Davenport University Online Associate of Applied Science in Cyber Defense

This is a good fit if you want a two-year cyber defense degree from a school with a federal cybersecurity education designation and you can pay private-university tuition. Online tuition is $1,059 per credit for Michigan residents and a net $716 for everyone else, so the 60-credit degree runs $63,540 or $42,960. The honest tradeoff is price: it costs far more per credit than a public technical college.

Davenport University is a private, not-for-profit university in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Its Global Campus delivers the Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) in Cyber Defense online, and the program page describes it as a two-year, 60-credit degree. Federal data counts 4,815 students and shows 41% of undergraduates enrolled exclusively online.

Davenport offers three cyber defense credentials online, and they stack. The associate degree is 60 credits. The Bachelor of Science in Cyber Defense is 120 credits and adds two specialties, Information Assurance and Health Care Information Assurance, plus an internship and a capstone. The Master of Science in Information Assurance and Cyber Security is 31 credits.

The associate degree is the entry point. Choose it if you want to start working or test the field first. Choose the bachelor's if you already know you want the longer degree.

You'd earn an Associate of Applied Science in Cyber Defense from a private, not-for-profit university. The A.A.S. is meant to prepare you for work, but at Davenport it also sits at the start of a longer ladder into the bachelor's and master's programs.

Federal data puts the university's graduation rate at 57%, and the 8-year completion rate for transfer-in students is 53%. The admission rate is 98%, so entry is open. Those are school-wide numbers, not figures for this degree.

The bachelor's page mentions alignment with industry exams such as the CISSP (Certified Information Systems Security Professional). That's a later-career certification, so ask what the associate degree prepares you for sooner.

Where this degree can lead: Cybersecurity Degree Jobs.

Who It Fits

• You want a name with a federal cybersecurity education designation on the diploma and you're comfortable with private-university pricing.
• You live outside Michigan, where the net rate of $716 per credit applies after a $343 Davenport Tuition Grant.
• You learn by working in labs. The program page highlights cyber defense labs covering networking, computing and forensics.
• You're starting from little or no IT background and want a degree that can later feed into Davenport's bachelor's program.

Who Should Skip It

• You're watching your budget closely. At $1,059 per credit for Michigan residents, the degree totals $63,540 in tuition.
• You want the internship, capstone or employment guarantee. Those belong to the bachelor's, not the associate degree.
• You already hold a bachelor's degree. The master's program may be the more useful starting point.

The program page describes cyber defense labs for networking, computing and forensics, which tells you the degree is built around practice and not only theory. A cyber defense degree typically moves from networking and operating system basics toward defending systems and examining them after something goes wrong.

What sets Davenport apart is the designation behind it. The school calls itself one of 14 national CAE-CDE colleges, meaning a National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education from the NSA and DHS. That designation is a review of a school's cybersecurity courses and faculty, so it's a useful quality signal for an associate program.

The bachelor's version is more specific. It lists courses such as Windows Digital Forensics, Information Security and Assurance, Python Scripting and Linux Server Administration. Ask whether the associate degree uses the same early courses, since that decides how smoothly credits carry forward.

Standout Features

• Cyber defense labs for networking, computing and forensics
• Davenport is one of 14 national CAE-CDE colleges (NSA and DHS National Center of Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense Education)

Online undergraduate tuition is $1,059 per credit hour for Michigan residents. Students outside Michigan pay a net $716 per credit hour after a $343 Davenport Tuition Grant. Across 60 credits, that's $63,540 for Michigan residents and $42,960 for everyone else, before fees.

The same rates apply to the bachelor's program, so a student who finishes the associate degree and continues pays the same per-credit price. The master's is higher at $1,148 per credit.

Because the grant makes the out-of-state price lower than the Michigan price, ask exactly who qualifies and whether it applies for the whole program. Also ask about transfer credit, since each credit you bring in saves you the per-credit rate.

60 credits at $716 a credit comes to $42,960 in tuition, before fees. At the in-state rate of $1,059, the same 60 credits come to $63,540.

Davenport runs the degree through its Global Campus, and the program page says you can earn the cybersecurity associate degree online. Federal data shows 41% of the university's undergraduates take classes exclusively online, so the Global Campus is well established.

The bachelor's page lists online, on-campus and hybrid formats, so confirm that you're enrolling in the online version and ask how the cyber defense labs run for online students. Labs are the difference between a security degree and a general IT degree.

Ask also whether classes meet at set times or can be done on your own schedule, and how long each term runs.

The full rubric is on the methodology page.

• Tuition is high for a two-year degree. Michigan residents pay $1,059 per credit, which totals $63,540.
• The internship, capstone and employment guarantee are part of the bachelor's program, not this associate degree.
• Out-of-state pricing depends on a $343 Davenport Tuition Grant, so confirm how long it lasts.
• Federal data shows 4,815 students overall and 10 awards in this field, so cohorts are modest in size.

• Does the $343 Davenport Tuition Grant apply for my entire degree, and who qualifies?
• How do the cyber defense labs work for online students, and which tools or virtual machines do I use?
• If I continue to the Bachelor of Science in Cyber Defense, do all 60 associate credits count?
• Which industry certifications do the courses prepare me for?
• How long are terms, and how many times a year can I start?
• How much transfer credit or credit for work experience will you accept?

Private, not-for-profit university in Michigan with a Global Campus for online students.

• Best Cyber Defense Degrees Rank 1 of 1, associate
• Best Online Programs in Michigan Rank 1 of 2, associate

• Bachelor of Science in Cyber Defense

  B.S., Bachelor's

  Fully Online $716 per credit Score 45.9

• Master of Science in Information Assurance and Cyber Security

  M.S., Master's

  Fully Online $1,148 per credit Score 44.7

• Wiregrass Georgia Technical College

  Cybersecurity, AAS Degree

  Georgia $214 per credit Score 44.5

• Central Texas College

  Cyberdefense - Information Assurance AAS

  Texas Score 44.7

• Community College of Baltimore County

  Digital Forensics

  Maryland Score 44.0

• American Public University System

  Associate of Science in Cybersecurity

  West Virginia $360 per credit Score 45.7