Best Online AI Engineering Degrees (2026)

• Top Master's86.1 out of 100

  Saint Louis University

  Applied AI and Decision Analytics

  Missouri · M.S.

  Saint Louis University's M.S. Review
• Top Bachelor's99.6 out of 100

  Western Governors University

  Online Bachelor of Science in AI Engineering

  Utah · B.S.

  Western Governors University's B.S. Review

A program makes this list when its school's own pages call it an AI engineering or applied AI degree and say it's delivered online. Programs with a campus requirement, like Duke's two residencies, stay on and are flagged. Pure research degrees and general data science programs go on other lists.

Programs are grouped by degree level, then ordered using the measures on our methodology page: cost, outcomes, online flexibility, program depth and track record. A price appears only when the school publishes one, and we show tuition separately from fees.

• AI engineering or applied AI in the program title, family or a named concentration
• Delivered online
• Ranked by our program score within each degree level

Scores are the weighted sum of five factors (Cost 30%, Outcomes 25%, Online Flexibility 20%, Program Depth 10%, Track Record 15%), version 1.0. The methodology page shows the rubric for each factor.

Engineering, Applied AI or AI Management: Reading the Program Name

Programs on this list use three different labels, and they train you for different jobs. Read the course titles before the degree name.

Engineering-branded degrees assume you already build things. The University of Illinois Chicago master of engineering adds a machine learning concentration to a broad engineering base across 36 credit hours at $896 each. The University of Cincinnati's master of engineering ends in a capstone where you build new models and algorithms.

Applied AI degrees are broader. The University of San Diego charges $995 per unit for 30 units, and Northeastern's applied AI master's lets you specialize in areas like Conversational AI and Chatbots or Machine Learning for Cybersecurity.

Then there are management tracks. Cincinnati's AI management master's lists courses like Governance of AI/ML Systems, and Oregon State's program comes from its business college. They're real AI degrees, but you'll spend more time deciding what to deploy than writing the code.

Same School, Several Programs: How to Choose

Four programs on one school's page can look identical. They aren't, and the price won't help you tell them apart.

Boston University lists four online AI master's at $25,000 in total tuition. The software engineering version is 30 credits over 16 months with a two-term capstone, and it wants a bachelor's with relevant coursework or work experience in computer science, software engineering, data science or engineering. Its school page says most students study part time after preparatory bootcamp work.

Boston's other three are a computer science and AI degree, an enterprise AI degree and an AI in Business degree. The computer science one is 30 credits with a bootcamp two weeks before the semester. The enterprise one has weekly live sessions and a capstone across four semesters. The business one is 32 credits and says no coding background is required.

Northeastern's two versions differ by entry route. The standard one asks for an engineering or computer technology degree, or statistics coursework. The Connect version is for applicants without that, and it adds nine credit hours of skill-building courses first.

Penn State's World Campus offers an AI Engineering option and an Applied and Generative AI option. Both are 30 credits at $1,089 per credit, so choose the one whose courses match the work you want.

Checking Prerequisites and the Real Cost Before You Apply

Start with what you must already have. The University of Pennsylvania asks for an undergraduate degree in computer science, computer engineering, information science or a related field. The University of Washington asks for a 3.0 cumulative GPA plus coursework prerequisites, and its program isn't open to F-1 or J-1 students who need an I-20. Cincinnati's engineering master's wants a computer science or engineering bachelor's at a 3.0 GPA.

If your degree is in another field, Saint Louis University is the clearest door: it says no prior STEM degree is required. Cincinnati's management master's takes any bachelor's with at least a B average.

Then price the whole degree. Penn lists $3,859 per course and $38,590 for the program, with fees extra. Duke's tuition is $2,555 per credit, or $76,650 for 30 credits, and the school's own estimate adds a $120 transcript fee and $676 for books for $77,446 in total. Travel for the two residencies is on top of that.

The two bachelor's work differently. Western Governors University charges $4,200 per six-month term rather than per credit, so finishing sooner costs less. The University of Tennessee, Knoxville charges $490 per credit in state and $565 out of state, which is $67,800 for 120 credits at the out-of-state rate.

What Accreditation Does and Doesn't Tell You Here

Institutional accreditation covers a whole school, and programmatic accreditation covers one degree. ABET reviews engineering and computing programs specifically, and we haven't confirmed it for any degree on this list. If you want a license track or an employer requires it, ask the admissions office in writing.

Two programs state a business accreditation. Oregon State's applied AI program and Cincinnati's AI management master's both name AACSB, the business school accreditor. Cincinnati also names the Higher Learning Commission (HLC) as its institutional accreditor.

For most hiring managers, the school's name and your portfolio matter more than programmatic accreditation. Build a few projects you can show, and pick a capstone that gives you one. Duke's capstone works with a corporate partner, and Cincinnati's engineering master's has you build new models and algorithms.