Serve your community – and your career – with a Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Administration degree. Gain a fundamental understanding of the essential components that make up the American criminal justice system. Learn about criminology, community policing, change management and more. Develop career-relevant skills and prepare for administrative responsibilities in law enforcement, criminal courts and corrections.
The University’s Criminal Justice programs are educational degree programs. These programs do not prepare students to become certified peace officers. For those interested in pursuing a career in law enforcement, corrections or as a peace officer with any particular local, state, federal, tribal or international agency, there are numerous additional qualifications (and often disqualifications), depending on the position. Before enrolling in a Criminal Justice program, potential students are highly encouraged to check with the relevant agency for a complete list of position requirements and disqualifications.
Save time and money on your bachelor's degree with eligible transfer credits.
See if your military or law enforcement training may count for up to 30 credits.
Your work, life, and school experiences may give you a head start on your degree.
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Careers & Outcomes
Discover where your online criminal justice administration bachelor’s degree might take you. Gain the knowledge, skills and abilities to prepare for the next step in your career pursuits. Get ready to tackle administrative responsibilities in law enforcement, criminal courts and corrections.
When you earn your on-campus or online criminal justice administration bachelor’s degree, you’ll be equipped with a concrete set of skills you can apply on the job. You'll learn how to:
Top skills learned in this program:
A BSCJA can prepare you to be a:
3% growth
According to the, job growth for first-line supervisors of police and detectives is projected to be faster than average between 2023 and 2033.
The BLS Projected Growth for 2023-2033 is published by the US Bureau of Labor Statistics. This data reflects the BLS’ projections of national (not local) conditions. These data points are not specific to ۴ý students or graduates.
As a student in our criminal justice administration bachelor’s degree, you’ll learn career-relevant skills, such as public policy, change management, policy research, community policing and criminology. Add these to your resumé in weeks, not years, and apply them in your current role, or use them to help build your career.
Start your application for free or request additional information.
Courses
Education never stands still. That’s why we have advisory councils made up of leaders in their fields. They meet periodically to review industry needs and trends, providing valuable insights that help us keep our programs relevant. Our rigorous criminal justice administration courses provide you with career-relevant skills that’ll help you make an impact on the job and in the communities you serve.
Look for this icon to see which skills you’ll learn in a course.
You’ll need 120 credits to complete this online Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Administration degree. Your course schedule may vary based on transferable credits or credits earned through the University’s Prior Learning Assessment.
In your coursework, you’ll learn about public policy, ethical conduct, community policing, conflict resolution, emergency management, organizational communication and more. Our criminal justice administration bachelor’s degree bridges the gap between theory and practical application.
Your academic counselor will help schedule your courses for an online criminal justice administration bachelor’s degree.
If you’re in ۴ý, this program has a blended option. This means you can start at the ۴ý campus to complete your general education courses, and then transition to online learning for your core program courses.
Our flexible, blended learning format can be beneficial if you’re uncertain about the online learning environment or you want to further develop your technical/computer skills prior to taking courses fully online.
In the online environment, you’ll take one course, every five weeks, on Blackboard, our learning management system. In a week, you’ll typically write three discussion posts, complete several readings and finish one course assignment. If you meet your specific due dates, you can attend class and work on assignments when it fits your schedule. Learn when and where you want with the flexibility to balance family, work, school and life.
The Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Administration also allows you to complete up to three required courses for a Master of Science in Administration of Justice and Security and a Master of Public Administration while finishing your criminal justice administration bachelor’s degree.
Learning shouldn’t take years to put into practice. That’s why we’re empowering you to build career-relevant skills with every five- to six-week course.
We’ve worked with the labor market researcher Lightcast to identify in-demand skills for occupations and mapped those to our related associate, bachelor’s and master’s degree programs.
Tuition
Tuition is based on number of credit hours per course. Courses are typically 3 credits, but can range from 1-6 credits. Costs do not include savings opportunities like transfer credits and scholarships.
What affects the overall cost of my program?
Your full program cost can vary by:
With our Tuition Guarantee, you pay one flat, affordable rate from the moment you enroll to the day you graduate from your program.
Discover ways to save time and money on your degree with our Savings Explorer®tool:
Your previous eligible college credits can save you time and money – helping you to graduate faster. That’s why we’ve accepted transcripts from 5,000+ institutions, so you can apply eligible transfer credits from an institutionally accredited university or college toward a degree of your choice.
Your life experiences can be evaluated for potential college credit for your online criminal justice administration bachelor’s degree. If you have military or law enforcement training, such as Peace Officer Standards and Training (POST), Basic Corrections Academy training or Federal Bureau of Investigation National Academy training, you can apply to have that experience evaluated for credits.
Save time and money when you transfer in eligible credits toward your degree.
۴ý | |
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Tuition rate
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$398
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Typical credits per course
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3
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Resource fee
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$170
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Estimated cost per course
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$1,364
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Total program length
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120 cr.
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Length of course
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5 wks
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Tuition guarantee promise
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Yes
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Data pulled on September 27, 2024
[1] $365 per 1000-2000 level credit; $415 per 3000-4000 level credit
Source of data: For each institution, the data are publicly available in multiple locations, including Academic Catalogs, Program pages, Tuition and fees pages, and syllabi. All data are publicly available on the websites.
Certain licensure programs and coursework in other degree programs may have additional fees. Please check with your advisor orcourse catalogfor additional info.
Tuition is based on number of credit hours per course. Courses are typically 3 credits, but can range from 1-6 credits.
Eligible students saved:
$11,000 & 1 year
Students with eligible credits and relevant experience on average saved $11k and 1 year off their undergraduate degreewith ۴ý.
Eligible students saved:
$11,000 & 1 year
Students with eligible credits and relevant experience on average saved $11k and 1 year off their undergraduate degreewith ۴ý.
You may have options when it comes to paying for college tuition and expenses, such as federal grants and loans. Our finance advisors can answer your questions about financial aid and can help guide you through the process for your online criminal justice administration bachelor’s degree.
Federal Student Loan Basics
Admissions
Starting your degree is a big decision — and we want you to feel great about it. That’s why we remove obstacles from your application.
How to enroll at ۴ý
Accreditation
Since 1978, ۴ý has maintained institutional accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), . Learn more about the value of ۴ý accreditation and how it benefits our students.
You have a support team of real people you can lean on. And our academic counselors, who are with you every step of the way, have earned a 5-star rating from 90% of our surveyed students.[1]Start a conversation with an enrollment representative today.
[1] Transactional Survey, August 2021-22 (18,645 respondents)
Call or chat with us 7 days a week.
Gabriel G., Enrollment Rep
You have a support team of real people you can lean on. And our academic counselors, who are with you every step of the way, have earned a 5-star rating from 85% of our surveyed students.[1]
[1] Transactional Survey, September 2022-August 2023 (23,739 respondents)
Start a conversation with an enrollment representative today.
Call us at 844-937-8679 or chat with us 7 days a week.
Student Experience
Work toward your degree without giving up what matters most. Start your degree year-round and take one class at a time.
Enroll in online classes and attend class whenever it fits your life, day or night, as you complete your criminal justice administration bachelor’s degree.
Many course assignments will require you to use a computer to complete and submit your assignment.
Faculty Spotlight
Your success is a top priority for our faculty members. They bring an average of28+ years of experience and hands-on perspective to the classroom. You’ll gain criminal justice administration insight from experienced professionals who have served as chiefs of police, captains, lieutenants, wardens, judges and detectives. They contribute valuable, relevant and timely expertise in class and help bridge the gap between academics and industry knowledge.
Criminal justice administration is a field of study focused on the essential components comprising the American criminal justice system. In our online criminal justice administration bachelor’s degree, you’ll learn basic management, administrative and financial skills relative to criminal justice agencies.
Your coursework will include topics like ethics in criminal justice, theories of criminology and victimology, organizational behavior and management, interagency communication, grant writing and funding, mental health services and intervention. You’ll also develop career-relevant skills such as conflict resolution, change management, organizational communications and budgeting to help with on-the-job responsibilities.
At ۴ý, we offer three different bachelor’s degrees in a criminal justice-related field. These include the Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Administration, the Bachelor of Science in Correctional Program Support Services and the Bachelor of Science in Public Administration.
At ۴ý, the program length for a criminal justice administration bachelor’s degree is four years and 120 credits. But your time to completion could be longer or shorter and will depend on various factors, including but not limited to, any transfer credits you have, whether you remain continuously enrolled, whether you retake courses and other factors.
Students can save time and money with eligible transfer credits and relevant life experience. We look at all your experience — everything from life experience to past jobs — to help you earn the college credits you deserve.
Our Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice Administration prepares you for a range of administrative responsibilities in law enforcement, criminal courts and corrections. You may be able to seek positions such as a detective sergeant, detective supervisor, loss prevention manager, patrol captain, police captain or police sergeant.
Our criminal justice administration bachelor’s degree includes a course on ethics in criminal justice. This course explores the ethical standards and codes of professional responsibility in criminal justice professions. Students will examine the interrelated nature of ethics, morality, legal responsibility and social issues in criminal justice settings, and develop career-relevant skills in social issues, ethical conduct and professional responsibility.
While widely available, not all programs are available to residents of all states. Please check with a University Enrollment Representative.