Criminology examines crime, criminal behavior, victimization, social control, and the way legal institutions respond to crime. It is primarily a social-science field. Although criminology overlaps with criminal justice, the two labels are not always interchangeable: criminology tends to emphasize theories of crime and research, while criminal justice often places more weight on policing, courts, corrections, and agency administration.
Neither field is equivalent to laboratory forensic science. A bachelor’s program centered on criminology, law, policy, and justice institutions can support careers in probation, corrections, law enforcement, victim services, crime analysis, community programs, and legal support. It generally does not provide the chemistry, biology, instrumentation, and laboratory methods expected for criminalist or forensic scientist positions.
This guide focuses on online bachelor’s programs offered by California-based institutions. It does not attempt to list every out-of-state online university authorized to enroll California residents. The principal options include four fully online degrees with criminology in the title, plus Fresno State’s restricted and predominantly online criminology completion pathway. Several fully online criminal justice degrees provide related alternatives.
Students exploring the field more broadly can also review the California criminology degree overview.
Comparing California-Based Online Criminology Programs
| School | Degree | Format | Entry point | Published tuition | Typical completion schedule | Major restrictions or requirements |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| California State University San Marcos | BA in Criminology and Justice Studies | 100% online and asynchronous | 60 transferable semester units | $490 per unit | 16 months across four semesters | Cohort completion program; internship or approved community-based capstone |
| Mount Saint Mary’s University | BS in Criminology | 100% online | Applicants normally have 24 college units, but applicants with fewer units can submit high school records | $663 per unit | Varies by transferred credit and remaining requirements | 124-unit bachelor’s degree; semester-long internship |
| California State University, Long Beach | BS in Criminology and Criminal Justice | 100% online and asynchronous | Upper-division transfer with at least 60 lower-division units | $425 per unit | Approximately 21 months | California residents only; full-time lockstep cohort; minimum 3.0 GPA |
| University of La Verne | BS in Criminal Justice & Criminology | Entirely online | Undergraduate degree-completion format | Not published in the reviewed program materials | Varies | 52-semester-hour major; no more than two courses may transfer into the major |
| California State University, Fresno | BS in Criminology, Law Enforcement Option | Predominantly online | 60 transferable units | $357 per unit | Approximately two years for the upper-division sequence | Limited to current or former government employees and their spouses; optional Saturday meetings are encouraged in some terms |
Published prices are tuition figures, not total cost of attendance. University fees, books, technology, transferred credit, and remaining general education courses can change the final amount. The figures above reflect official information reviewed on September 25, 2026.
The programs also serve different student populations. CSUSM and CSULB are structured upper-division completion programs. Fresno State is similarly transfer-oriented but has a narrow employment-based eligibility rule. Mount Saint Mary’s has an admissions path for applicants with limited prior college credit. La Verne offers a fully online degree-completion program but restricts how much coursework can be transferred into the 52-semester-hour major.
California State University San Marcos BA in Criminology and Justice Studies
California State University San Marcos offers a 100% online, asynchronous BA in Criminology and Justice Studies through Extended Learning. The published completion sequence contains 55 units delivered over four semesters, including summer, with an advertised completion time of 16 months.
This is an upper-division transfer program rather than a freshman-entry four-year sequence. Applicants need at least 60 transferable semester units or 90 quarter units. They must complete the CSU transfer requirements in oral communication, written communication, critical thinking, and quantitative reasoning with grades of C- or better. The normal minimum transferable GPA is 2.0, rising to 2.5 for applicants who already hold a bachelor’s degree.
The curriculum combines criminology with justice studies and sociology. Coursework covers criminological thought, juvenile delinquency, qualitative and quantitative research methods, criminal law, the justice system, inequality, career preparation, and upper-division sociology electives. A sample plan also contains general education and language coursework.
Research methods are a meaningful part of this curriculum. Quantitative coursework helps students interpret data, evaluate claims about crime, and understand program or policy research. Qualitative methods can be useful in community research, interviews, organizational analysis, and studies of people’s experiences with justice institutions. Those skills are relevant to policy, program evaluation, nonprofit work, graduate education, and some entry-level analytical roles.
The degree’s justice-studies component also gives it a broader social and institutional orientation than a program devoted mainly to police operations. Courses involving inequality and community issues can support work in victim advocacy, community organizations, rehabilitation programs, or public agencies where understanding social context is part of the job.
Students complete a culminating experience. The program describes a supervised service option involving 100 hours in a government agency, community organization, or grassroots group. It also describes an alternative capstone that uses approved community-based work and a written analysis. Online delivery therefore does not remove the applied component, even though regular classes are asynchronous.
Tuition is listed at $490 per unit. CSUSM publishes a sample tuition subtotal of $26,950 for the 55-unit completion curriculum, excluding certain semester fees. That figure is more useful than multiplying the university’s full bachelor’s requirement by the per-unit price because the online program is specifically designed around transferred lower-division credit.
The main scheduling advantage is speed. A four-semester, 16-month sequence can be efficient for a transfer student ready to follow the prescribed plan continuously through summer. It offers less room for someone who wants to take occasional classes without following the cohort schedule.
CSUSM is institutionally accredited by the WASC Senior College and University Commission, or WSCUC. WSCUC also lists Criminology and Justice Studies as a distance-education bachelor’s program. This is institutional accreditation, not specialized forensic science accreditation.
Career alignment is strongest for justice policy, probation and corrections, victim and community services, legal-support work, law enforcement, and graduate study. The curriculum’s social-science methods and justice focus are not a substitute for an undergraduate laboratory science sequence.
Mount Saint Mary’s University BS in Criminology
Mount Saint Mary’s University in Los Angeles offers a 100% online BS in Criminology through its Weekend/Evening and Online College. The full bachelor’s degree requires 124 semester units.
Among the direct criminology options in this guide, Mount Saint Mary’s provides the clearest path for an applicant who has not yet accumulated the 60 transferable units required by the CSU completion programs. Its adult-program admissions guidance normally calls for at least 24 completed college units and a 2.4 GPA. Applicants with fewer than 24 units can submit high school records, while applicants below the published GPA threshold can receive holistic review.
That admissions structure does not mean every student begins at the same point or follows the same timeline. Someone entering with a substantial block of transferable general education credit could have far fewer requirements remaining than an applicant with little college experience. Because tuition is charged per unit and the bachelor’s requires 124 units, the transfer evaluation has a large effect on both time and cost.
The published curriculum includes criminology, juvenile delinquency, quantitative research methods, diversity or human-rights study, additional criminology courses, and a capstone. These subjects fit the program’s social-science orientation. Criminology and juvenile delinquency address crime and behavior, while quantitative methods support evidence-based analysis. Diversity and human-rights coursework can be relevant to community relations, institutional policy, victim services, rehabilitation, and work with at-risk populations.
Mount Saint Mary’s also requires a semester-long internship with a local or federal agency. That practical experience is more substantial than an optional internship listed as one elective among many. It can help a student build professional references, learn workplace expectations, and connect academic concepts to agency operations.
The public program information does not specify whether every online student can complete the internship in the student’s home community. The degree is advertised as fully online, but the placement itself involves work with an agency. Students planning around employment, caregiving, or geographic limitations need room in their schedules for that field experience.
Current Weekend/Evening and Online College tuition is listed at $663 per unit. A reliable full-program tuition total cannot be calculated from that rate alone because students will enter with different amounts of accepted transfer credit. The 124-unit figure represents the entire bachelor’s degree, not necessarily the number of units every transfer student must complete at Mount Saint Mary’s.
The university’s own program page contains inconsistent figures for the size of the criminology major, listing 45 units in one location and 39 in another. The verified figure to use for planning is the 124-unit total bachelor’s requirement. The exact remaining major and general education load follows from the student’s academic evaluation and the current catalog.
Mount Saint Mary’s University is institutionally accredited by WSCUC. Its criminology degree is not presented as a FEPAC-accredited forensic science program.
This route fits students seeking broad preparation in criminology, justice, rehabilitation, crime prevention, probation-related work, legal studies, or graduate education. The internship also gives it a practical agency component. The curriculum described in the public materials does not contain the chemistry and biology sequence needed to frame it as laboratory criminalistics preparation.
California State University, Long Beach BS in Criminology and Criminal Justice
California State University, Long Beach offers a 100% online BS in Criminology and Criminal Justice through its College of Professional and Continuing Education. It is an asynchronous, full-time, cohort-based completion program designed for California residents.
The degree is more selective than several other options in this guide. Applicants need at least 60 lower-division units and must satisfy CSU upper-division transfer requirements. The published minimum cumulative GPA is 3.0. Required preparation includes CRJU 101 with a grade of C or better and two courses chosen from sociology, psychology, or American government.
The online curriculum contains 61 units in criminology and criminal justice, although the amount each student completes after admission can vary with transferred coursework. Major subjects include research, writing, statistics, criminological theory, criminal justice research methods, policing, courts, corrections, ethics, diversity, and criminal law or constitutional procedure.
Statistics and research methods give the CSULB program a pronounced analytical component. These courses are useful for reading crime data, assessing program performance, evaluating policy, and preparing for graduate-level research. They do not turn the degree into a natural-science program, but they provide more quantitative grounding than a curriculum that relies almost entirely on survey courses.
The degree also covers the principal institutions of the justice system. Policing, courts, and corrections are treated as distinct areas, while criminological theory examines explanations for crime and social responses to it. Ethics and diversity add professional and community context. Together, these subjects support work across justice agencies rather than training for only one occupational title.
A senior integrative experience is required. Students choose an internship or a directed research or independent study pathway. This design accommodates two different goals: agency-based experience for students seeking professional exposure, or an academic project for those interested in research and graduate education.
The program follows a lockstep sequence and ordinarily does not permit part-time participation or individual acceleration. Its advertised completion time is approximately 21 months. That structure offers a predictable path, but it requires readiness for continuous full-time study. A working adult who needs to vary course loads each term may find Sacramento State’s part-time or full-time model easier to manage, even though that alternative awards a criminal justice degree rather than a criminology-titled degree.
Published tuition is $425 per unit. The current program summary displays an estimated tuition range of $22,100 to $25,925, depending on transferred units. An FAQ on the same page gives a slightly lower upper estimate, so the prominent summary range is the more defensible published figure. Fees and other educational expenses are separate from tuition.
CSULB is institutionally accredited by WSCUC, which lists the BS in Criminology and Criminal Justice as a distance-education bachelor’s program. The degree is not a FEPAC-accredited forensic science program.
The program is well aligned with criminological research, public policy, crime analysis, policing, courts, corrections, victim services, and graduate study. Its required statistics and research coursework are especially relevant to students interested in analytical or policy-oriented work. It is not designed around organic chemistry, molecular biology, instrumental analysis, or laboratory quality systems.
As of the September 25, 2026 review, the Fall 2027 application period was scheduled to run from October 1, 2026 through April 1, 2027.
University of La Verne BS in Criminal Justice & Criminology
The University of La Verne offers a BS in Criminal Justice & Criminology that can be completed entirely online. The current catalog publishes a 52-semester-hour major. This direct option places both criminal justice and criminology in the degree title and curriculum.
Required study includes Introduction to Criminology, Criminological Theory, the Criminal Justice System, Research Methods, Applied Quantitative Analysis, electives in criminal justice or criminology, and a senior capstone project. The combination covers both major sides of the degree: criminology examines crime and its causes, while criminal justice addresses the institutions responsible for law enforcement, adjudication, and corrections.
Applied Quantitative Analysis and Research Methods are useful additions for students interested in crime analysis, policy, program assessment, or graduate education. A senior capstone provides a structured opportunity to synthesize the major rather than finishing with unrelated electives.
Transfer policy deserves close attention here. The catalog permits no more than two transferred courses within the major. A student may still bring in eligible general education or elective credit under the university’s broader transfer policies, but someone who has already completed extensive criminal justice coursework elsewhere may not be able to apply most of those classes to the 52-hour major.
That policy creates a different transfer calculation from the CSU programs. CSUSM and CSULB are explicitly built for upper-division transfer students who arrive with a substantial lower-division foundation. La Verne’s limit concerns transfer into the major itself, so prior criminal justice classes may save less time than expected even when other credits count toward the bachelor’s degree.
Current program-specific tuition was not established in the reviewed materials, so a defensible comparison cannot attach a total price to the degree. The program should instead be evaluated through its 52-semester-hour major, the student’s accepted general education credit, and the institutional tuition schedule in effect for the enrollment period.
A senior capstone is required. No mandatory campus residency was identified in the official program and catalog materials, and La Verne lists the degree among programs that can be completed entirely online.
The University of La Verne is institutionally accredited by WSCUC. As with the other degrees profiled here, that status concerns the university as an institution. It does not transform a social-science and justice curriculum into a specialized forensic science program.
La Verne’s blend of criminological theory, quantitative analysis, justice institutions, and a capstone supports law enforcement-related, administrative, policy, and analytical goals. The transfer limit within the major is the central planning issue for community college students who already hold many courses in administration of justice.
Fresno State BS in Criminology, Law Enforcement Option
Fresno State’s off-campus degree-completion program awards a BS in Criminology with a Law Enforcement option. It uses the same upper-division criminology courses as the campus program and integrates theoretical and applied criminology.
This is not a general-admission online option. Eligibility is restricted to current or former employees of local, state, or federal government entities and their spouses. Applicants also need 60 transferable units, lower-division general education preparation, and the applicable criminology prerequisites. Some prerequisites can be completed at a community college while the student is enrolled.
Most classes are online. The program also encourages optional in-person Saturday meetings during some semesters, so it is better described as predominantly online rather than unconditionally 100% online. The published sequence uses accelerated two-month course cycles, and students following that sequence can complete the upper-division criminology requirements in approximately two years.
Tuition is listed at $357 per unit, or $1,071 for a three-unit course. The final tuition amount depends on the number of courses remaining after transfer evaluation.
The Law Enforcement option is most relevant to eligible public employees seeking degree completion, advancement, or a broader academic foundation in their field. It is unavailable to general applicants without qualifying government employment. The optional Saturday sessions create a travel consideration only for participants choosing to attend; they are not identified as required in-person meetings.
The current program page does not list a separate universal internship requirement. Official materials say that most classes are online, but they do not establish that every required class will always be offered remotely. The program is therefore more accurately classified as predominantly online rather than fully online.
Closely Related Fully Online Criminal Justice Degrees
A degree does not need “criminology” in its title to include criminology, research, crime theory, or justice-policy coursework. California institutions offer several online criminal justice bachelor’s programs that may fit students whose goals center more directly on policing, courts, corrections, administration, or public service.
These programs belong in a separate category because their official degree titles are Criminal Justice, Criminal Justice Studies, or Criminal Justice Administration.
Sacramento State Online BS in Criminal Justice
Sacramento State’s program is fully online and asynchronous, with accelerated six-week and eight-week courses. Students may enroll part time or full time, and most finish in approximately two years.
Admission requires at least 45 transferable general education units, a minimum 2.5 GPA, specified communication or quantitative preparation, and four lower-division criminal justice prerequisites. The major covers research methods, law, investigation, criminal behavior, policy, administration, corrections, policing, and electives.
Published tuition is $489 per unit, plus application and graduation charges. The program includes access to internship study within the wider curriculum, but the current online program page does not list an internship as a universal requirement.
Sacramento State offers more pacing flexibility than a lockstep full-time cohort. It is a practical alternative for transfer applicants seeking a justice-system degree with flexibility to balance enrollment intensity and work.
San Diego State University Online BS in Criminal Justice
SDSU’s online BS in Criminal Justice is an asynchronous completion program using accelerated eight-week modules. Applicants need at least 60 transferable semester units and cannot already hold a bachelor’s degree.
Depending on prior credit and remaining requirements, students complete between 48 and 66 SDSU units. The program advertises completion in as little as 15 months. Tuition is listed at $553 per unit, so the total changes substantially across that 48-to-66-unit range.
Coursework addresses crime, law, social control, law enforcement, juvenile justice, corrections, investigation, report writing, applied research, program evaluation, and public administration. Electives can include forensic anthropology or forensic science.
Those electives provide exposure to forensic topics, but they do not create a laboratory-science major. A single forensic course cannot replace sequenced study in general chemistry, organic chemistry, analytical chemistry, biology, molecular biology, statistics, and laboratory methods.
San Francisco State University Online BA in Criminal Justice Studies
San Francisco State offers a 100% online, cohort-based BA in Criminal Justice Studies. Applicants can enter from any prior major if they have at least 60 college credits. The advertised completion time is two years.
The curriculum includes criminal law, research methods, critical thinking, crime, justice systems, social justice, and community-oriented study. This gives the degree a broader policy and social perspective than a narrowly operational law-enforcement curriculum.
Tuition is published at $415 per unit, with a displayed program total of $24,900. The overview discusses credit for prior learning but does not identify a universal internship or campus residency.
This option fits transfer students interested in justice institutions, legal support, public policy, community programs, or public service. Its BA structure and social-justice emphasis differ from the more quantitatively structured CSULB criminology and criminal justice program.
CSU San Bernardino Online BA in Criminal Justice
CSU San Bernardino offers a completely online BA in Criminal Justice. The current catalog publishes 45 units of major requirements, and each semester is divided into two accelerated sessions of approximately seven weeks.
Elective topics include victimology, white-collar crime, gangs, forensic profiling, criminal procedure, courts, corrections, policing, terrorism, and crime prevention. The range supports students who want to shape a general criminal justice degree around a particular institutional or crime-related interest.
The live program page did not prominently publish a current total program price in the reviewed material. An older university flyer listed $420 per semester unit, but that figure is not used here as a current price.
The program materials describe the degree as completely online, with no required campus attendance identified. CSU San Bernardino is institutionally accredited by WSCUC.
National University BS in Criminal Justice Administration
National University offers its BS in Criminal Justice Administration online, in person, and in hybrid formats. Online courses use four-week terms, creating a different rhythm from semester-based CSU programs. Applications are accepted year-round rather than through one annual transfer cycle.
The bachelor’s degree requires 120 semester credits. National University specifies that at least 30 credits must be completed in residence at the university and that the degree must include 51 upper-division credits. Students entering with little or no transfer credit may need additional general electives to reach the bachelor’s total.
The curriculum includes criminology, juvenile justice, corrections, courts, criminal law and procedure, ethics, investigations, leadership, criminal justice management, and a capstone. Electives can include criminal evidence, a survey of forensic sciences, and a practicum. The practicum is an elective possibility rather than a required experience for every student.
National University evaluates undergraduate applicants using academic records and may also consider test scores, interviews, professional experience, motivation, and educational objectives. Provisional acceptance may be available for up to 90 days while required official documents are completed.
Transfer applicants receive a course-equivalency review. Transferable courses must come from qualifying accredited institutions, appear on official transcripts, satisfy applicable grade and currency rules, and match degree requirements. The exact number of credits applied to the degree therefore depends on the student’s records and the university’s evaluation.
The university also documents California community-college transfer pathways, prior-learning credit, and a STEP tuition-reduction route for eligible community-college students with at least a 2.0 GPA. These policies make National University more accessible than CSU completion programs that require 45 to 60 transferable units before entry, although transfer evaluation and the 30-credit residency requirement still affect the remaining time and cost.
The degree’s administration and leadership content fits justice-system study with an organizational or management emphasis. The four-week calendar compresses each course into a short term. That schedule calls for consistent study time, but the published term length does not establish how many courses a student takes concurrently.
National University is a nonprofit institution accredited by WSCUC. Current tuition was not established in the reviewed program materials, so it is not included in the cost comparison.
University of Massachusetts Global BA in Criminal Justice
University of Massachusetts Global offers a 120-credit BA in Criminal Justice in a 100% online, instructor-led format. Although it is part of the University of Massachusetts system, its main campus address is in Aliso Viejo, California. It is not part of the University of California or California State University systems.
The curriculum covers contemporary criminal justice issues, corrections, courts, evidence, forensics, gangs, immigration, national security, and local, state, and federal law enforcement. Published tuition was $500 per credit as of September 25, 2026.
Applicants with at least 12 transferable credits generally need a minimum 2.0 cumulative GPA. Requirements differ for applicants with fewer credits. An eligible California Basic POST Certificate can count for 15 lower-division general elective credits, but those credits do not apply to the criminal justice major.
This option can accommodate applicants who are not entering with the 45 to 60 transferable units required by many CSU completion programs. The official materials describe the coursework as instructor-led, but they do not specify synchronous meetings, recurring live sessions, or scheduled attendance times.
UMass Global is a nonprofit institution accredited by WSCUC. No required California campus attendance was identified in the reviewed program information.
A Hybrid Alternative: Stanislaus State
The Stanislaus State BA in Criminal Justice degree-completion program offers law enforcement and corrections concentrations, but it is not fully online. It combines virtual instruction with in-person participation and includes a live evening meeting each week. The advertised completion time is 18 months.
The program is intended largely for applicants who completed an associate degree in Administration of Justice or a similar field. Its concentrations can serve working law-enforcement and corrections professionals, but the required live and in-person components make it unsuitable for someone who needs a location-independent degree.
Criminology Is Not Laboratory Forensic Science
The word “crime” appears across criminology, criminal justice, crime-scene investigation, and forensic science, but these fields prepare students for different work.
Criminology courses commonly examine:
- Causes and patterns of crime
- Criminal behavior and social response
- Juvenile delinquency
- Inequality and victimization
- Justice policy
- Research methods and statistics
- Policing, courts, and corrections
- Criminal law and ethics
Crime-scene investigation education places more emphasis on:
- Scene documentation
- Evidence recognition and recovery
- Photography
- Fingerprints
- Chain of custody
- Reconstruction
- Report writing
- Courtroom testimony
Laboratory criminalistics requires stronger natural-science preparation, often including:
- General and organic chemistry
- Analytical or quantitative chemistry
- Biology and molecular biology
- Physics or calculus, depending on the specialty
- Instrumental analysis
- Laboratory methods and quality assurance
- Statistics
- Discipline-specific forensic science courses
California’s Criminalist examination materials describe technical laboratory analysis and evaluate education and experience in areas including chemistry, biology, science, and criminalistics. A criminology bachelor’s degree consisting primarily of social science, law, and justice courses does not supply that scientific foundation by title alone.
Students targeting a crime laboratory should prioritize a chemistry, biochemistry, biology, molecular biology, or laboratory-based forensic science degree that satisfies the science coursework for the intended specialty. A criminology minor or selected justice courses can supplement that scientific preparation, but they should not replace it.
Crime-scene positions require a separate analysis because California agencies use job titles differently. One agency may employ civilian crime-scene technicians, while another may assign scene work to sworn personnel. A criminology or criminal justice degree can support the broader educational side of an application, especially when it includes investigation, evidence, photography, and report writing, but agency hiring standards, academies, background investigations, and experience requirements still govern employment.
Transfer Planning for California Students
Most public-university options on this list are completion programs. The student completes lower-division college work first and then enters an online upper-division sequence. Careful course selection at the community college level can reduce duplicated units and delayed admission.
Complete the required transfer foundation
CSUSM and CSULB require approximately 60 transferable semester units. Fresno State also requires 60. SDSU and SFSU use the same general upper-division transfer point, while Sacramento State permits application with at least 45 transferable general education units alongside specific preparation.
General education alone may not satisfy major prerequisites. CSULB requires an introductory criminal justice course and two courses selected from sociology, psychology, or American government. Sacramento State requires four lower-division criminal justice courses. CSUSM requires its specified CSU communication, critical-thinking, and quantitative requirements and expects sociology preparation by a stated point in the program.
A transfer plan should therefore track three categories separately:
- Total transferable units
- General education and CSU transfer requirements
- Lower-division prerequisites for the intended major
Completing 60 units without the required subjects can still leave an applicant ineligible or add courses after transfer.
Compare residency and major-transfer rules
CSULB’s online program is restricted to California residents. Fresno State’s pathway is restricted by government employment or spousal eligibility. La Verne limits transfer into the major to two courses. National University requires at least 30 credits in residence.
These policies can matter more than a small difference in tuition. A community college student with extensive Administration of Justice coursework may find a CSU completion program more transfer-efficient than La Verne’s major-transfer limit. An applicant with little prior college credit may have a more workable entry path through Mount Saint Mary’s, National University, or UMass Global than through a program requiring upper-division transfer standing.
National University evaluates transferable coursework course by course, while Mount Saint Mary’s and UMass Global publish admission routes for applicants below the typical CSU transfer threshold. These routes allow earlier entry, but a student beginning with fewer credits will usually have more of the 120- or 124-credit bachelor’s degree left to complete.
Calculate remaining tuition rather than comparing rates alone
The lowest per-unit price does not always produce the lowest remaining tuition. Fresno State lists $357 per unit, but access is restricted. CSULB lists $425 per unit and publishes a program range based on transferred units. CSUSM lists $490 per unit with a 55-unit tuition subtotal. Mount Saint Mary’s lists $663 per unit, but the amount owed depends heavily on transferred credit.
A useful comparison starts with the number of units that will actually remain at each institution. Then add mandatory fees and any expenses associated with an internship, local placement, books, technology, or optional travel.
Major residency policies belong in the same calculation. La Verne permits only two transferred courses within its 52-semester-hour major. National University requires 30 credits in residence. A lower published tuition rate at another school may have limited value if that institution accepts fewer applicable credits or requires more coursework after transfer.
Account for the academic calendar
Accelerated online courses compress the same subject into fewer weeks. CSULB uses a full-time lockstep cohort. CSUSM follows a four-semester sequence that includes summer. Sacramento State permits part-time or full-time enrollment. National University uses four-week courses. CSU San Bernardino divides semesters into approximately seven-week sessions.
Shorter course terms do not necessarily mean less weekly work. A student taking one four-week class may focus on fewer subjects at a time but complete readings, discussions, papers, and examinations at a rapid pace. A lockstep cohort is predictable but leaves less room to reduce enrollment during a demanding work period.
Matching the Degree to the Goal
The programs can be narrowed effectively by starting with career direction and current college standing.
For criminology, policy, and social-science research: CSUSM and CSULB both require qualitative or quantitative analytical work. CSULB places particularly clear emphasis on statistics, research methods, criminological theory, and justice institutions. CSUSM adds inequality studies and a community-oriented culminating experience.
For a direct criminology degree without 60 completed transfer units: Mount Saint Mary’s publishes an admissions route for applicants with fewer than 24 college units. Its 124-unit degree also includes a semester-long internship. The tradeoff is a higher published per-unit tuition rate than the CSU completion programs.
For a fully online degree combining criminal justice and criminology: La Verne offers both fields in the degree title and includes quantitative analysis, research methods, theory, justice systems, and a capstone. Its limit of two transferred courses within the major can reduce its appeal to applicants with substantial prior criminal justice coursework.
For California residents ready for full-time cohort study: CSULB provides a structured 21-month completion route with a 3.0 minimum GPA and a substantial research and statistics component. Its required full-time sequence will not accommodate applicants who need part-time enrollment.
For government employees and their spouses: Fresno State offers the lowest published per-unit tuition among the direct criminology options reviewed, along with a Law Enforcement option. Its employment-based eligibility rule sharply narrows the audience. Most coursework is online, while optional Saturday meetings provide additional in-person interaction for participants able to attend.
For part-time CSU study: Sacramento State permits part-time or full-time enrollment and uses asynchronous accelerated courses. The official degree title is Criminal Justice rather than Criminology.
For year-round admission and concentrated four-week courses: National University offers a 120-credit criminal justice administration degree without the 45-to-60-unit entry threshold used by several CSU completion programs. Its 30-credit residency rule, transfer evaluation, and rapid course calendar should be included in the planning calculation.
For the fastest advertised completion schedule after transfer: SDSU advertises completion in as little as 15 months, depending on accepted credit and remaining requirements. CSUSM advertises 16 months, Stanislaus State 18 months in a hybrid format, and CSULB approximately 21 months.
For laboratory criminalist goals: None of these social-science or justice-system programs should be the primary academic route unless the student separately completes the required chemistry, biology, and laboratory coursework. A science-centered degree is the more direct preparation.
Career Expectations After an Online Criminology Degree
A criminology bachelor’s can support applications across justice agencies, community organizations, corrections, probation, victim services, policy work, and graduate programs. It does not guarantee appointment to a particular classification.
Police and detective education requirements vary by agency, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Requirements nationally range from a high school diploma to a college degree, and most police officers and detectives also complete agency academy training. A bachelor’s can strengthen academic preparation or meet an employer’s education threshold, but hiring can also involve physical standards, examinations, background investigations, and field training.
Probation officers and correctional treatment specialists typically need a bachelor’s degree. Common academic fields include criminal justice, related protective-service disciplines, social science, and psychology. Criminology fits that general educational pattern well, especially when the curriculum includes juvenile delinquency, corrections, behavioral study, research, and social inequality.
Crime analysis and policy roles benefit from statistics, research methods, writing, databases, and program evaluation. CSULB’s statistics and methods sequence, CSUSM’s qualitative and quantitative study, La Verne’s applied quantitative analysis, and SDSU’s applied research and program evaluation coursework are relevant examples. Employers can still request technical skills or prior agency experience beyond the degree.
Internships can improve professional exposure, but the verified programs handle them differently. Mount Saint Mary’s requires a semester-long internship. CSUSM includes a supervised service or approved community-based capstone route. CSULB requires an internship or directed research or independent study experience. Sacramento State lists internship study within the curriculum without stating that every online student must complete it.
Choosing a Program
Begin with eligibility. Students with 60 transferable units can compare CSUSM, CSULB, Fresno State, SDSU, and SFSU as completion options. Applicants with fewer credits have earlier-entry routes at Mount Saint Mary’s, National University, or UMass Global. Fresno State belongs on the shortlist only for qualifying government employees, former employees, and spouses.
Next, compare the curriculum against the intended work. Research, policy, and analytical goals call for statistics, quantitative analysis, research methods, theory, and program evaluation. Policing or agency administration goals place more weight on investigations, law, procedure, leadership, corrections, and public administration. Probation and community-service interests benefit from juvenile justice, behavioral study, inequality, rehabilitation, and applied field experience.
Then assess the schedule. A full-time lockstep program such as CSULB rewards students who can maintain the assigned pace. CSUSM is also accelerated and includes summer. Sacramento State permits more variation in enrollment. National University’s four-week terms suit students who prefer concentrated courses, while traditional or eight-week formats spread each subject across a longer period.
Finally, calculate the actual remaining units, not just the advertised tuition rate. Transfer acceptance, major residency policies, prerequisite gaps, fees, and internship logistics can outweigh a difference of several dollars per unit.
California students seeking a criminology-titled online degree have distinct routes. The best comparison begins with transfer status and scheduling capacity, then moves to curriculum. Research and policy goals favor programs with statistics, methods, theory, and program evaluation. Agency-oriented goals favor investigation, law, corrections, administration, and field experience.
For justice policy, probation, corrections, law enforcement, community programs, or graduate study, these degrees provide relevant social-science and institutional preparation. For criminalist and crime-laboratory work, prioritize chemistry, biology, quantitative science, and laboratory training instead.