Online Statistics Course

By: Staff Writer

Whether you're looking to just brush up your statistics know how or need credit toward your degree, an online course is a great way to study statistics.

Online Statistics Course

Do you dread taking statistics? Have you heard of the horror stories from your classmates about how difficult statistics is? If so, you might be looking for an alternative way to get your required credits in statistics. On the other hand, maybe you are already in the workforce and you just need to brush up on your knowledge of statistics. Whether you are looking to gain college credit or just sharpen your knowledge of statistics, taking an online statistics course may be a very good option for you.

How do I find a good online statistics course?

The best thing to do if you are already enrolled at a college or university is to check to see if your school offers an online statistics course. If it doesn’t, check with a school counselor to see if the school will accept credit from an online statistics course from a distance learning program or another school. If the counselor says no, check with the dean to make sure that’s correct. On occasion, school counselors don’t always have all of the correct information for particular departments, so it’s always good to double check with someone in the department. The department head may even allow you to take what is sometimes referred to as a “challenge exam,” which allows students to gain credits for a course without actually having to take the course if their scores are high enough.

If that road leads to a dead end, check to see what kind of summer programs your school has. Often times, colleges and universities have much more relaxed requirements during the summer, and they may even offer distance courses in the summer that aren’t offered during the regular school year.

If you are not currently enrolled at a college or university, then your options are much more diverse. The best thing to do is check with your local colleges to see if they offer any online statistic courses. These days more and more community and state colleges are offering online courses, plus their tuition is a lot more reasonable than at major universities. If that option isn’t available, there are a number of online universities that offer online statistic courses. Some of them are listed below.

  • University of Phoenix
  • Kaplan University
  • Walden University
  • American Public University Online
  • DeVry University Online

There are some notable, more traditional universities that also offer online statistics courses. Some of them include:

  • Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT)
  • Stanford
  • University of North Carolina
  • Texas A&M
  • Penn State

How much do online statistics courses cost?

As is often times the case when talking about cost, the answer is, it depends. There are online statistics courses that range from no cost to $500 or more. If you are in a position in which you don’t need college credit for the course, then it would be a good idea to look into MIT’s free online course materials known as Open Courseware. MIT offers around 2000 courses online that are free to the public, and there are statistic courses included among those courses.
For those who are in need of receiving college credit for their courses, it would be a good idea to check with your local community and state colleges, as they will most likely be the most cost effective. For those with deeper pockets, Stanford offers online statistics courses which are very good.