An online psychology bachelor’s prepares you for research, human services, business and graduate study, but it does not license you to practice. Master’s programs split three ways: general or experimental psychology, industrial/organizational psychology, and counseling programs that lead toward licensure through a supervised practicum and internship.
Old Dominion, West Alabama and Liberty offer CACREP-accredited counseling degrees with field placements, and Fort Hays State prepares students for master’s-level psychologist licensure in Kansas. Southern New Hampshire says its MS in Psychology does not lead directly to licensure, and Colorado State notes that industrial/organizational psychologists do not require a license to practice.
Compare 12 Online Psychology Bachelor’s Programs
Each card shows what sets the program apart and links to the school’s own degree page.
Bachelor of Science in Psychology
Arizona State teaches the BS in 7.5-week classes, so each course is short and moves fast. About 90% of the curriculum matches ASU’s online BA, and the BS is the one built around math, science and statistics. If you do not meet the standard admission requirements, Earned Admission lets you prove yourself in online courses first.
Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in Psychology
Fort Hays offers both versions online, so the choice comes down to how you want to fill the extra hours. The BA adds 10 hours of a single foreign language, the BS adds natural science and math, and electives group into social cognitive, developmental cultural and applied mental health areas. The posted rate is the lowest per-credit price among these programs.
Bachelor of Science in Psychology
Georgia Southern teaches this BS in person on three campuses and online, with the same kinds of coursework in either format. Research begins in your first psychology course, and later you can join faculty labs or intern at schools and clinics. A behavior analysis minor and master’s programs in experimental psychology, behavior analysis and clinical psychology are on the same campus.
Bachelor of Science in Psychology
Liberty offers a general track plus seven specializations: addictions and recovery, Christian counseling, criminal psychology, crisis counseling, developmental psychology, life coaching and military resilience. Courses run 8 weeks with no set login times, and the generous transfer limit suits someone returning to a degree that stalled years ago.
Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in Psychology
Oregon State’s College of Liberal Arts awards a BA or a BS online, with research methods, statistics and quantitative analysis at the center of the curriculum. The program lists four start terms a year. Because the degree runs on quarters, 180 quarter credits work out to roughly 120 semester credits at most other schools.
Bachelor of Science in Psychology
Penn State’s BS pairs psychology with a choice of emphasis, life sciences if you lean toward biology and research or business if you want to apply psychology at work. You set your own pace, and a Bachelor of Arts version with its own prescribed courses is also offered online.
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
Southern New Hampshire’s BA is 40 courses in 8-week terms, with concentrations in addiction studies, child and adolescent development, forensic psychology, industrial organizational psychology and mental health. A 12-credit embedded certificate in Data Literacy in Psychology comes with the degree, and the school evaluates transfer credits for free.
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
The University of Arizona’s online BA asks you to add a minor or a second major, which suits someone who already has a second interest such as business, law or health. Courses range from cognitive development and social psychology to the psychology of leadership and forensic psychology.
Bachelor of Science in Psychology
UCF lets you take the same BS on campus or fully online, and the six tracks are clinical, experimental, general, human factors, industrial and organizational, and neuroscience. Two career-readiness courses are built into the sequence, so job-search skills come with the degree.
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
Florida’s online BA runs through UF Online and asks for statistics, mathematics and biology alongside psychology courses. Four core areas of the discipline are required before electives, which gives you a broad base if you plan to move on to graduate or professional school.
Bachelor of Science in Psychology
Maryland Global Campus posts $337 per credit for Maryland residents, $499 for out-of-state students and $250 for military servicemembers. The degree has 33 required major credits, 41 general education credits and 46 electives, so a long transcript from earlier college work can shorten the path considerably.
Bachelor of Arts in Psychology
West Florida teaches its psychology BA fully online on a standard 16-week semester calendar, which gives you more time per course than the 7 and 8-week formats at several other schools. Up to 90 credit hours can come from earlier college work, and the university’s catalog asks for one course in each of six areas, from social and biological psychology to clinical and workplace psychology.
Compare 9 Online Psychology Master’s Programs
These master’s programs range from general psychology and workplace psychology to counseling degrees built for licensure.
Master of Arts in Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Central Michigan’s 30-credit master’s focuses on hiring, leadership, employee development and decisions made with data. It is a workplace degree, and the page points to careers in business, health care, education, government and nonprofits. Applicants with a psychology bachelor’s and strong methods grades can skip the GRE.
Master of Applied Industrial/Organizational Psychology
Colorado State’s online master’s is practitioner-oriented and built on quantitative coursework, and students complete applied consulting projects with real organizations. The page notes that industrial/organizational psychologists do not require licensure to practice. Plan for the GRE, since the program requires both the General and Psychology Subject tests.
Master of Arts in Psychology
CUNY’s School of Professional Studies runs its psychology master’s on a no-live-meeting schedule, which matters if your hours change from week to week. The two tracks point in different directions, one toward workplace psychology and the other toward child and adult development.
Master of Science in Psychology (Clinical), Online/Hybrid
Fort Hays is the clinical option on this list that points to licensure as a master’s-level psychologist, and the license is issued in Kansas. Students complete an on-site practicum in the second year, then a 600 clock-hour internship. The program is open to residents of any state, so check your own state’s rules before you apply.
Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Liberty’s counseling master’s combines online courses with two required intensives, a practicum and a two-semester internship, and it is designed to meet Virginia’s requirements for a Licensed Professional Counselor. Up to 50% of the degree can transfer in. Check your own state’s licensure rules.
Master of Science in Psychological Science, General Psychology
Ohio’s general psychology master’s is designed for working professionals and builds advanced skills in statistics, research methods and data interpretation. It is a science degree rather than a counseling one, so it suits people who want to apply psychology in schools, companies and community organizations.
Master of Science in Education in Counseling, Clinical Mental Health Counseling
Old Dominion lets online counseling students arrange their practicum and internship near home, as long as the clinical coordinator approves the site. Online and in-person students share the same core curriculum, and a past student describes the faculty as supportive. This is a counseling degree, so it is the licensure-track choice rather than a general psychology master’s.
Master of Science in Psychology
Southern New Hampshire’s master’s is 36 credits in 10-week terms with a capstone at the end. It is a general psychology degree with three concentrations, so it fits people who want to move into research, training, human services or workplace roles without a counseling license.
Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling
West Alabama’s 60-credit counseling master’s is taught online in 8-week courses and lists $429 per credit, below CUNY’s $470 and Colorado State’s $770. It meets the core CACREP educational components that most states ask for, and the page points to a practicum and internship handbook for the field work.
Match the Program to Your Goal
Research and Graduate Preparation
Arizona State’s BS centers on math, science and statistics, Fort Hays State recommends its BS for graduate school, and Florida requires statistics, mathematics and biology. Penn State lets you focus its BS on life sciences. Colorado State’s master’s is built on quantitative coursework.
Workplace, Counseling and Community Work
Southern New Hampshire offers concentrations in addiction studies, forensic psychology and industrial organizational psychology, Liberty adds seven specializations, and Fort Hays State groups electives into an applied mental health area. For counseling careers, compare Old Dominion, West Alabama and Liberty.
The psychologist career guide explains the graduate degrees and state licenses behind practice, and the psychology degree jobs guide shows what a bachelor’s can lead to. To rank schools by outcomes instead of format, open the bachelor’s rankings or the master’s rankings.
Questions About Online Psychology Degrees
Can You Earn a Psychology Degree Fully Online?
Yes, at both levels. Twelve bachelor’s and nine master’s programs at universities across the country state on their own pages that the degree can be completed online. Some have conditions: Georgia Southern also teaches on campus, Liberty’s counseling master’s adds two required intensives, and every counseling master’s here includes a supervised practicum and internship.
Can You Become a Psychologist With an Online Bachelor’s Degree?
Not on its own. Maryland Global Campus says its psychology program does not lead to initial professional licensure in mental health, and Southern New Hampshire says the same of its master’s in psychology. A bachelor’s prepares you for research, human services, business and graduate study, while licensed practice depends on graduate training and your state’s rules. The American Psychological Association accredits doctoral programs and internships in clinical, counseling and school psychology.
Which Online Psychology Master’s Programs Lead Toward Licensure?
Three counseling programs here are accredited by CACREP: Old Dominion, West Alabama and Liberty, which designed its program to meet Virginia’s requirements for a Licensed Professional Counselor. Fort Hays State’s clinical psychology master’s prepares students for licensure as a master’s-level psychologist in Kansas. Each includes a practicum and internship, so confirm your own state board’s rules before you apply.
Do Online Psychology Programs Have Live Class Times?
Most do not. Liberty’s bachelor’s has no set login times, CUNY’s master’s has no required Zoom meetings, and Ohio University’s master’s is asynchronous, as is Old Dominion’s online counseling track. Practicums are the exception: Liberty’s counseling practicum requires a few set login times. Arizona State and Southern New Hampshire run short 7.5-week and 8-week terms, which compress the work into a more intense schedule.
Should You Choose a BA or a BS in Psychology Online?
It depends on how you want to fill your electives. Fort Hays State adds 10 hours of a foreign language to its BA and 20 hours of natural science or math to its BS, and it recommends the BS for students headed to graduate school. Arizona State says about 90% of its online BA and BS curriculum is the same, with the BS leaning on math, science and statistics. UCF offers a BS and the University of Florida a BA, so the choice sometimes follows the school.
Sources and Method
Degree, format and cost details come from each school’s own program page. Read how federal records and school pages are used in our program comparison method.
- APA Accreditation for the programs and internships it accredits.
- CACREP for counseling program accreditation.
- Arizona State University Bachelor of Science in Psychology page.
- Fort Hays State University Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in Psychology page.
- Georgia Southern University Bachelor of Science in Psychology page.
- Liberty University Bachelor of Science in Psychology page.
- Oregon State University Bachelor of Arts or Bachelor of Science in Psychology page.
- Penn State World Campus Bachelor of Science in Psychology page.
- Southern New Hampshire University Bachelor of Arts in Psychology page.
- University of Arizona Bachelor of Arts in Psychology page.
- University of Central Florida Bachelor of Science in Psychology page.
- University of Florida Bachelor of Arts in Psychology page.
- University of Maryland Global Campus Bachelor of Science in Psychology page.
- University of West Florida Bachelor of Arts in Psychology page.
- Central Michigan University Master of Arts in Industrial/Organizational Psychology page.
- Colorado State University Master of Applied Industrial/Organizational Psychology page.
- CUNY School of Professional Studies Master of Arts in Psychology page.
- Fort Hays State University Master of Science in Psychology (Clinical), Online/Hybrid page.
- Liberty University Master of Arts in Clinical Mental Health Counseling page.
- Ohio University Master of Science in Psychological Science, General Psychology page.
- Old Dominion University Master of Science in Education in Counseling, Clinical Mental Health Counseling page.
- Southern New Hampshire University Master of Science in Psychology page.
- University of West Alabama Master of Science in Clinical Mental Health Counseling page.
