A bachelor’s in child development exists under several names. Some schools award a BS in Child Development, some a BS in Human Development and Family Studies, some a BA in Child and Family Studies, and some run child development as a concentration inside a psychology, education, or family and consumer sciences major. All of these are legitimate. The choice matters less than two things the title will not tell you: how much developmental research and methods the program actually requires, and how the required practicum works if you are studying online.
This page explains the degree titles you will encounter, what the coursework covers, why the field placement deserves more attention than the catalog gives it, and how to compare programs honestly.
Quick answers
Can I get a bachelor’s degree in child development online?
Yes. IPEDS counted 213 institutions reporting bachelor’s-or-higher completions in child development and human development and family studies fields, and 193 of them report offering distance-education programs (IPEDS 2024). The classroom portion is online. The observation hours and practicum are completed in person at a site near you.
What is the degree usually called?
Child Development, Human Development and Family Studies, Child and Family Studies, Human Development, or Family Science. HDFS covers the full life span; child development concentrates on birth through adolescence. Compare the required course list, because two programs with different names often assign nearly the same books.
How is this different from early childhood education?
Early childhood education is teacher preparation. At many schools it is a state-approved licensure program with student teaching, and it ends with a credential you can take into a classroom. Child development is developmental science applied across settings and does not include a teaching license. If you want a public pre-K or kindergarten classroom, that is the licensure route, not this one.
How many credits is a bachelor’s degree?
Approximately 120 semester hours, typically four years full-time. The child development core generally sits in the sophomore through senior years, after general education, introductory psychology, and often a statistics requirement.
Do I have to complete a practicum in person?
Yes, in nearly every program. Expect observation hours in early courses and a supervised practicum or internship late in the major, in a licensed child care program, preschool, Head Start site, early intervention program, or family service agency. Placements need background checks and take weeks to arrange.
Is a bachelor’s enough, or will I need a master’s?
A bachelor’s is the working credential for center leadership, family support, home visiting, and most program roles, and it is what state child care licensing rules typically reference. A master’s is what you need for school-based specialist roles, university teaching, research, and clinical paths, and clinical practice adds licensure requirements this degree does not satisfy.
At a Glance
- Common degree titles: BS in Child Development, BS in Human Development and Family Studies, BA in Child and Family Studies
- Typical duration: 4 years full-time
- Credits: Approximately 120 semester hours
- Core skills: Developmental theory and research, observation and assessment, family engagement, program administration
- Field work: Observation hours plus a supervised practicum completed in person
- Accreditation: No single programmatic accreditor; verify institutional accreditation
For a full map of this program area, start here: Child Development Program Guide
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
92%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$89,816
TuitionContact school for pricing
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Acceptance rate
27%
Graduation rate
87%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$84,943
Avg net price
$12,470/yr
TuitionIn‑state$16,758
Out‑of‑state$50,958
Key stats
- Retention rate: 94%
- Programs offered: 133
Source:Accreditor: Western Association of Schools and Colleges Senior Colleges and University Commission · IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
93%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$91,565
Avg net price
$15,846/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 96%
- Programs offered: 157
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
85%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$75,790
Avg net price
$15,564/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 90%
- Programs offered: 193
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
96%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$104,043
Avg net price
$28,690/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 98%
- Programs offered: 132
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
83%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$75,001
Avg net price
$36,175/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Key stats
- Retention rate: 88%
- Programs offered: 42
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
Acceptance rate
61%
Graduation rate
86%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$63,435
Avg net price
$32,875/yr
TuitionIn‑state$20,644
Out‑of‑state$41,790
Key stats
- Retention rate: 92%
- Programs offered: 214
Source:Accreditor: Middle States Commission on Higher Education · IPEDS · College Scorecard
Graduation rate
45%
Median earnings, 10 yrs after entry
$45,039
Avg net price
$9,132/yr
TuitionContact school for pricing
Source:IPEDS · College Scorecard
The main undergraduate pathways
Standalone child development major
The most direct route. The major credits go to developmental science across ages, observation and assessment, family and community context, and a capstone practicum. Programs built for working adults often add an administration track aimed at center leadership. Verify that developmental research methods and statistics are required rather than optional, because that requirement is what separates a science major from a survey of parenting topics.
Human development and family studies (HDFS)
The wider version of the same department. HDFS adds adolescence, adulthood and aging, family systems theory, family policy, and relationship education to the child development core. Choose it if you expect to work with whole families rather than only with young children, or if the Certified Family Life Educator credential interests you. The National Council on Family Relations approves HDFS coursework at specific institutions so graduates can apply for that credential without sitting the exam. Ask the department directly whether its course list carries that approval.
Child development as a concentration
Common inside psychology, education, family and consumer sciences, and human services majors. You take the parent major’s core plus a block of child development courses. This works well if you want a broader degree with a developmental emphasis, and it is a reasonable feeder into graduate work in psychology or social work. The tradeoff is fewer applied courses and, sometimes, no required practicum – which employers in this field do notice.
Typical coursework in a bachelor’s program
| Course Topic |
What You Learn |
| Lifespan or Child Development |
Prenatal through adolescent development across physical, cognitive, social, and emotional domains |
| Research Methods and Statistics |
Reading longitudinal research, study design, and why correlation in developmental data is not causation |
| Observation and Assessment |
Running records, structured observation, developmental screening, and the line between screening and diagnosis |
| Language and Literacy Development |
How language emerges, dual-language learners, and early literacy practices supported by evidence |
| Family Systems and Parenting |
Family structure, parenting across cultures, stress and resilience, and family engagement practice |
| Children with Disabilities and Early Intervention |
Developmental delay, individualized plans, inclusive practice, and the early intervention system |
| Health, Safety, and Nutrition |
Licensing standards, supervision, illness policy, and nutrition for young children |
| Child and Family Policy |
Child care regulation, child welfare, mandated reporting, and public programs serving families |
| Program Administration |
Staffing, budgets, licensing compliance, and quality rating systems for early childhood programs |
| Practicum or Internship |
Supervised hours in a program serving children, with an evaluation from a site supervisor |
Skills you may build
- Describing what a child did, in observable terms, before interpreting it
- Reading a developmental study well enough to know what it does and does not support
- Recognizing typical variation, and knowing when a screening referral is warranted
- Running a family conversation about a hard topic without lecturing the family
- Applying licensing and health-and-safety rules to a real room full of children
- Writing documentation that a supervisor, a family, and a state monitor can all use
Prerequisites and course sequencing
The major core generally sits behind introductory psychology and a statistics or research methods requirement, and applied courses often run on a rotation rather than every term. Before you enroll, confirm:
- Whether statistics and research methods are required, and whether your transfer credit satisfies them
- How many observation hours the early courses require, and whether they must be at a licensed site
- When the practicum is offered, how many hours it demands, and whether it can be completed part-time
- Whether the school approves placements you arrange yourself, or maintains its own site list
- What background check, fingerprinting, or immunization documentation the site will require
If you are moving faster than a standard four-year plan, compare accelerated child development programs. Compression works on the coursework and does not work on the practicum, because sites run on their own calendars.
Transfer credits and degree planning
Transfer credit can shorten a bachelor’s substantially, especially for general education, introductory psychology, and statistics. Community college early childhood coursework often transfers well into this major. Rules vary by institution, so confirm:
- The maximum number of transfer credits accepted
- The minimum grade required for a course to transfer
- Whether credits apply to the major core or only to general electives
- Whether an associate degree in early childhood education articulates into the major, and how many credits it carries
- Residency requirements, meaning a minimum number of credits completed at the institution
See Affordable Online Child Development Degrees for more on managing total program cost.
Accreditation and program quality checks
There is no single programmatic accreditor for child development or HDFS bachelor’s degrees. Verify that the institution holds accreditation from a recognized institutional accreditor through the U.S. Department of Education database. Two field-specific reviews exist and are optional: NAEYC recognizes early childhood degree programs against its professional preparation standards, usually where the program prepares teachers, and the National Council on Family Relations approves HDFS course sequences for the Certified Family Life Educator credential.
Membership organizations, quality rating systems, and state registries for the early childhood workforce are useful, but they are not accreditation and they do not evaluate degree programs. Institutional accreditation is the check that matters.
What the degree pays at entry
Wages in this field track the setting and the credential more than the major. Preschool teachers, except special education, had a median annual wage of $38,140 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS), and childcare workers had a median of $34,980 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS). A bachelor’s improves access to the better-paid corners of that market – Head Start, public pre-K programs, employer-sponsored centers – and to the leadership track, where education and childcare administrators, preschool and daycare, had a median of $59,300 (Bureau of Labor Statistics, May 2025 OEWS). Social and human service assistants, a common family-services entry title, had a median of $45,930 and the fastest projected growth in this group at 6.4 percent through 2034 (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-2034). Plan the degree around the setting you want, not around the major title.
Bachelor’s vs a master’s in child development
A bachelor’s is the field’s working credential. It qualifies you for classroom, program, and family-services roles and for the director track that state child care licensing rules recognize. A master’s in child development is for people who need research training, want to teach at the college level, are moving into policy or program evaluation, or are pursuing a specialist role that names the graduate degree. It does not confer a clinical license.
Compare degree options:
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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