Master's difficult/expensive to get?

[cookderosa]

Thanks for the info and degrees. I'm thinking things over, and... 

Compared to undergraduate degrees, where credits can be taken somewhere else and transferred (such as from Study.com, etc.) rather than taking courses directly from the university, and therefore making the cost of the degree much lower, master's degrees aren't the same at all—you can't really transfer from Study.com and others, but need to take all credits from the university itself? Meaning you need to pay a lot more and study a lot more as well?

So, would it be accurate to say that master's degrees, at the lowest, cost around $9000 ($250/credit)?

$250/credit is for sure the lowest of the low-cost options. I think that the reason for this is based on military tuition assistance / GI Bill programs- they are all willing to pay $250/credit, so to go lower is the college leaving free money on the table.

Average public graduate credit is closer to $550/credit whereas private schools are just over $1100/credit.

Transfer - yes, you're right, you really will be earning most if not all of your credit in house with the school, so for that reason, you should look at the classes that make up the degree. Master's degrees are only 10-12 classes, but if they sound boring or you don't have a lot of options, that can be 10-12 classes too many. (example, I couldn't imagine taking even ONE business class - yuck)

Also, look at the rotation of classes. When I did my master's, there was one class I really wanted to take, but it was only offered every other year. So, I had to either wait to enroll, or stay an extra semester- the timing was off by 1 term. In the end, I opted not to take the class, but I still think about "going back" and just taking it at some point in the future. (I got permission in writing before I graduated lol)

Oh, I forgot to add- be SURE you find out the exit requirement before signing up. Almost every graduate program makes you "do something" to get out. It might be writing a paper (thesis), a project, a capstone class, conducting research, etc. My thesis included original research, whereas my husband's MBA exit requirement is simply a class. Knowing what I know now, I probably would NOT sign up for another situation where I had to conduct research, but that's just me. YMMV

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I think this list only shows in-state tuition rates, but some public schools have one rate for online programs

https://www.bestmastersdegrees.com/top/a...ish-degree

Thanks for that. I found an awesome online writing and communications master's at East Carolina University (#3 cheapest university in the list), but sadly the tuition is $230/credit for North Carolina residents and $900/credit for non-residents (for an online degree).

Other than moving there, I don't think there is a way to go around the $900/credit tuition?

North Carolina participates in a residency verification program - there's no way around it. https://ncresidency.cfnc.org/residencyInfo/