Affordable online art history programs are less about finding the lowest advertised rate and more about lowering your total cost to finish. Three levers move that number: the price you pay per credit, how many credits you still have to pay for, and what gets added on top of the credit charge. Art history adds two cost categories students often miss – required travel for a practicum, internship, or residency, and the books and image resources a research seminar assumes you can reach.
Quick Answers
What actually lowers the cost of an art history degree?
Credits you do not have to take, and a rate that does not change because of where you live. Transfer credit and prior-learning assessment remove requirements outright. A flat online rate removes the out-of-state penalty. Everything else is smaller.
Do online programs charge in-state rates to out-of-state students?
Many public universities set a single online rate that applies regardless of residency, and some hold that rate flat for the length of the program. Others still bill out-of-state pricing for online enrollment. This is the single largest price difference between otherwise similar public programs, and it is worth confirming in writing before you apply.
Can transfer credits reduce total cost?
Yes, and this is usually the biggest lever at the bachelor’s level. An associate degree or a block of completed general education can remove a substantial share of the 120 semester hours. Ask for a written evaluation that separates credits applied to the major from credits applied to free electives, because only the first shortens the degree.
What fees should I expect on top of the credit charge?
Technology fees, online course or per-term fees, library and database charges at some schools, proctoring for examinations, graduation and transcript fees, and at the graduate level a thesis submission fee. Ask for an itemized schedule at your degree level rather than a per-credit number.
Are there costs specific to art history?
Two. First, travel: if the program requires an internship, practicum, or a short residency, budget for transport, lodging, and time away from work. Second, materials: exhibition catalogs and monographs are expensive and often not in a general library. Ask whether the school licenses the major image and article databases for online students and what interlibrary borrowing costs.
At a Glance
- Biggest lever: Transfer credit and prior-learning assessment that removes required credits
- Second lever: A flat online rate instead of out-of-state pricing
- Commonly missed: Practicum or residency travel, and image and article database access
- What to compare: Total cost to complete, not the advertised per-credit rate
- Programmatic accreditor: None for art history; verify institutional accreditation
Schools to compare
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.
Graduation rate
97%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$124,080
Avg net price
$13,807/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 98%
- Programs offered: 100
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
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
98%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$110,066
Avg net price
$6,128/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 98%
- Programs offered: 47
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Acceptance rate
7%
Graduation rate
95%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$82,735
Avg net price
$14,398/yr
TuitionIn‑state$67,832
Out‑of‑state$67,832
Key stats
- Retention rate: 97%
- Programs offered: 40
Source:Accreditor: New England Commission on Higher Education · IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
96%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$88,665
Avg net price
$17,716/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 97%
- Programs offered: 38
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Acceptance rate
33%
Graduation rate
84%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$74,915
Avg net price
$16,109/yr
TuitionIn‑state$16,414
Out‑of‑state$50,614
Key stats
- Retention rate: 92%
- Programs offered: 81
Source:Accreditor: Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior Colleges and University Commission · IPEDS · College Scorecard
Acceptance rate
7%
Graduation rate
89%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$80,490
Avg net price
$17,180/yr
TuitionIn‑state$69,600
Out‑of‑state$69,600
Key stats
- Retention rate: 92%
- Programs offered: 45
Source:Accreditor: New England Commission on Higher Education · IPEDS · College Scorecard
Ways to lower the cost of an online art history degree
Flat online rates instead of residency-based pricing
Ask each public university whether its online rate is the same for in-state and out-of-state students, whether it is locked for the duration of the program, and whether it applies at both the undergraduate and graduate level. Some schools quote an attractive online rate that applies only to undergraduates. Private institutions often have a single rate already, which makes them easier to compare but not automatically cheaper.
Transfer credit and prior learning
Bring in everything that will count. Community college general education, prior coursework at any accredited institution, credit by examination, and military or professional training assessed for credit all reduce the remaining requirement. For art history specifically, expect surveys to transfer readily and methods and upper-division seminars to transfer poorly. Ask about the residency requirement – the number of credits, and often upper-division credits, that must be earned at the degree-granting school no matter what you transfer.
Pacing and time enrolled
Per-term fees are charged by the term, so the number of terms you are enrolled affects the total independent of the credit price. Finishing in fewer terms lowers fee exposure and reduces the chance of catching a rate increase. That is the honest case for accelerated formats, weighed against what compression does to seminar work.
Fees beyond the credit charge
Get the itemized list. Common items include a per-term technology fee, an online-course fee charged per credit or per course, proctoring charges for examinations, library or database access charges for distance students, an internship or practicum registration fee, and graduation and transcript charges. At the graduate level, add thesis formatting and submission charges. Fees are where two programs with identical advertised rates diverge.
Books, images, and research access
Art history reading lists lean on expensive illustrated books, and seminar research assumes access to journal databases and image archives. Ask whether the school licenses the major art and architecture indexes and image collections for online students, whether interlibrary borrowing is free, and whether course materials are available digitally. A program that gives distance students full database access saves real money over four years.
Travel for practicums and residencies
If a practicum, internship, or residency is required, it is a cost line. Ask how many hours or weeks, whether the school will approve a site near you, and whether any on-campus session is mandatory. A program that lets you complete the practicum at a local museum is materially cheaper than one that requires travel to campus.
Build a single spreadsheet with one row per school: credits still required after transfer, price per credit, all per-term and per-course fees multiplied by the number of terms, database and materials costs, and travel. Compare the bottom line. The school with the lowest advertised rate is frequently not the cheapest to finish.
Questions to ask each admissions office
Put these in an email so you have the answers in writing:
- What is the current rate per credit for online students at my degree level, and is it the same regardless of my state of residence?
- Is that rate locked for the length of my program, or can it change between terms?
- What is the complete list of fees, including per-term, per-course, proctoring, practicum registration, and graduation charges?
- How many of my prior credits will you accept, and how many of those apply to the art history major rather than to free electives?
- What is the residency requirement in credits, and how many must be upper-division?
- Do online students get the same library, journal database, and image collection access as campus students, and is interlibrary borrowing free?
- Is an internship, practicum, or residency required, and can it be completed at an institution near me?
The answers to the last three questions are the ones most likely to differ from what the program’s public pages imply, and they are the ones that change the total.
Cost factors to compare
| Factor |
Why it matters |
| Residency-based vs flat online rate |
Often the largest single price difference between public schools |
| Credits accepted toward the major |
Only major-applicable credit shortens the degree |
| Residency requirement |
Caps how much transfer credit can help |
| Per-term and per-course fees |
Scale with number of terms, not with credits |
| Database and image access |
Determines whether you buy research access yourself |
| Practicum or residency travel |
A real line item in a field built on object access |
| Rate lock |
Protects the total from mid-program increases |
Degree level and cost
The cheapest credible art history credential is a bachelor’s finished with a large block of transfer credit at a school with a flat online rate. The master’s is a smaller number of credits but usually a higher rate per credit, and it adds thesis and language costs. The doctorate is a different calculation entirely and should be undertaken only for curatorial ranks at large art museums or for college teaching.
One more comparison worth making before you spend: if collections, cataloguing, and access are the work you actually want, an ALA-accredited library science master’s may be both the cheaper and the more directly employable credential. Read the postings for the jobs you want, then price the degree that those postings name.
Compare related pages
Data verified: September 5, 2026.
Salary, employment, and tuition figures on this page are sourced from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics (OEWS May 2025; Employment Projections 2024–2034) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard (2023 cohort). The source agency and data year are cited inline with every statistic.
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