Champlain College Online Master of Science in Digital Forensic Analytics

This is the Champlain master's for people who want to investigate incidents and work with the evidence as data. It adds a third course of credit over the cybersecurity analytics degree, 33 credits instead of 30, and spends them on digital forensics, incident response and network forensics, with machine learning and data visualization applied to casework.

If you want to be the person who reconstructs what happened after a breach, this is the match.

The Master of Science in Digital Forensic Analytics is 33 credits at Champlain College, a private nonprofit college in Burlington, Vermont that delivers its online degrees through Champlain College Online. It is fully online and runs in 7-week terms alongside the school's 15-week semesters. At 2 courses per term, the school estimates 1 year to finish.

The NSA and Department of Homeland Security have recognized Champlain as a Cyber Defense Education center of excellence since 2006, and federal enrollment counts put 100% of its graduate students in fully online study.

The school offers a second forensics master's, Digital Forensic Science, so the choice between the two comes up early. This one pairs forensics with analytics. Its courses include Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, Data Visualization in Digital Forensics, Applied Digital Forensics Data Analysis and Incident Response and Network Forensics.

The full rubric is on the methodology page.

Tuition is $608 per credit for Fall 2026 to Summer 2027. Across 33 credits that is $20,064, with a one-time $150 graduation fee on top. The cybersecurity analytics master's is 30 credits at the same rate, so the extra three credits are what you pay for the forensics depth.

Military-connected students and alumni pay $500 per credit. Champlain also awards credit for prior learning and experience, including work experience, training and military training, so ask for a transfer evaluation before you commit.

33 credits at $608 a credit comes to $20,064 in tuition, before fees.

Who It Fits

• Investigators, examiners and security analysts who already handle evidence and want the data-analysis side of the job.
• Law enforcement or military professionals moving toward digital forensics. The $500 military rate and the school's review of military training for transfer credit both help.
• Career changers with any bachelor's degree who want a forensics focus. The school asks for a bachelor's from a regionally accredited institution and recommends a 2.5 GPA.
• Students who want to avoid the GRE, which Champlain states is not required for its online graduate programs.

Who Should Skip It

• Anyone who wants a research thesis. Champlain's Digital Forensic Science master's ends in a Capstone Research Thesis, where this degree ends in a Capstone in Forensic Analytics.
• Students who want to dig into malware, mobile devices and operating system analysis as courses. Those appear in the Digital Forensic Science course list, not in this one.
• People after a leadership or compliance track. The Cybersecurity Management master's at the same school covers risk and governance.

The four courses the school highlights show the blend. Incident Response and Network Forensics is the traditional forensics core: what happened on the network and how to prove it. Applied Digital Forensics Data Analysis and Data Visualization in Digital Forensics turn that evidence into something you can analyze and explain. Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence rounds out the analytics toolkit.

The Capstone in Forensic Analytics closes the program, and its title says where the final project sits: where forensic work meets analysis.

The sibling Digital Forensic Science degree lists malware analysis, mobile device analysis, operating system analysis and digital forensics and encryption, and finishes with a research thesis. Put plainly, Science is the deeper study of artifacts and Analytics is the wider look at patterns across evidence. The Cybersecurity Analytics master's has no forensics focus.

Courses the School Names

• Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence
• Data Visualization in Digital Forensics
• Applied Digital Forensics Data Analysis
• Incident Response and Network Forensics

You can take 1 or 2 courses in each 7-week term. Two courses is the path to the 1-year estimate. One course per term is the gentler pace if your caseload or shift schedule is heavy. Everything is delivered online and the school aims the format at working professionals.

Short terms move fast, which suits people who like to finish a topic and move on. If you prefer to sit with one subject for a full semester, the longer 15-week structure at the school may feel different, so ask which courses use which format.

Champlain is regionally accredited by the New England Commission of Higher Education, and the NSA and Department of Homeland Security recognition is noted above.

College Scorecard shows median earnings of $145,009 for Champlain's graduate-level graduates in this field. That figure covers the school's field and level, not this program alone, and the school's other cybersecurity master's degrees draw on the same number.

Where this degree can lead: Cybersecurity Degree Jobs.

• At $608 per credit and 33 credits, tuition is $20,064, with three more credits than the cybersecurity analytics master's at the same school.
• The program is narrower than a general cybersecurity degree. If your goal shifts toward security operations or management, you would be taking courses outside what this degree emphasizes.
• Seven-week terms leave little room to catch up if a heavy case or work stretch makes you fall behind.

• How does the Capstone in Forensic Analytics work, and can I use a case from my own workplace?
• Which forensic tools and lab environments do the incident response and network forensics courses use?
• How would you advise someone choosing between Digital Forensic Analytics and Digital Forensic Science?
• How many of my prior credits or work experience hours will transfer, and in what form do I get the evaluation?
• Which forensics certifications do graduates usually pursue alongside or after the degree?

A private nonprofit college in Burlington, Vermont that delivers its online degrees through Champlain College Online.

• Best Online Programs in Vermont Rank 4 of 5, master's

• BS in Computer Forensics & Digital Investigations

  B.S., Bachelor's

  Fully Online $342 per credit Score 75.9

• Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity

  B.S., Bachelor's

  Fully Online $342 per credit Score 72.4

• Master of Science in Digital Forensic Science

  M.S., Master's

  Fully Online $608 per credit Score 75.1

• Master of Science in Cybersecurity Operations

  M.S., Master's

  Fully Online $608 per credit Score 70.7

• Master of Science in Cybersecurity Analytics

  M.S., Master's

  Fully Online $608 per credit Score 70.5

• Master of Science in Cybersecurity Management

  M.S., Master's

  Fully Online $608 per credit Score 70.1

Also at Champlain College, but not counted here because they are not fully online: Bachelor of Science in Computer Science (bachelor's, on campus).

• University of the Cumberlands

  Master of Science in Information Systems Security (Online)

  Kentucky $355 per credit Score 67.4

• Hallmark University

  Master of Science in Cybersecurity

  Texas $595 per credit Score 67.1

• Dakota State University

  Cyber Defense, MS

  South Dakota $495.70 per credit Score 65.8

• Excelsior University

  Master of Science in Cybersecurity

  New York $715 per credit Score 65.4