Mid-America Christian University Online Associate of Science in Network Management and Security

This is a two-year Associate of Science from a Christian university in Oklahoma City, built for working adults who want a network and security credential in accelerated online courses. At $455 per credit for 61 credits, the tuition comes to $27,755, and you can bring in up to 30 credits for prior learning.

Choose it for the flexibility and the bachelor's runway. If low price is your top goal, community colleges charge far less.

Mid-America Christian University (MACU) is a private Christian university in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, with accelerated online degrees for working adults. This page covers the Associate of Science in Network Management and Security, a 61-credit, two-year program that you can take online or on campus.

The title matters. It is a network management degree with an information security component, not a pure cybersecurity degree, so expect networking to share the stage with security.

MACU also offers a Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity. The associate degree is the shorter, lower-division starting point, and the credits are priced at the lower-division rate, which is why people often use it as step one toward the bachelor's.

You earn an Associate of Science in Network Management and Security. Ask what review the program has and whether the credits transfer outside MACU.

MACU's own bachelor's page names the Cisco Certified Network Associate (CCNA) and CompTIA Cybersecurity Analyst (CySA+) as the certifications its labs prepare you for. Because this associate degree is network-focused, the CCNA is the one most likely to line up. Confirm which exams the associate courses cover.

Federal data shows a 44% graduation rate and a 92% admission rate, both school-wide, so admission is open and finishing depends on your schedule.

Where this degree can lead: Cybersecurity Degree Jobs.

Who It Fits

• You work full time and want courses that run in accelerated online blocks rather than long semesters.
• You have work experience, military training or certifications and want to turn them into credit. MACU accepts up to 30 credits for prior learning experiences.
• You want a Christian university setting and an enrollment office that is used to adult students.
• You plan to move on to a bachelor's in cybersecurity at the same school and want your associate credits to count toward it.

Who Should Skip It

• You want the lowest possible tuition. $455 per credit is well above community college rates, and the associate degree totals $27,755 before fees.
• You want a degree titled Cybersecurity at the associate level. This one is Network Management and Security, so look at schools whose associate titles say cybersecurity if the job posting language matters to you.

MACU describes the associate program as a two-year path. The clearest look at where it leads is the school's related bachelor's degree, since the two are designed to connect.

The B.S. in Cybersecurity lists courses such as Risk Management and IT Security, Cloud Security, Hacking Techniques and Countermeasures, and Introduction to Cybercrime Forensics. It also ends with a Cybersecurity Analyst capstone (CYBR 4993) and highlights hands-on virtual labs that prepare students for certification exams.

Those are upper-division courses, so they are what the associate degree leads toward, not what it contains. Ask for the associate course list and for a plan that shows which classes carry into the bachelor's.

MACU charges $455 per credit hour for lower-division online courses and $499 for upper-division courses. The associate degree is 61 credits, and tuition comes to $27,755 at the lower-division rate.

The bachelor's degree is 120 credits, and the school's data puts its total at $59,880. If you finish the associate degree first and continue, your first 61 credits are priced lower than the rest.

Prior learning credit is where you can bring the cost down. Up to 30 of the 61 credits can come from prior learning experiences, and each credit you don't take is $455 you don't pay. Federal data lists a $823 per-credit charge for the campus, which is higher than the online rate.

61 credits at $455 a credit comes to $27,755 in tuition, before fees.

The courses are accelerated and online, and the associate program is available online or on campus. The related bachelor's program runs five- to eight-week courses inside a 10-week term, which gives you a sense of the pace: short, focused classes, one or two at a time.

Accelerated pacing is a trade. You finish each class quickly and see progress fast, but a missed week costs more than it would in a 16-week semester.

Federal enrollment data shows 70% of MACU's undergraduates are enrolled exclusively online. That is a high share, so the online side of the school is its main business, not an add-on, and support services are built around adult learners.

The full rubric is on the methodology page.

• Tuition of $27,755 for an associate degree is high compared with public community colleges, and fees are on top.
• The degree title is Network Management and Security, so it won't read as a cybersecurity degree on a resume without explanation.
• The degree leans toward networking, so ask for the course list before you judge how much of the 61 credits is security.

• Which courses make up the 61 credits, and how many are security courses rather than networking or general education?
• How do my work experience, military training or certifications turn into the 30 prior-learning credits?
• Do the associate credits transfer one for one into the B.S. in Cybersecurity?
• Which certification exams, such as the CCNA, do the associate courses prepare me for?
• What fees and book costs are on top of $455 per credit?
• Do I pay the lower-division rate for all 61 credits?

Private Christian university in Oklahoma City, Oklahoma with accelerated online degree programs for working adults.

• Best Cybersecurity Management Degrees Rank 2 of 2, associate
• Best Accelerated Online Programs Rank 9 of 9, associate

• Bachelor of Science in Cybersecurity

  B.S., Bachelor's

  Fully Online $499 per credit Score 42.3

• Zane State College

  Cybersecurity, Foundations Concentration (Associate of Applied Business)

  Ohio Score 33.0

• Los Angeles Mission College

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  California $443 per credit Score 32.0

• Zane State College

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  Ohio Score 33.2

• Northland Pioneer College

  Cybersecurity (Associate in Applied Science)

  Arizona $376 per credit Score 31.6