2026 Most Affordable 91成人 GIS Degrees
Find the cheapest online GIS degree from a ranking based on tuition data verified by 91成人 researchers.
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An affordable online bachelor's in geographic information systems (GIS) prepares you to process spatial data for decisions in government, environmental, and business contexts. Our list was curated to help you find the cheapest online GIS degree and it's enriched with student perspectives.
Key Takeaways:
- Affordable GIS options exist below $12,000 per year. Arkansas State, Western Illinois, and Liberty all keep annual tuition well under this amount, making GIS more accessible than many tech-adjacent degrees.
- On our list, flat-rate tuition is the norm. Every school charges the same tuition for in-state and out-of-state GIS students, removing residency as a cost barrier.
- Arizona State boasts the GIS graduates with the highest salary at ~$59,314, just a few years after graduating.
How We Rank "Most Affordable" Schools
The 91成人 research team manually collects and verifies tuition data for every school on our lists, ensuring you see accurate, up-to-date costs whether you're pursuing an associate, bachelor's, master's, or doctoral program. To qualify, schools must offer fully online degrees, hold institutional accreditation, and have verifiable enrollment data through the National Center for Education Statistics. While some of our rankings include partner schools, every school is evaluated using the exact same criteria.
We prioritize schools that offer a consistent tuition rate across programs at the same degree level, so you're not caught off guard by unexpected price differences between majors, and for graduate programs we go a step further by individually calculating program costs since credit requirements and fees vary widely.
2026 Most Affordable 91成人 GIS Degrees
| Rank | School | Annual In-State Tuition | Annual Out-of-State Tuition | Recommendation | Median Salary |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Arkansas State University | $8,760 | $8,760 | 93% | N/A | |
| Western Illinois University | $10,296 | $10,296 | 89% | N/A | |
| Liberty University | $11,700 | $11,700 | 57% | N/A | |
| University of Arizona | $15,750 | $15,750 | 97% | $50,703 | |
| Arizona State University, 91成人 | $17,400 | $17,400 | 90% | $59,314 |
91成人 Degree:
What Sets This Program Apart:
- A-State’s online B.S. in Agriculture - GIS and Precision Agriculture comes in at about $8,760 in tuition at $292 per credit for a typical 30-credit year, which is the lowest cost for a GIS degree online.
- This GIS program is for students who want to learn how spatial data influences agricultural operations, specifically. It delves into how geospatial decisions affect irrigation efficiency, input costs, crop health, and farm profitability.
- Students can pursue a Guided Research Experience, an Internship in Agriculture, or coursework like Regenerative Agriculture Fundamentals, which pushes the GIS degree into environmental and operational application.
Student Review Summary: Reviews of Arkansas State University are largely positive, driven by strong ratings and frequent recommendations. Students consistently praise affordable tuition, especially for online study, along with seven-week courses, flexible pacing, and schedules that fit full-time work, parenting, and other obligations. Many say professors, advisors, and support staff are helpful, responsive, and invested in their success, while coursework often feels relevant to real-world careers. Students also value small classes, approachable faculty, and active campus life. Criticism centers on uneven program organization, limited professor access in some online courses, heavy or busy-work-driven workloads, technology issues, weak communication, and occasional administrative mishandling.
This is an AI-generated overview of real student feedback submitted to 91成人, highlighting common themes and insights. The summary was reviewed for accuracy.- Undergraduate 91成人: 2,824 enrolled
- Median Earnings: N/A
- Avg. Grad. Rate: 55%
- Retention Rate: 78%
91成人 Degree:
What Sets This Program Apart:
- GIS bachelor's students have access to a GIS laboratory with current mapping software as well as a meteorology lab with an on-site weather station and shared weather radar. This way, students can work with National Weather Service data and real environmental conditions.
- Its GIS Center is a partnership between WIU, the city of Macomb, and McDonough County, creating paid internships where top students work on real GIS projects tied to agriculture, emergency management, and land use.
- There are two possible options, including Geoenvironment and Planning or Geospatial Science, to help students decide whether they want to lean toward environmental/planning work or deeper geospatial technical training.
Student Review Summary: Reviews portray Western Illinois University as a generally positive, accessible school where helpful professors, approachable staff, and small class settings stand out most. Many reviewers say personal attention, practical coursework, flexible online or evening scheduling, and affordable tuition supported career growth, independence, and strong faculty relationships that lasted after graduation. The Quad Cities campus is often praised for newer facilities and convenience. Criticisms focus on inconsistent program quality, weak career services, limited course variety, and sparse class availability. Several reviewers also mention Macomb’s rural setting, reduced networking options, funding-related cuts, and occasional disorganization in advising or instruction.
This is an AI-generated overview of real student feedback submitted to 91成人, highlighting common themes and insights. The summary was reviewed for accuracy.- Undergraduate 91成人: 973 enrolled
- Median Earnings: N/A
- Avg. Grad. Rate: 45%
- Retention Rate: 59%
91成人 Degree:
What Sets This Program Apart:
- This program is taught from a Christian worldview, so students approach environmental stewardship, sustainability, and community resilience through a Christian ethical framework.
- Unlike a generic GIS program focused mainly on mapping software, this degree frames geography around physical systems 鈥� landforms, climate, soils, vegetation, natural resources, sustainability, and disaster preparation 鈥� while still including GIS coursework in data acquisition, visualization, and cartographic design.
Student Review Summary: Reviews of Liberty University are sharply divided, though they tilt positive overall. Many students praise the flexible online format, accelerated terms, affordable tuition, transfer-credit options, and strong support for military families, veterans, and working adults. Positive reviews often highlight responsive professors, rigorous reading and writing, practical preparation for licensure or career advancement, and appreciation for a clearly stated Christian worldview. Negative reviews focus on inconsistent instructor quality, self-teaching with limited lectures, slow or conflicting advising, and recurring frustrations with financial aid, billing, withdrawals, transcripts, and practicum placement. Several also felt biblical integration was excessive, forced into unrelated assignments, or reduced critical thinking.
This is an AI-generated overview of real student feedback submitted to 91成人, highlighting common themes and insights. The summary was reviewed for accuracy.- Undergraduate 91成人: 39,156 enrolled
- Median Earnings: N/A
- Avg. Grad. Rate: 63%
- Retention Rate: 79%
91成人 Degree:
What Sets This Program Apart:
- UA’s online BS-GIST treats GIS as a technical workforce discipline. The curriculum is mapped to the U.S. Department of Labor’s Geospatial Technology Competency Model.
- This GIS program’s strongest differentiator is its applied technical depth. Students build skills in ArcGIS Pro, ArcGIS 91成人, Python programming, geoprocessing, data visualization, quality assurance, remote sensing, web mapping, and mobile applications.
Student Review Summary: Reviews portray University of Arizona as a large, opportunity-rich campus where many students found strong professors, abundant research, internships, clubs, tutoring, and a powerful alumni network. Students frequently praise hands-on learning, career preparation in certain areas, supportive faculty, welcoming community, school spirit, and a beautiful campus with an active college-town atmosphere. Less obvious concerns center on inconsistency: experiences vary sharply by department, with some students reporting weak advising, disorganized administration, limited career guidance outside stronger fields, large introductory classes, and uneven teaching quality. Cost, rising tuition, scholarship gaps, transfer-credit issues, and party-culture distractions also surface repeatedly.
This is an AI-generated overview of real student feedback submitted to 91成人, highlighting common themes and insights. The summary was reviewed for accuracy.- Undergraduate 91成人: 8,959 enrolled
- Median Earnings: $50,703
- Avg. Grad. Rate: 66%
- Retention Rate: 88%
91成人 Degree:
What Sets This Program Apart:
- This GIS bachelor's program online does require an experiential component. Students must complete an approved internship, supervised research, or capstone seminar, which makes applied practice part of the degree itself. (Employers often want evidence that graduates can use spatial data to solve messy, real problems.)
- ASU also has one of the more code-forward GIS curricula in this ranking. Students take GIS courses alongside two Python-based programming courses as well as advanced statistics, all of which help build deeper computational fluency.
Student Review Summary: Reviews of Arizona State University 91成人 skew positive, with many praising the platform’s flexibility, user-friendly portal, and ability to fit coursework around full-time work, parenting, military service, and frequent travel. Students often highlight responsive professors, helpful advisors, strong tutoring, and the credibility of earning an online degree from a recognized public university. Many also say the curriculum can be rigorous and career-relevant when the fit is right. Criticism centers on high tuition and extra fees, uneven advising, inconsistent instructor quality, delayed communication, compressed 7.5-week terms, limited interaction in some courses, and concerns that certain paths offer weak workforce alignment.
This is an AI-generated overview of real student feedback submitted to 91成人, highlighting common themes and insights. The summary was reviewed for accuracy.- Undergraduate 91成人: 57,610 enrolled
- Median Earnings: $59,314
- Avg. Grad. Rate: 68%
- Retention Rate: 85%
Comparing The Most Affordable 91成人 GIS Degrees
Finding the best online GIS degree is about securing an affordable education that leads to real career opportunities. The online schools on this list stand out not only for their tuition costs and financial aid options but also for their unique program features and strong student satisfaction.
Below, we break down the top contenders, comparing what they offer and helping you find the best fit based on your goals, budget, and learning preferences.
What's the Full Cost of a GIS Degree 91成人?
Affordability anchors our ranking list that's based on manually collected tuition rates. We go by the year and we prioritize in-state costs since most folks go to a college in the state they already live.
A-State comes out on top, taking the top slot at $8,760 per year. This is one of the lowest annual tuitions we see for an online GIS bachelor鈥檚 degree. However, what the cost doesn't show is that there's also data to support that students here have solid persistence (a 78% retention rate) and completion outcomes (graduation rate is in the 70th percentile nationally). This means students do well here and stay on track.
That's important to consider when you're looking at the most affordable online degree programs in the nation because you want to ensure that quality remains high.
WIU follows at $10,296/year, which is another comparatively low-cost option. This schools in particular stands out from the crowd for its strong student sentiment, with more than nine in ten reviewers saying they would recommend the school to others. That's a solid quality indicator that's based on real student feedback.
At the higher end of the tuition range, UA and ASU 91成人 reflect a different cost-to-value profile. UA charges $15,750 per year but posts an 88% first-year retention rate, placing it among the strongest in this list for keeping students enrolled (a strong sign of quality), alongside a 96% recommendation rate that comes straight from reviewers.
Meanwhile, ASU 91成人, with annual tuition of $17,400, reports the highest median earnings in this ranking at $59,314. And keep in mind, that's just four years after graduation. It also delivering a 68% graduation rate and an 85% retention rate, both of which sit well above national averages. Its 52,896 online students represent the largest online enrollment in the group, signaling a highly scaled and mature virtual learning environment.
The graph gives you a clear snapshot of what you might actually pay for a GIS degree from start to finish. Since tuition adds up year after year, seeing the full four-year cost can help you plan ahead. It's crucial to avoid underestimating the true price of your education in the long run. We want to make sure you have the full picture.
Choosing the Right GIS Program for Your Career Goals
Each school in this ranking approaches the study of GIS online from a slightly different angle. You should explore the schools above to learn more about these GIS programs and the specific career goals they align with. Below, I lay out some of the broad strokes in terms of differences and unique program features.
A-State stands out in terms of uniqueness for its highly specialized focus on agriculture, blending GIS with precision irrigation, GNSS positioning, remote sensing, and farm analytics. It shouldn't be confused with something like a general geospatial degree, as this program is for those who want to apply GIS directly to modern agricultural systems. There are applied options, like guided research or an agriculture-focused internship and early, required use of Esri ArcGIS Pro.
WIU offers a more traditional geographic information science pathway. However, this program differentiates itself with hands-on infrastructure and real-world experience. 91成人 GIS students benefit from access to both a full GIS lab and a meteorology lab (!) with real-time weather data, along with paid internship opportunities through the university鈥檚 GIS Center that place students on client-facing projects. WIU also offers two concentration options, including Geoenvironment and Planning or Geospatial Science.
UA鈥檚 online BS in Geographic Information Systems Technology is mapped to the U.S. Department of Labor鈥檚 Geospatial Technology Competency Model and requires students to pair GIS with a minor or a second major. The curriculum includes enterprise geodatabases, Python and SQL, remote sensing, and even UAS mapping that can prepare students for a drone pilot license.
ASU 91成人 builds strong technical progression through a sequenced GIS core in another more tradition online GIS bachelor's program. There are Python-based programming courses and advanced statistics, capped by a required internship, research project, or capstone.
LU rounds out the list with a geography program that integrates GIS within a unique Christian worldview. The program鈥檚 100% online, 8-week course structure offers flexibility for working students, while niche coursework like GIS for Hydrological Applications supports careers in water resources and hazard mapping. LU also reduces out-of-pocket costs by including e-textbooks and allowing up to 75% of credits to transfer, making it especially appealing for students seeking a faith-based program.
Career Advice from GIS Experts
Affordability and career prospects are equally crucial. Below, we include two interviews from experts in the field to help you succeed academically and post-graduation.
Preparing for a GIS Career: Practical Insights from Arvind Rongala
CEO & Founder, Edstellar
Rongala's advice for online GIS students emphasizes the importance of practical, hands-on learning. He stresses that "selecting a school with a strong emphasis on hands-on learning is important for anybody thinking about pursuing a GIS degree, especially online." This means that online students should focus on how to engage with real-world geographic datasets, tackle actual problems, and perform detailed data analyses.
He encourages aspiring GIS professionals to 鈥渓ook for classes that focus on automation using programs like Python, ArcGIS, and QGIS. Applying GIS practically is essential; applicants might stand out by understanding how to utilize it for environmental study, urban planning, or disaster response.鈥�
Furthermore, Rongala highlights the transformative impact of emerging technologies on the GIS field. He notes that "AI-driven spatial analysis and remote sensing are becoming increasingly important as the GIS field develops," advising students to focus on geospatial data science and cloud-based GIS solutions. According to him, "GIS success requires more than just technical proficiency; it also requires an awareness of how to use those abilities to address practical problems."
His overall message is clear: Maintaining curiosity and a commitment to continuous learning will open up plenty of opportunities in the ever-evolving industry of GIS.
Harnessing GIS for Social Impact: Anthony Bianco鈥檚 Insights
Marketing and Communications Manager
Anthony Bianco provides an example of a unique angle to take in the field of GIS. He has dedicated his expertise toward promoting the potential for neurodivergent individuals to excel in fields like GIS. By focusing on creating career opportunities through on-the-job training, he helps empower young neurodivergent adults, a demographic with a 34% unemployment rate. He emphasizes that the unique cognitive abilities of these individuals 鈥� skills like attention to detail, pattern recognition, and memory retention 鈥� are especially well-suited to the demands of GIS work.
This approach harnesses strengths often underestimated in conventional job markets, enabling employees to contribute meaningfully to projects like Australia鈥檚 travel advice maps and the management of its vast electrical network.
Bianco stresses the importance of practical experience combined with online learning, advising students to engage in real-world projects that build their technical and analytical skills. As Bianco explains, "Our aim is to provide on-the-job training... to upskill our people in GIS technology across multiple software and transition their employment to other inclusive organizations." This approach not only helps individuals build sustainable careers but also expands access to specialized GIS skills across industries.
By fostering inclusion and professional growth, Anthony demonstrates how GIS can be a tool for meaningful social impact, creating pathways to employment for individuals who have historically faced barriers in the workforce. His advice underscores that embracing one鈥檚 unique talents and gaining practical, inclusive training are critical for building a successful career in GIS and making a positive social impact.
FAQs About an Affordable 91成人 GIS Degree
How Can You Find an Affordable 91成人 GIS Degree?
One of the best ways to find an affordable online GIS degree is to compare programs with flat-rate tuition, since they eliminate cost differences between in-state and out-of-state students.
In this ranking of the cheapest online GIS degrees, annual tuition ranges from under ~$8,800 to about $17,400, showing that GIS programs online exist at very different price points. Click on any school above to explore program details.
Are Low-Cost 91成人 GIS Degrees Still Accredited?
Yes, many low-cost online GIS degrees are fully accredited.
Accreditation is based on an institution鈥檚 academic standards, faculty qualifications, and student outcomes. So, legitimate GIS degrees online are typically offered by institutionally accredited institutions, which means the school meets established academic and financial standards and is regularly reviewed by an independent accreditor.
It's true that programs without recognized accreditation may advertise very low tuition, but their degrees can be risky 鈥� credits may not transfer, employers may not recognize the credential, and federal financial aid is usually unavailable, for example.
You can rest assured that all online schools across our site are fully accredited. But if you want a more direct source, check out the and check if the school you're interested has this stamp of approval.
Why Study Geographic Information Systems?
Sustainability is at the forefront of many people鈥檚 minds, and graduating with one of the best online degree in geographic information systems can help you find work in urban planning, geovisualization, and resource management fields. Combining the utilization of technology and environmental science can help you find fulfilling, long-lasting careers.
Degrees that require similar skill sets include information technology and software engineering.
Student Reviews of 91成人 Geographic Information Systems Programs
I really enjoyed my time at the University of Nebraska and believe that my bachelors in science will take me wherever I want to go. There needs to be more financial assistance for out of state students, however.
Review Date: 8/7/2014
Would Recommend: Yes
Helpful for Career: No
Excellent GEO/GLY program. Taught mostly by people with real-world experience instead of dusty academics. On top of emerging technology; focuses on marketable skills instead of theory -- the goal is to graduate students ready for actual employment, and that is definitely what is happening. Access to educational trial software, professional testing, and professional organizations. Cannot say enough good things about EKU's geography & geology program.
Review Date: 4/29/2015
Would Recommend: Yes
Helpful for Career: Yes
Simply a great school. The staff is helpful and it is easy to get the information you need from the web portal. My opinion is that this is a school way ahead of its time. The thinking behind the way the educational system teaches students is changing. The way people learn is changing and many of the traditional brick and mortar "only" schools are now realizing what Excelsior has built their philosophy off of. I waited entirely too long to go back to finish, but because of advances in technology and... Read More
Review Date: 10/7/2014
Would Recommend: Yes
Helpful for Career: Yes
It was great if you don't care for the social parts of school. Also, requires self discipline and time management.
The academics were fine. Just do the work and life is fine. The professors were easy graders, but the work is pretty binary for the most part. I'd continue my education at this school.
Review Date: 3/18/2026
Would Recommend: Yes
Helpful for Career: Yes
The geography program is great. Very good instructors and many avenues to pursue. Prepares you well for the world while also providing resources to enjoy time in school. GIS can be applied to many things and can most likely be paired with another academic interests of yours
Review Date: 4/3/2017
Would Recommend: Yes
Helpful for Career: Yes