What Is an Online Education Degree? Your Guide to Programs, Jobs for Graduates, and Salary Expectations

Launch or advance your teaching career with an online education degree. You can pursue a bachelor’s or master’s program leading to initial teacher licensure, train for a school leadership career, or use your degree to transition to a non-school education role.

Earning your degree online can help you sharpen your instructional skills, improve your teaching knowledge in remote contexts, and collaborate with diverse groups of learners. After graduation, you can pursue various teaching and non-teaching careers. Explore details about online education degrees, teacher salaries, and education-related careers outside the classroom with this helpful guide.

Accreditation signals that a school has met high standards for curricula, faculty, and educational outcomes.

The U.S. Department of Education and/or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation recognize certain third-party agencies to accredit schools. Colleges can receive institutional accreditation and programmatic accreditation.Accreditation ensures that future employers will recognize the legitimacy of your education degree. If you wish to further your education down the road, graduate programs will also require you to have an accredited degree. You also must attend an accredited school to receive your teaching license.

Here are some teaching program accreditors to look for:

You need a state teaching certification or license to teach in the public school system. Some private and charter schools may not require a teaching license.

The licensing process and requirements vary among states, but the steps are generally the same. You must have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited school and complete a teacher preparation program.

Most college education programs include the teacher preparation curriculum in the coursework — this often involves classroom experience through student teaching. You also need to pass your state’s teaching exam, which covers basic education skills and specific subject areas like math and writing.

No, you do not have to teach — your education degree can open many non-teaching career pathways. For example, you can consider jobs in corporate training, publishing, museums, archives, or substance use counseling. An education degree can also prepare you for graduate-level work in many related fields like counseling, psychology, and occupational or speech therapy.

You might also choose a non-teaching career in administration to support K-12 educators or teach a practical subject in a career-focused high school. Let your aspirations and interests guide you as you explore the many opportunities a teaching degree can create.

If you want to work in a public school, you could use your education degree to pursue instructional designer roles or earn a master’s degree to qualify for school counselor positions. Outside of school, you could work as a corporate trainer or set up your own business as an educational consultant.

A bachelor’s degree normally takes about four years, but for many students, six years is a more realistic timeframe. Work, life events, or changes to your major can slow your coursework. However, students with dual credit, transfer credits, or credits for life experience may be able to complete their undergraduate degrees in less than four years.

The terms “teaching” and “education” are often used interchangeably to describe education jobs. Teaching more often refers to the in-classroom act of educating students. Education, in contrast, can be used more broadly to refer to academic institutions, administration, leadership, and policymaking.

Education degrees don’t have a reputation for being as rigorous as medical or STEM degrees, but difficulty varies among students. If you’re naturally inclined to the skills and content of an education degree, the program may come easier to you than for others. Ultimately, your specialization, program, and degree level will all help to determine the difficulty of your education degree.

Education professionals typically earn $35,000-$103,00 a year, while tuition costs can range anywhere from $4,000-$40,000 a year. Gauging whether an education degree is worth it will depend on what you value — earning potential, career opportunities, or job satisfaction. Some careers in education may have a low average salary but are very personally rewarding.