Best Online AI Degrees at Public Universities (2026)

Dakota State is a small public school in Madison, South Dakota, with about 3,800 students, and this is its business-minded AI bachelor's. Public tuition here is $373.80 per credit, so 120 credits come to $44,856 before fees. It suits students who want to manage AI projects rather than code them. The trade-off is a slightly higher non-resident rate on online computer science courses.

Indiana's flagship campus enrolls more than 48,000 students, and this B.A. gives you that public research university behind an AI degree you can finish from home. Pick it if you're drawn to human-centered computing, with 39 credit hours in that area plus 12 of AI selectives and a 6-credit internship, thesis or project. Tuition isn't printed on the page, so request the online rate first.

Choose this one if you want a public city university where AI is a degree you can do online or on campus. IU Indianapolis serves about 22,500 students and lets you earn Rasa and Cocohub certifications inside the program. The five-year bachelor's-plus-master's option rewards students planning graduate study. Ask admissions for the credit count and total cost before you count on the savings public schools often offer.

For a public-school price with a technical focus, this Dakota State degree charges the same $373.80 per credit, or $44,856 for 120 credits, as its business sibling. Students who plan to build and test AI systems get the cheaper-than-flagship tuition without giving up coding. A strong student can add the master's in one year through the accelerated path. Expect extra fees on some online computer science courses.

Tennessee's flagship gives residents a real price break: $490 per credit in-state, about $58,800 over 120 credits, against $565 and $67,800 for everyone else. The university enrolls roughly 38,700 students and admits 42 percent of applicants, so it's more selective than most public options here. Pick it if you live in Tennessee and want asynchronous classes. Plan on about 48 months unless transfer credit shortens it.

Texans with state benefits get the most from this public bachelor's. Under the Hazlewood Act, qualified veterans, spouses and dependent children can use up to 150 hours of tuition exemption. Internships include the campus security operations center, plus companies like Dell Technologies. Confirm the credit count and price with admissions before applying.

Arizona State is a very large public university, with about 73,000 students, and this degree applies AI to business problems. Classes run 7.5 weeks, 44 in all, and two capstones have you design real AI solutions using tools such as OpenAI and Amazon Web Services. Pick it if you're headed for management or operations. Get a tuition quote before comparing it with cheaper state schools.

UMGC is a public university built around adult students, and Maryland residents pay $337 per credit. That's $40,440 for 120 credits if you live in Maryland, versus $59,880 from out of state. Up to 90 transfer credits are accepted. The graduation rate is 33 percent, so choose it only if you have earlier credits and a steady schedule.

Texas at Austin brings one of the biggest names in public education to an AI master's that costs $9,990 for all 30 credits. That's roughly $333 a credit, and the GRE isn't required. The school admits only 27 percent of applicants overall. You'll want a bachelor's in computer science, engineering or math, so applicants from other fields should look elsewhere.

Purdue treats everyone as in-state for this degree, charging $950 per credit, or $28,500 for 30 credits, whether you live in Indiana or not. That makes this the public master's to pick if you're out of state and want a land-grant research university. It's costlier than Texas at Austin, though. You can also choose a management major, which asks for 24 months of work experience.

Military-connected Floridians get a clear deal here. FAU accepts Tuition Assistance and certifies VA education benefits, and its College of Engineering and Computer Science calls this Florida's first MS in Artificial Intelligence. Public-university tuition is a flat $800 per credit, with no residency tiers. Check the prerequisites before you apply, since calculus, statistics, programming and algorithm analysis are all expected up front.

Public land-grant universities rarely teach AI from the business side, and this is the one on this list that does. It comes from the College of Business, which holds AACSB accreditation, and includes hands-on projects with industry partners. Pick it if you manage people or budgets and want to apply AI to decisions. Tuition is $43,425 for 45 credits, the highest total among these ten.

Think of this as a public name with a self-supported price. San Jose State runs the degree through Engineering Extended Studies, so tuition is $1022 per unit rather than a state-subsidized rate. In exchange, you move through with one cohort, taught partly by practitioners from Silicon Valley companies. Choose it for the network and routine, and only if you hold a technical bachelor's degree.

Aggie Alumni Network access comes with this distance degree from a public land-grant research university. The program is STEM-designated, with ten prescribed AI electives that include deep reinforcement learning, robotics and computer vision. It runs 30 credit hours over 1.5 to 2.5 years. The trade-off is budgeting: no total is published, so you'll price your own path with the university tuition calculator.

A big urban research university is behind this Master of Engineering, and it lets you set your own load. Full-time students take two courses at a time in 8-week terms, while part-time students take one. You can bring your own project ideas to the work. It's a non-thesis degree at $896 per credit, and you should expect an engineering credential with an AI concentration, not an AI-titled major.

Domain focus is what a Seattle flagship offers here. The training is aimed at engineers in manufacturing, chemical processes and robotics, and you can take certificates one at a time or together before a group capstone. It fits an engineer whose employer will wait for a single yearly start. Admission isn't open to students needing an I-20, and the 2025-26 estimate starts at $40,375.

Lowest price on the list: $15,750 total, delivered through Coursera. The University of Colorado Boulder is HLC-accredited, and graduates get the same diploma as on-campus students, with no online label. You can earn the AI Graduate Certificate along the way. The risk is the gate: three pathway courses with a B or better before you're admitted.

Choose West Virginia if you want live support. Alongside asynchronous work, the program holds synchronous office hours, so you can ask a question and get an answer the same week. The Statler College of Engineering and Mineral Resources teaches applications across healthcare, energy and cybersecurity. Military-connected students get reduced tuition and a waived application fee. The application expects a computing degree and a 3.0 GPA.

Research-minded students should look at NJIT, because the degree ends with either a master's project or a thesis under a tenure-track faculty advisor. Courses include reinforcement learning, graph neural networks and trustworthy AI. NJIT is a public technology university that charges everyone the same $1,284 per credit, which is the highest per-credit rate among the ten here. It suits a STEM graduate heading toward a PhD or research role.

Denton's public university is the pick if you like healthcare or devices. Its course list includes AI for Wearables and Healthcare, and the Biomedical Engineering concentration sits next to Machine Learning and Autonomous Systems. The curriculum also covers fine-tuning large language models for specific domains. The degree is 33 credits and takes two to three years, so expect a slower pace than the four-week programs.

Texas's flagship lets you sample graduate AI for $5,000 across four courses, which is the lowest public-university entry price on this page. Credits can transfer into its online MS in AI, covering a third of that degree. You need a bachelor's degree and strong programming ability, though the GRE isn't required. It's a certificate, so it won't replace a master's.

Georgia State charges every online student $464 per credit hour, wherever they live, a lower per-credit rate than most public certificates on this list. It comes from the Robinson College of Business, so the work is aimed at managers, and the credits can count toward the school's MBA once you're admitted. Budget for the online learning fee, and ask how many credits you'll need.

The flagship name here comes with a firm number: $6,300 for 12 credits, the same for everyone, so out-of-state students don't pay extra. Courses run through Coursera but carry CU Boulder graduate credit, and they stack toward its online computer science master's. Choose it if you want a public brand on your resume and can handle supervised learning and deep learning. No formal prerequisites, though programming is recommended.

Old Dominion's version for people who think in datasets. Up to 12 credits stack into ODU's master's in data science, and a course on interpretable machine learning and explainable AI sets it apart from the other six ODU certificates. Introductory linear algebra is a stated prerequisite, so rusty math students should refresh first. Public tuition runs $672 per credit for Virginians and $662 for everyone else.

Security-minded students get the most from this Old Dominion certificate, because it pairs Trustworthy and Responsible AI with a choice between applied machine learning in cybersecurity or AI security and privacy. Up to 12 credits stack into ODU's cybersecurity master's. It's priced like the rest of ODU's public certificates, $8,064 in-state, and you'll need introductory linear algebra before the first class.

If you lead people or run a budget and don't plan to write code, this ODU certificate fits better than its data science sibling. Courses cover strategic AI leadership and AI product management and operations. Admission asks only for a bachelor's degree from a regionally accredited school, applied for as a non-degree student. Ask whether credits transfer toward a master's before assuming they carry over.

Defenders get hands-on topics here, with Generative AI in Cybersecurity and Applied AI in Cybersecurity as the two specialty courses, and a practicum that produces a paper or e-portfolio you can show an employer. It's the pick for someone already working in security who wants public-university credentials. Like every ODU certificate it runs 12 credits in asynchronous eight-week courses, at $8,064 for Virginia residents.

Teachers, instructional designers and training managers are the people this one is built for, and it's the only certificate on the list centered on classrooms and learning technology. Two specialty courses, Foundations of AI in Education and Applications of AI in Education, follow shared methods and ethics classes. A bachelor's from a regionally accredited school gets you in. Expect no practicum or capstone, since the page lists none.

Clinicians and health administrators can finish a public-university credential without leaving their jobs, thanks to three yearly starts at ODU. The distinguishing course is Trustworthy Health Analytics, followed by AI Applications in Healthcare, so the focus is on data from patient care rather than general machine learning. Pair it with what you already know about your hospital or clinic. Out-of-state students pay $7,944 in tuition, slightly less than Virginians.

Logistics and operations professionals rarely get an AI credential aimed at their work, and this ODU certificate is that rare option, with Supply Chain 4.0: Technology and Innovation and Supply Chain Management and Logistics alongside the shared AI core. Choose it when your employer cares about warehouses and shipping, not software. It ends in a practicum paper or e-portfolio, which gives you something concrete to show an employer.

Purdue gets you a land-grant research university's name in nine credits and about one semester, shorter than the ODU certificates. Its courses cover AI fundamentals, social impacts, and policy, governance and ethics, so it suits non-programmers who need to speak AI fluently. Admission asks for a 3.0 GPA, though no GRE or GMAT. Credits apply toward Purdue's online master's in AI if you decide to continue.

Ohio University is a public school with the lowest price of this group's business certificates. Nine credits cost $7,560 for Ohio residents and $7,758 for everyone else, so the gap is small. Courses run seven weeks, asynchronously, with three starts a year. Pick it if you want a quick, inexpensive credential from the College of Business, with no GRE or GMAT.

Wayne is the community college option, so it suits someone who wants a public school's price and a first credential rather than a graduate one. The 65 credits are in machine learning, computer vision and chatbot programming. Seymour Johnson Air Force Base students can take accelerated 8-week courses, and MyCAA funds military spouses. Plan for fees beyond the $76 in-state credit rate.