Advice needed - looking to earn CS credits

[Merlin]

Just going off of price for a moment, I have not seen an online MCS cheaper than GA Tech. Who is cheaper than GA Tech for an online MCS? GA Tech's price along with their reputation make it a really attractive option. ASU looks great also.

I agree that it is unlikely that there are MCS alternatives with GA Tech's reputation for a lower price than $8,000, but there are some that are not that much more expensive.

If you're interested in reputation, the University of Illinois (a top 5 CS program) also offers an online MCS, but it runs ~$12,000 more than the GAT OMSCS. UPenn (top 20 CS program) offers an MCIT-CS program at ~$17,000 more than the GAT OMSCS. ASU's CS program is ranked #43, but it is only ~$7,000 more expensive than the GAT offering,

If you ignore reputation, I am fairly confident that you can find other schools in the same or lower price range. They may end up being NA schools or foreign schools, but my bet is that they do exist. They'd be worth considering if you really want an MCS degree and can't get into GA Tech. I'm not interested in doing the research for that though.

Personally, I'm mostly looking at PhD options, but I am also considering the MCS degrees from GA Tech, UI, and UPenn since they would be shorter to complete and reasonably priced. Particularly when compared to most PhD programs.