Missouri State University Online Master of Science in Cybersecurity

This is a public university master's in cybersecurity with an unusually clear price: Missouri State estimates $17,500 for the full 30 credits, broken into tuition, student service fees and a College of Business course fee. It suits you if you want a state school, a two-year pace and hands-on labs. Plan for foundation courses and course materials, which sit outside that estimate.

Missouri State University is a public university in Springfield, Missouri, with 24,360 students in the federal enrollment data. Its online Master of Science in Cybersecurity is a 30-credit program, and the school says online courses must be completed within the United States.

The pace is spelled out: to finish in two years, take two classes per semester and one class in the summer. That's a part-time load, which makes the degree workable beside a full-time job, and it's a useful number to hold in mind when you compare programs that advertise a shorter finish.

The cost estimate includes a College of Business graduate course fee, which hints that the degree sits close to the business side of security. Missouri State has just this one cybersecurity degree on this site, so there's no sibling program to compare it against.

Missouri State publishes an estimated online total of $17,500 for the 30 credit hours. The pieces are tuition at $12,420, student service fees at $3,040 and a College of Business graduate-level course fee at $1,950.

Those three numbers matter because fees add up to more than a quarter of the total. A school that quotes only tuition looks cheaper than it is. Here, the estimate shows the whole bill in one place, so you can compare it directly with a program that lists a per-credit rate.

The estimate leaves out foundation courses and course materials. If you need foundation courses, add them to your budget. If you're considering the accelerated pathway, ask whether any graduate credits you earn as an undergraduate lower the total.

Who It Fits

• You want a master's from a public university and prefer a total-cost estimate you can plan around: $17,500 for the 30 credits.
• You're working full time and want a clear two-year plan with two classes a term and one in the summer.
• You like learning by doing, and Missouri State describes hands-on labs and exercises where you learn to secure and defend information systems from malicious attackers.
• You're finishing a bachelor's now and would like to start graduate credit early through the accelerated master's pathway.

Who Should Skip It

• You live or work outside the United States and plan to take courses from abroad. Missouri State requires online courses to be completed within the country.
• You want a program that finishes in a year or less. The listed path is two years at a part-time pace.
• You want a purely engineering-heavy degree. The cost estimate includes a College of Business course fee, so ask how much of the coursework is management and policy versus hands-on technical work.

Missouri State's program page emphasizes labs. Students work through hands-on exercises designed to teach them how to secure information systems and defend them from malicious attackers. That is the part to ask about, because lab quality varies widely between programs.

Ask which systems the labs run on, whether you reach them through a browser or a virtual machine at home, and which tools you'd practice with. Ask also how the labs are graded, since a lab that you only need to complete teaches less than one that asks you to explain what happened.

The 30 credits are all graduate coursework, but the page also mentions foundation courses, which are extra classes some students take to fill gaps in their background before the main sequence. If your bachelor's wasn't in computing or business, ask whether you'd need them, because they add time and cost on top of the 30 credits.

Standout Features

• Accelerated master's pathway lets students earn graduate credit while finishing a bachelor's degree
• Hands-on labs and exercises to learn to secure and defend information systems

The program is fully online, with one condition: online courses must be completed within the United States. Beyond that, the typical pace is two classes per semester plus one in the summer, so you're always taking a course load that fits around a job.

Federal data shows 49% of Missouri State's students are enrolled exclusively online, which is a high figure for a university with a large campus. Online learning is a normal way to study here, and not an afterthought. The university's enrollment of 24,360 students also means student services, career help and library access are at a scale a small school can't match.

Ask whether classes run on your own schedule or at set times, and ask how often you'd meet with an advisor.

You'd earn a Master of Science in Cybersecurity from a public university accredited by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC). HLC is one of the regional accreditors in the United States, and its accreditation covers the whole university and matters for federal aid and for the way employers and other schools treat your degree.

Federal data shows 54% of students who transfer in complete their award within eight years, and the school-wide graduation rate is 58%. Those numbers span every program at Missouri State, so they say little about this degree, but they are useful context. For graduates in this field at this school, the federal earnings data lists a median of $106,831.

The GMAT and GRE requirements have been temporarily suspended for all applicants, so you don't need to sit an entrance exam to apply right now.

Where this degree can lead: Cybersecurity Degree Jobs.

The full rubric is on the methodology page.

• Foundation courses and course materials aren't in the $17,500 estimate, so your total could end up higher.
• Fees make up a large share of the estimate: $3,040 in student service fees plus $1,950 in a College of Business course fee, on top of $12,420 in tuition.
• Online courses must be completed within the United States, which rules out studying from abroad.
• The two-year plan assumes two classes each semester and a summer class. Skipping the summer stretches your finish date.

• Would I need any foundation courses with my background, and what would they cost?
• What do course materials usually run each semester?
• Do the labs run on virtual machines I can reach from home?
• How does the accelerated master's pathway work, and which credits count toward both degrees?
• Are online classes live at set times or on my own schedule?
• How is the College of Business involved in the cybersecurity coursework?

• Best Online Programs in Missouri Rank 3 of 3, master's

• University of Michigan-Dearborn

  Cybersecurity and Information Assurance, MS

  Michigan Score 42.7

• University of Missouri-St. Louis

  Cybersecurity M.S. (Computer Science and Information Systems Emphases)

  Missouri Score 43.2

• University of Wisconsin-Parkside

  Master of Science in Cybersecurity

  Wisconsin $850 per credit Score 42.0

• University of Dallas

  Master of Science in Cybersecurity

  Texas $1,300 per credit Score 43.7