UMass Global Online: Cost and Outcomes (2026)
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- UMass Global is a UMass affiliate that federal data lists as public
- UMass Global’s 2026-27 catalog charges $500 a credit for undergraduate courses
- The $35,957 net price counts living costs, not only tuition
- Undergraduate MyPath charges $3,500 per 24-week period, and you pay before you start
- 56% of UMass Global’s 2017-18 starters earned an award within eight years
- Social work and business lead UMass Global’s awards
- Who UMass Global fits, and the watch-outs
- Check your own aid before you apply to UMass Global
University of Massachusetts Global charges $500 a credit for undergraduate courses in its 2026-27 catalog, and 56% of all students who started in 2017-18 earned an award within eight years (College Scorecard, October 15, 2026 release). Scorecard’s average net price for 2024-25 is $35,957, because it counts living costs on top of tuition.
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Check your aid before you choose UMass Global
About two minutes, with the federal rules for the year you start (2026-27 or 2027-28), with no name, email or phone number asked. UMass Global's financial aid office sets your actual offer.
Check my aidIf you are paying with your own money this time, you will want to know whether this is UMass. UMass Global calls itself “a private, nonprofit affiliate of the University of Massachusetts.”
College Scorecard and College Navigator list it as public, and its accreditor, WSCUC, classifies its financial structure as non-profit with a “Multi-institution System” sponsorship.
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UMass Global is a UMass affiliate that federal data lists as public
The University of Massachusetts and Chapman University announced on September 2, 2021 “the transfer of control of Brandman University to UMass,” which launched UMass Global as “a nonprofit affiliate of UMass.” All of its coursework is online.
| Fact | UMass Global |
|---|---|
| Control, as College Scorecard and College Navigator list it | Public |
| Control, as WSCUC classifies it | Non-profit; sponsorship “Multi-institution System” |
| How UMass Global describes itself | ”a private, nonprofit affiliate of the University of Massachusetts” |
| Former name | Brandman University (until UMass took control in 2021) |
| Accreditor | WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC), since 1956; most recent action April 15, 2025 |
| Nursing accreditor | Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education, bachelor’s and doctorate since 2011; the next review date Navigator lists, August 1, 2026, has passed |
| Headquarters | Aliso Viejo, CA |
| Students studying fully online (fall 2024) | 100% of undergraduates and graduate students |
| Degree-seeking undergraduates (fall 2024) | 4,491, 52% part-time |
| Graduate students (fall 2024) | 3,906 |
| Undergraduates 25 or older (fall 2023) | 77% |
| Admissions | Open admissions; admission rate Not published |
| Federal school ID (UNITID) and FAFSA code | 262086; 041618 |
UMass Global has its own federal ID, 262086, so every federal figure here is its own; none comes from UMass Amherst or another UMass campus. Our comparison of public, nonprofit and for-profit online schools groups it with the public schools, as the federal data does.
UMass Global’s 2026-27 catalog charges $500 a credit for undergraduate courses
Instructor-led courses run in 8-week sessions. UMass Global says “Most instructor-led online programs offer three to six start dates each year, and once enrolled, students progress through six 8-week sessions annually.”
| Program | Regular rate | Reduced rate |
|---|---|---|
| Associate and bachelor's, per credit | $500 | $250, active-duty military and spouses |
| Graduate degree, per credit | $770 | $430, active-duty military and spouses |
| Doctorate of Education or Social Work, per credit | $1,140 | $1,140 |
| MyPath associate or bachelor's, per 24-week billing period | $3,500 | Active-duty only: $250 a credit, up to 12 credits |
| MyPath master's, per 24-week billing period | $4,030 | Active-duty only: $430 a credit, up to 9 credits |
The catalog lists the reduced MyPath rate for active-duty military only. On top of tuition, it charges a $145 technology fee each session ($215 each MyPath billing period) and a $150 degree conferral fee, and exempts active-duty undergraduate and master’s students from the technology fee.
This example assumes UMass Global accepts every one of your earlier credits toward a 120-credit bachelor’s, leaving 60; the school decides how many count. Instructor-led rows assume two 3-credit courses a session, so 10 sessions.
| Option | Sum | Total |
|---|---|---|
| Regular rate | 60 x $500 + $1,450 technology fees + $150 conferral | $31,600 |
| Active duty | 60 x $250 + $150 conferral; technology fee waived | $15,150 |
| Military spouse | 60 x $250 + $1,450 technology fees + $150 conferral (the catalog waives the fee for active-duty students only) | $16,600 |
| MyPath, at the 12-unit minimum | 5 billing periods x ($3,500 + $215), over 120 weeks | $18,575 |
The MyPath row leaves out the $150 conferral fee.
Scorecard lists tuition and fees of $12,560 for 2025-26. Our guide to how many credits transfer explains how a credit evaluation works.
The $35,957 net price counts living costs, not only tuition
Net price is the full cost of attendance minus grants. College Navigator counts “published tuition and required fees …, books and supplies, and the weighted average for Food and Housing and other expenses.”
For 2024-25, Navigator puts that cost at $39,388 for a full-time beginning undergraduate living off campus: $12,540 in tuition and fees, $1,056 in books and supplies, $19,632 in food and housing and $6,160 in other expenses. The $35,957 average covers 55 full-time, first-time undergraduates with federal aid.
| Family income | Average net price, 2024-25 |
|---|---|
| $0 to $30,000 | $35,364 |
| $30,001 to $48,000 | $36,409 |
| $48,001 to $75,000 | $35,786 |
| $75,001 to $110,000 | $35,618 |
| $110,001 and up | $39,262 |
UMass Global’s own 2025-26 budget lists $837 a month for food, $1,691 for housing, $221 for transportation and $563 for personal costs, or $3,312 a month by our math. Military budgets leave out housing, and MyPath budgets leave out books and transportation.
UMass Global says your own cost of attendance “can be found in self-service after you have been awarded assistance.” Our guide to cost of attendance for online students explains what each budget line covers.
Undergraduate MyPath charges $3,500 per 24-week period, and you pay before you start
MyPath is UMass Global’s competency-based, self-paced format; its MyPath page lists one associate, two bachelor’s and two master’s programs. The catalog says “The student pays for the time, not by credit hour or by course.”
These rules come from the catalog’s undergraduate competency-based policies:
- Pay first. Tuition must be paid in full, or your aid applied to a zero balance, before you can start your competencies.
- Keep moving. If you do not complete a payment period within 24 instructional weeks, you must meet with the “appropriate School Dean and/or Dean’s Designee.” After 28 consecutive days without contact with your academic coach and the course material, you are withdrawn the next business day.
- Inactivity and aid. The “Return to Title IV, Title IV of the Higher Education Act. The part of federal law that covers federal student aid. A Title IV school is one approved to pay out federal grants and loans.” process starts after 14 consecutive days without educational activity.
- Refunds. You can drop all competencies “within 30 days of the start of the student’s first billing period and receive a full tuition refund. This applies only to the first billing period.”
- One format at a time. MyPath students “cannot be enrolled in a credit-hour program or take credit hour courses due to financial aid requirements and restrictions.”
- Transfer later. Competency units “may not equate to a credit-bearing course for transfer purposes.”
Our guide to financial aid for competency-based degrees explains how federal aid pays for self-paced programs.
56% of UMass Global’s 2017-18 starters earned an award within eight years
| Measure | UMass Global |
|---|---|
| Earned an award within 8 years (all students who started in 2017-18) | 56% |
| Graduated within 6 years (first-time, full-time, fall 2019 cohort) | 0% |
| College Navigator graduation rate (first-time, full-time, began fall 2018) | 43% |
| Median earnings 6 years after starting (entered 2015-16 and 2016-17) | $61,561 |
| Median earnings 10 years after starting (entered 2011-12 and 2012-13) | $68,286 |
| Graduates’ median earnings 4 years after finishing (finished 2017-18 and 2018-19) | $74,838 |
| Graduates’ median federal loan debt (entered repayment in fiscal 2024 and 2025) | $23,000 |
| Undergraduates with a Pell Grant (2024-25) | 27% |
| Undergraduates with a federal loan (2024-25) | 24% |
The 8-year rate is the one to read. It is an outcome measure, which College Navigator says covers part-time and transfer-in (“non-first-time”) undergraduates as well as first-time, full-time ones.
The 0% six-year rate for the first-time, full-time fall 2019 cohort leaves out anyone who started part-time or had attended another college. College Navigator says 7 percent of UMass Global’s entering students were counted as “full-time, first-time” in 2024.
Under Navigator’s 43% rate for that group, the school’s note calls it “a minuscule percentage” of its undergraduates and says, “Given the small “n”, the reported number varied outside the expected range.”
Social work and business lead UMass Global’s awards
These are UMass Global’s eight largest fields by awards in 2023-24, from Scorecard’s field-of-study file. Every credential is offered fully online.
| Field and credential | Awards, 2023-24 | Median earnings, 4 yrs after | Median federal debt |
|---|---|---|---|
| Social Work (master's) | 282 | Not published | $51,237 |
| Business Administration and Management (bachelor's) | 273 | $83,778 | $21,096 |
| Business Administration and Management (master's) | 220 | $92,027 | $41,000 |
| Mental and Social Health Services (master's) | 196 | Not published | $61,500 |
| Teacher Education (master's) | 163 | $84,909 | $51,921 |
| Liberal Arts and General Studies (associate's) | 134 | $61,186 | $13,437 |
| Psychology, General (bachelor's) | 104 | $58,836 | $23,167 |
| Social Work (bachelor's) | 102 | $47,441 | $27,874 |
Field names are shortened from Scorecard’s federal CIP categories. Earnings cover graduates who finished in 2017-18 and 2018-19, in 2024 dollars; debt covers graduates who finished in 2022-23 and 2023-24.
The Council on Social Work Education accredits the bachelor’s and master’s in social work.
Online counseling programs compared and online education degrees compared set these fields against other schools, and our online psychology degree guide covers cost, jobs and pay in that field.
Who UMass Global fits, and the watch-outs
It fits if
- You serve on active duty or are a military spouse. Undergraduate credit-hour courses cost $250 a credit for you in the 2026-27 catalog. In 2023-24, 234 undergraduates used Tuition Assistance; our guide to military Tuition Assistance covers the caps.
- You are coming back with credits. 694 undergraduates transferred in for fall 2024, and College Navigator lists credit for life experiences among the credit UMass Global accepts.
Watch-outs
- Master’s fields carry the most debt in the table. Graduates of the mental and social health master’s who finished in 2022-23 and 2023-24 owed a median $61,500.
- Refunds end after week two. In credit-hour courses (not MyPath), drop before day one for 100% back, in week one for 90% and in week two for 80%; after that, nothing.
- The information form names a second company. It asks you to consent to “calls, texts, emails and advertising from UMass Global and/or Kaplan North America, LLC,” and says consent “is not required to attend.”
Check your own aid before you apply to UMass Global
UMass Global’s averages describe other students. The aid check applies the federal rules for the year you start (2026-27 or 2027-28) to your answers, takes about two minutes, and asks no name, email or phone number for the result.
For 2026-27, Pell pays up to $7,395 a year. UMass Global’s financial aid office sets your actual offer.
StudentAid.gov says Pell Grants “usually are awarded only to undergraduate students who display exceptional financial need and have not earned a bachelor’s, graduate, or professional degree,” though a student in a “postbaccalaureate teacher certification program” might get one.
On the same measures, College Scorecard’s October 2026 data puts the University of Arizona Global Campus at a 21% eight-year rate for students who started in 2017-18 and $29,813 in median federal debt for graduates who entered repayment in fiscal 2024 and 2025.
The same data puts Purdue University Global at 30% and $25,625 on the same cohorts.
Degree Sources may refer readers to schools through partners. School matching is optional, comes after your aid result, and is not an application or admission to UMass Global or any school. The figures here come from federal data, WSCUC and UMass Global’s own catalog and pages, and this profile does not rank schools.
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Sources
Every figure in this guide comes from one of these pages. How we check sources
- U.S. Department of Education, College Scorecard: University of Massachusetts Global (UNITID 262086)
- College Scorecard data files, October 15, 2026 release
- College Scorecard data dictionary, October 15, 2026 release (cohort years)
- NCES College Navigator: University of Massachusetts Global (enrollment and distance education, fall 2024; age, fall 2023; expenses 2024-25; accreditation)
- WASC Senior College and University Commission (WSCUC): University of Massachusetts Global
- UMass Global, About UMass Global (affiliation, history, accreditations)
- UMass Global: University of Massachusetts, Chapman University announce transfer of Brandman University (September 2, 2021)
- UMass Global 2026-2027 Academic Catalog, Tuition and Fees
- UMass Global 2026-2027 Academic Catalog, Undergraduate Competency-Based Academic Policies and Procedures
- UMass Global, Tuition Costs and Payment Options (2025-26 tuition and cost of attendance)
- UMass Global, MyPath self-paced programs
- UMass Global, Financing Your Education (federal school code)
- UMass Global, Fact Book 2026/2027 (Outcome Measures, 2017-18 cohort)
- Federal Student Aid, 2026-27 Federal Pell Grant maximum and minimum award amounts
- StudentAid.gov, Federal Pell Grants (who can get one)
Related Resources
University of Arizona Global Campus: Cost, Outcomes (2026)
UAGC charges $460 a credit for undergrad courses (2026-27). 21% of undergrads who started in 2017-18 earned an award in 8 years. The Ashford record, explained.
Purdue University Global Online: Cost and Outcomes (2026)
Purdue Global tuition was $10,101 in-state for 2024-25. 28% of students finish within 8 years, and graduates owe a median $26,078.
Best Online Counseling and MSW Programs 2026
Six CACREP and CSWE online counseling and MSW programs compared on Scorecard outcomes. Mental health counselors earned a $59,350 median in May 2025.