s level or a first-time bachelor’s level.
Graduate Scholarship
ELIGIBILITY: Graduate students enrolled at a private or public educational institution, and working towards a certificate, diploma, or degree at the post-bachelor’s level.
Online Degree Scholarship
ELIGIBILITY: Students enrolled at a private or public educational institution, and working towards a certificate, diploma, or degree at the associate’s, bachelor’s or post-bachelor’s level. The academic program must be pursued online - all classes require little to no attendance on campus.
At Optimal, we embrace a culture of growth, experimentation, and creativity. Our small and agile team allows all members to exercise great responsibility and freedom, leading each person to have a measurable impact on our business. We also offer unique benefits like tuition reimbursement and charitable donation matching. We enjoy solving hard problems just as much as we enjoy our wine and cheese parties and snuggling with our troop of quirky office dogs.
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