Indiana Institute of Technology Online Cybersecurity, B.S.

Indiana Tech's online B.S. in Cybersecurity is a 120 to 121 credit bachelor's from a school the NSA and DHS designate as a Center for Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense. It pairs the designation with a security operations center and a digital forensics lab, and its students have interned with employers like Bosch and Parkview Health. Confirm the price in writing before you apply.

Indiana Institute of Technology's College of Professional Studies is the online and adult-learner arm of Indiana Tech, a private nonprofit school in Fort Wayne, Indiana, with about 2,779 students. The cybersecurity degree is a bachelor of science that can be earned entirely online.

It needs 120 to 121 credit hours. Indiana Tech also offers an online M.S. in Cybersecurity with 30 credits, which is the next step if you want a graduate degree. This page covers the bachelor's.

The school is a Center for Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-CD), a designation from the National Security Agency (NSA) and Department of Homeland Security (DHS).

If you're comparing schools, the designation and the employer list are the two facts that carry the most weight here.

Federal data lists a charge of about $413 per credit for the school, but that is a campus figure and may not match what an online student pays.

Ask admissions for the online per-credit rate, the fee schedule and how many credits you can transfer, then add up the full degree at 120 to 121 credits before you commit.

Who It Fits

• You want a bachelor's from a school with the CAE-CD designation, which some government employers look for.
• You want connections to employers in Indiana, since students have interned at Do it Best, Ash Brokerage, Parkview Health, Franklin Electric, Ruoff Mortgage, Bosch and Brotherhood Mutual.
• You'd like to continue into the 30-credit online master's at the same school.
• You work and need a fully online route to a bachelor's.

Who Should Skip It

• You need a posted price today; ask admissions for the full cost estimate first.
• You need to know the term length and transfer limit before deciding; get those from an advisor in writing.
• You want the strongest graduation numbers; the school-wide federal rate is low.

Indiana Tech's department added a security operations center, a digital forensics lab and an interactive data center.

A security operations center is the room where analysts watch a network for attacks, and a forensics lab is where evidence from devices is examined. Online students should ask how they get access to those resources, whether through virtual labs or on-campus visits.

The internship list is the clearest sign of where graduates land. It spans manufacturing, insurance, health care and mortgage lending, so you'd see security work in very different business settings. Ask the department for the course list for the 120 to 121 credits so you can compare it with other bachelor's programs.

Standout Features

• Designated a Center for Academic Excellence in Cyber Defense (CAE-CD) by the NSA and DHS
• Security operations center, digital forensics lab and interactive data center

Indiana Tech announced that students can earn the cybersecurity degree entirely online, and the program is listed with an online instruction style. Federal data shows about 99% of the college's undergraduates study fully online.

That figure reflects the College of Professional Studies as its own unit, so online learners are the whole student body there, not a side group. Ask whether classes meet live.

The program carries the CAE-CD designation, which the school states directly. No programmatic accreditor is listed.

The federal graduation rate for the college is 28%, and the completion measure for students who transfer in is 31.5%. These are school-wide numbers and they're low, so ask how many cybersecurity students finish.

Federal awards data shows 8 cybersecurity degrees a year.

Where this degree can lead: Cybersecurity Degree Jobs.

The full rubric is on the methodology page.

• The school-wide federal graduation rate is 28%, which is low.
• Get tuition, term format and transfer limits from admissions before you apply.
• The small number of yearly cybersecurity awards, 8, means a small graduating group.
• No certification prep is listed.

• What is the per-credit price for online students, and which fees apply?
• How many transfer credits will you accept?
• How do online students use the security operations center and forensics lab?
• Do classes meet live, and how long are the terms?
• How many cybersecurity students graduate each year, and where do they work?
• Does the bachelor's lead directly into the online 30-credit master's?

• Best Programs With Internships Rank 10 of 10, bachelor's
• Best Online Programs in Indiana Rank 3 of 3, bachelor's

• National University

  Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity

  California $640 per credit Score 51.9

• Dakota State University

  Cyber Leadership and Intelligence, BS

  South Dakota $373.80 per credit Score 51.7

• SANS Technology Institute

  Bachelor of Science in Applied Cybersecurity

  Maryland Score 52.6

• Northwood University

  Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity

  Michigan $525 per credit Score 51.6