Key takeaway: This site does not use commercial "military-friendly" badges. A school appears on our military lists when it reports specific services on the IPEDS Institutional Characteristics survey (IC 2024). 2,001 of 2,817 online institutions report both credit for military training and a dedicated point of contact for veterans, servicemembers, and families. School cards are ordered by BOC Score inside that filter, not by any education benefit program. This site does not rank or describe benefit programs, and eligibility is determined by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or a service's education office. This site is not affiliated with or endorsed by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense.
Marketing language is cheap; federal reporting is not. Each year institutions tell the U.S. Department of Education which of four military-related services they offer. Those four yes/no fields are the ranking substrate for every military page in this section.
Schools to Compare
These accredited institutions report credit for military training, a dedicated veteran and military point of contact, and at least one program completable entirely online (IPEDS IC 2024). Ranked by BOC Score within that group.
How We Rank Schools
Every school list on this site is ordered by the BOC Score, computed from the most
recent school-level data published by the U.S. Department of Education (College Scorecard and IPEDS).
To qualify, a school must be currently operating and accredited by an agency recognized by the
U.S. Department of Education. Each eligible school is then scored on five measures, percentile-ranked
against schools at the same credential level:
BOCSCORE
- Graduation rate 30%
- Median earnings, 10 years after entry 25%
- Average net price (lower is better) 20%
- Retention rate 15%
- Fully online availability 10%
Schools without enough outcome data appear after ranked schools, without a score.
Advertising never affects these rankings. Read the full methodology.
Acceptance rate
11%
Graduation rate
93%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$92,446
Avg net price
$13,481/yr
TuitionIn‑state$16,347
Out‑of‑state$50,547
Key stats
- Retention rate: 97%
- Programs offered: 127
Source:Accreditor: Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior Colleges and University Commission · IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
89%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$71,588
Avg net price
$6,541/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 97%
- Programs offered: 172
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
94%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$83,648
Avg net price
$13,138/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 98%
- Programs offered: 206
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
91%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$72,200
Avg net price
$11,655/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 97%
- Programs offered: 117
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
86%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$81,054
Avg net price
$14,355/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 95%
- Programs offered: 177
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
85%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$78,466
Avg net price
$14,091/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 95%
- Programs offered: 234
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
87%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$90,768
Avg net price
$16,665/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 95%
- Programs offered: 84
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
85%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$82,860
Avg net price
$15,678/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 96%
- Programs offered: 150
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
94%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$87,555
Avg net price
$18,809/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 98%
- Programs offered: 164
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
88%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$68,726
Avg net price
$13,936/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 94%
- Programs offered: 241
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
What the four IPEDS fields record
Among the 2,817 online institutions in our directory:
| Service reported to IPEDS (IC 2024) |
Field |
Online institutions reporting it |
| Credit for military training |
VET2 |
2,197 |
| Dedicated point of contact for veterans, servicemembers, and families |
VET3 |
2,268 |
| Recognized student veteran organization |
VET4 |
1,291 |
| Member of the DoD Voluntary Education Partnership MOU |
VET5 |
1,895 |
| Both credit for training and a dedicated contact (default filter on this page) |
VET2 + VET3 |
2,001 |
| Credit, contact, and DoD MOU membership |
VET2 + VET3 + VET5 |
1,646 |
| All four services |
VET2 through VET5 |
1,013 |
A school that reports all four has built a structure around military students rather than a landing page. A school that reports none of them still enrolls students; it simply has not told the Department of Education that it staffs these services.
A fifth veteran-related IPEDS field exists (VET1) and is not used anywhere on this site, because what it records changes between reporting years and describes a benefit arrangement rather than a service the institution staffs. The four fields in the table are the only military inputs to any list here.
Each of the four is a yes or no answer supplied by the institution itself on the fall Institutional Characteristics survey, with no supporting detail attached. Credit for military training (VET2) records that a process exists for reading a Joint Services Transcript, not how many credits a given transcript produces, which requirements they satisfy, or whether a cap applies. The dedicated point of contact (VET3) records that one office or person is responsible for veteran and military students, not its staffing, its hours, its response time, or whether it serves fully online students in other time zones. The recognized student veteran organization (VET4) is the rarest of the four and records recognition by the institution rather than membership size or whether an online student can participate remotely. DoD MOU membership (VET5) records a signature on the Voluntary Education Partnership Memorandum of Understanding, a written commitment to academic advising, transparent transfer and credit policies, and limits on aggressive recruiting.
The distance education program flag (DISTPGS) is a separate field again. It is what establishes that at least one program can be finished entirely online rather than in a hybrid format that assumes campus residencies, and it is the filter applied before any of the four service fields narrow the pool further.
Education benefits, without promises
This site does not rank or describe education benefit programs. Eligibility for education benefits administered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or a service’s education office is determined by those offices, as is what a given enrollment pays and whether a particular school currently participates in anything. Admission, graduation, licensure, and employment are decided by the institution, the licensing board, and employers, not by any benefit.
Nothing in this section is a statement that any program has been approved for payment, and no page here reports a benefit amount, an entitlement balance, or a participation status. The school cards are ordered by BOC Score inside an IPEDS service filter built from reported institutional characteristics, and the outcome figures printed beside them come from the College Scorecard. Both records exist independently of any benefit program, which is the reason neither one can be read as a statement about what a student will be charged or paid.
This site is not affiliated with, endorsed by, or an agent of the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or the Department of Defense.
What “military-friendly” is not, on this site
We do not license or reprint commercial “military-friendly” designations. We do not rank schools by education benefits, by advertised discounts, or by any claim that a benefit will cover tuition. When other pages on this site use the phrase in passing, they mean the IPEDS checklist above.
A badge in a school’s own marketing is the school’s advertising rather than a reported fact. The underlying policies it usually stands in for are published elsewhere: the Joint Services Transcript evaluation process in the registrar’s transfer policy, the leave of absence in the catalog, the asynchronous share in the program description, and the staffing of the military office in the office’s own contact page.
How the filters differ across this section
Each page in this cluster applies a different combination of the four fields, and the resulting lists differ in size and in composition.
Two limits apply to every one of those lists. IPEDS records that a service exists and not how it operates for a fully online student, so the operating detail sits in each institution’s catalog. And the graduation rate, retention, and median earnings on the cards are College Scorecard figures reported independently of the service fields, so a complete IPEDS checklist and strong outcomes are two separate findings about the same school. Programmatic accreditation, which licensed fields depend on, is a third record again, granted by field-specific bodies rather than by the institutional accreditor.
Online colleges by state that report military support services
These lists keep the same VET2 + VET3 filter and limit the pool to institutions based in that state. Headquarters state is not the same as where you live, and an online program can be delivered from another state. The state pages narrow the pool to institutions with a local footprint; the national lists carry the full pool.
Quick Answers
What does this site mean by military support services?
Four services institutions report on the IPEDS Institutional Characteristics survey: credit for military training, a dedicated point of contact for veterans, servicemembers, and families, a recognized student veteran organization, and DoD Voluntary Education Partnership MOU membership. We do not use commercial badge programs as a ranking.
Do you rank colleges by education benefits?
No. School cards are ordered by BOC Score inside an IPEDS service filter. This site does not rank or describe education benefit programs, and it does not determine eligibility, remaining funds, payment amounts, or current school participation.
Does appearing on this list mean a benefit will pay for the school?
No. Education benefits administered by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs or a service’s education office are settled by those offices and by the school’s certifying official. Admission, graduation, licensure, and employment are decided by the institution, the licensing board, and employers, not by any benefit.
2,001 of 2,817 online institutions in our directory (IPEDS IC 2024).
Are these online colleges accredited?
Every institution in our directory holds accreditation from an agency recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Where a professional license depends on it, the specific program carries its own programmatic accreditation, a separate designation from the institutional accreditation recorded in our directory.
More in this section
Benefit eligibility is determined by the U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs and your service’s education office. Nothing on this page guarantees education benefits, credit transfer, admission, or a particular cost. Confirm every detail with the school’s military or veteran services office before you enroll.
Source: U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS Institutional Characteristics survey (IC 2024), veteran and military services indicators (VET2 through VET5) and distance education program flag (DISTPGS); directory counts as of the September 2026 data refresh. VET1 is not used.
