Ranking Methodology
The onlinecolleges.com (opens in a new window) Best College rankings are based on a variety of metrics and data from the National Center for Education Statistics. Schools appearing in a Best College list are selected based solely on the methodology noted below and found on the website (opens in a new window). All ranked schools—including Ohio University—earned their placement based solely on data.
Onlinecolleges.com Methodology
“Using IPEDS, we generated a list of colleges and universities that met the following criteria:
- Level of institution is either "Four or more years" or "At least 2 but less than 4 years"
- Data is reported for all 11 ranking variables listed in the Methodology section
- At least 1 percent of students are taking at least some of the classes via distance education
- "Number of programs offered via distance education" was an integer greater than 0
We ranked the resulting 1,813 colleges on 11 criteria, using provisional 2017-18 data from IPEDS:
- Number of programs offered via distance education
- Ratio of students participating fully or partially in DE to Total Enrollment
- Average in-state tuition for undergraduates
- Total electronic library collections, including digital books, databases, and media
- Graduation rate
- Retention rate
- The availability of any tuition plans (Payment, Guaranteed, Other)
- Services (Academic/Career, Placement for Completers)
- Credit offerings (Dual, Life, AP, Military)
- Percent of undergraduate students awarded federal, state, local, institutional or other sources of grant aid
- Average amount of federal, state, local, institutional, or other sources of grant aid awarded to undergraduate students
All schools were scored on a 10-point scale for each of the points listed above. Individual data point scores were then multiplied by their respective weights, and the scores were added together, for a maximum possible score of 10 points.”
Schools appearing in the college search tool and in the partner listings at onlinecolleges.com (opens in a new window) are referred to as “Sponsored Schools” and may compensate onlinecolleges.com to be included in those locations only. While Ohio University may appear in a sponsored advertisement, there is no connection between those appearances and the data-based rankings.