It started with a job posting I couldn’t stop refreshing. A local utility company was hiring for a “Junior Electrical Engineer” role, decent pay, hybrid schedule, the works. Only catch: they wanted a degree, and I had a diploma in electronics repair and about eight years of experience fixing HVAC control boards. Close, but not close enough for HR software that filters resumes before a human even sees them.
So I did what a lot of people do at 11 PM when they’re annoyed at their career — I opened a browser tab and typed “online electrical engineering degree” into Google. What followed was about three months of research, a handful of program comparisons, two enrollment attempts (one I backed out of), and a lot of emails to admissions counselors who all sounded suspiciously similar.
I’m not going to pretend I have a finished EE degree hanging on my wall right now. I don’t. But I went deep enough into this rabbit hole — comparing schools, testing software, sitting through orientation webinars, reading Reddit threads from actual graduates — that I think I can save someone else a few weeks of confusion. If you’re wondering whether an online electrical engineering program in the US is realistic, or just a marketing trick for diploma mills, here’s the honest breakdown.
The First Thing Nobody Tells You: Accreditation Isn’t Optional
Before you even look at tuition or course names, you need to check one thing: is the program ABET accredited?
ABET (Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology) is basically the gatekeeper for engineering degrees in the US. If a program isn’t ABET-accredited, most engineering employers will pass on your resume without a second look, and you likely won’t be eligible to sit for the Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam later — which you need if you ever want a Professional Engineer (PE) license.
I almost got fooled by a program that looked slick, had a modern website, and used words like “cutting-edge curriculum” a lot. Took me twenty minutes of digging to realize it wasn’t ABET accredited. That’s twenty minutes well spent, because enrolling there would’ve cost me two years and a chunk of savings for a piece of paper that engineering firms wouldn’t recognize.
How to check accreditation yourself:
- Go to abet.org and use their accredited program search tool.
- Search the exact school and program name — not just the university, because sometimes only certain departments are accredited.
- Cross-check the “Electrical Engineering” or “Electrical Engineering Technology” label — these are two different degrees with different career paths (more on that below).
Wait — Electrical Engineering vs. Electrical Engineering Technology. These Are Not the Same Thing
This tripped me up hard at first. A lot of online programs advertise “Electrical Engineering” but what they’re actually offering is an Electrical Engineering Technology (EET) degree.
Here’s the real difference, from what I’ve gathered talking to people in both fields:
- EE (Electrical Engineering) is heavier on theory, advanced math (think differential equations, complex circuit analysis, electromagnetics), and design work. It’s the degree that leads toward becoming a licensed Professional Engineer.
- EET (Electrical Engineering Technology) leans more applied and hands-on — think installation, maintenance, testing, and troubleshooting systems rather than designing them from scratch. Less theoretical math, more practical application.
Neither one is “better,” they just lead to different jobs. If you want to eventually design power systems, work in R&D, or stamp drawings as a licensed PE, you want the EE degree. If you want to be the person who keeps industrial systems running and troubleshoots equipment on-site, EET might actually suit you better — and it’s often a faster, slightly less math-intensive path.
I made the mistake of assuming they were interchangeable for the first two weeks of my research. Don’t do that. Read the actual course catalog, not just the marketing page.
The Schools That Kept Coming Up Again and Again
After a lot of comparing, here are the programs that consistently showed up as legitimate, ABET-accredited, and reasonably well-regarded by people who’d actually gone through them (based on reviews, forum discussions, and admissions info I pulled directly from each school’s site):
University of North Dakota — Their online BSEE program is ABET accredited and has been around long enough to have a real track record. It’s designed for working adults, with asynchronous coursework mixed with some scheduled lab check-ins.
Old Dominion University — Offers a fully online Bachelor’s in Electrical Engineering Technology through their distance learning division (ODUOnline). They ship lab kits to your house, which honestly surprised me the first time I read about it.
Purdue University (Purdue Global and main campus online offerings) — Purdue has serious name recognition in engineering circles, and their online electrical engineering technology programs carry that weight, even though the online arm is structured a bit differently from the flagship campus program.
Arizona State University (ASU Online) — ASU has built one of the most extensive online course catalogs of any major university, and their engineering programs, run through the Ira A. Fulton Schools of Engineering, are ABET accredited.
Georgia Tech — Worth mentioning separately because while their online offerings are mostly at the graduate level (the Online Master of Science in Electrical and Computer Engineering, OMSCS’s electrical-adjacent cousin), it’s one of the most respected names in engineering, period, and the online master’s is genuinely well regarded in industry.
I’m not being paid to mention any of these, and I’d encourage you to verify current accreditation status yourself since program details do shift year to year. But these five kept showing up in every serious comparison I did.
How the Lab Problem Actually Gets Solved
This was my biggest doubt going in. Electrical engineering is a hands-on field. How do you learn to wire a circuit, use an oscilloscope, or troubleshoot a breadboard through a laptop screen?
Turns out, schools have gotten pretty creative about this, and it’s not the dealbreaker I assumed it would be.
Physical lab kits mailed to your home. Several programs (Old Dominion is a good example) send you an actual kit — breadboard, resistors, multimeter, sometimes a small oscilloscope or a USB-based one — so you’re doing real hands-on work at your kitchen table, just recording results and submitting data instead of doing it in a university lab room.
Simulation software. Tools like MATLAB and Simulink, LTspice, and Multisim let you build and test circuits virtually before (or instead of) building them physically. I downloaded a free trial of LTspice just to poke around, and honestly, simulating a circuit and watching the waveform respond in real time taught me more in twenty minutes than reading a textbook chapter did.
Remote lab access. Some programs use remote lab systems where you log into university equipment over the internet and run experiments on real hardware sitting in a lab building somewhere, controlled through your browser.
In-person intensives. A handful of programs require you to show up on campus for a short stretch (sometimes a long weekend, sometimes a week) once or twice per semester specifically for hands-on lab work that can’t be replicated remotely.
None of these are perfect substitutes for a physical lab every single day, but combined, they get surprisingly close. The bigger issue is discipline — nobody’s standing over your shoulder making sure you actually do the lab work carefully instead of rushing through it.
What the Coursework Actually Looks Like
I sat through two orientation webinars and looked at syllabi from three different schools. Here’s roughly what you’re signing up for, semester by semester, in a typical EE track:
Early semesters: Calculus I through III, Physics (mechanics and electricity/magnetism), Circuit Analysis I and II, an intro programming course (usually Python or C++), and general education requirements.
Middle semesters: Differential Equations, Linear Algebra, Electronics (analog and digital), Signals and Systems, Electromagnetics, and your first real design-heavy courses.
Later semesters: Control Systems, Power Systems, Communications, a capstone senior design project, and electives depending on your specialization (power, embedded systems, telecommunications, or renewable energy tracks are common).
That capstone project matters more than people realize. It’s usually the thing you’ll actually talk about in job interviews, so pick something you’re genuinely interested in rather than whatever’s easiest to finish.
Step-by-Step: How I’d Actually Approach Choosing a Program If I Were Starting Today
- Decide EE or EET first. Look at where you want to be in five years. Design and licensure track? EE. Hands-on technical/troubleshooting track? EET.
- Filter by ABET accreditation. Non-negotiable. Cross it off the list immediately if it’s not accredited.
- Check the lab structure. Ask admissions directly: do they ship kits, use remote labs, or require in-person visits? Get this in writing, not just a verbal promise on a phone call.
- Look at total cost, not just per-credit tuition. Some schools quote a low per-credit rate but pile on technology fees, lab kit fees, and out-of-state surcharges that even “online” students sometimes get hit with.
- Check transfer credit policy if you already have some college credits or an associate degree. Some schools are generous, others make you retake almost everything.
- Talk to a current student if possible. LinkedIn is genuinely useful for this — search the program name, filter by current students, and send a polite message. Most people are happy to share their honest experience.
- Look at the FE exam pass rate if the school publishes it. This tells you a lot about how well the program actually prepares people, not just how well it markets itself.
Mistakes I Watched People Make (and Almost Made Myself)
Underestimating the math. A lot of people assume “online” means “easier.” It doesn’t. The calculus and differential equations requirements are identical to what an on-campus student does. If you’ve been out of school for a decade, budget real time to rebuild your math foundation before diving in — Khan Academy and Paul’s Online Math Notes are free and genuinely solid for refreshing calculus.
Ignoring time zone and synchronous requirements. Not every online program is fully asynchronous. Some have scheduled Zoom lectures or lab check-ins at fixed times. If you work night shifts like I do, this can quietly wreck your schedule if you don’t check ahead of time.
Choosing based on price alone. The cheapest program I found also had the worst reviews from actual students regarding advisor responsiveness and lab support. Saving three thousand dollars isn’t worth it if you’re stuck emailing an advisor who takes two weeks to respond.
Skipping the accreditation double-check. I mentioned this already, but it’s worth repeating because it’s the single most expensive mistake someone can make in this whole process.
Forgetting about the FE/PE exam path early. If licensure matters to you, some states have specific requirements about which courses count. Look this up on your state’s engineering licensing board website before you’re three semesters in and realize you’re missing a required course.
A Realistic Use Case
Someone I connected with through a program’s alumni LinkedIn group (an actual current student, not a friend of a friend) was working full-time as an electrician while doing ASU’s online EE coursework part-time. His schedule was brutal — work during the day, coursework at night, labs on weekends using a shipped kit and remote sim tools. It took him about five and a half years instead of the traditional four, but he kept his full-time income the entire time and graduated with almost no student debt because his employer covered a chunk of tuition through a professional development benefit.
That’s probably the most realistic picture of what an online EE degree looks like for a working adult: slower than the traditional path, but financially sustainable, and it doesn’t require uprooting your life.
Tools Worth Getting Familiar With Early
Even before you enroll, spending time with these will make the first semester less overwhelming:
- MATLAB — used constantly across signals, controls, and systems courses. Many schools provide a free student license once you’re enrolled.
- LTspice — free circuit simulation software, genuinely useful for understanding circuit behavior visually.
- Python — most programs now require at least one programming course, and Python shows up in signal processing and data analysis assignments.
- AutoCAD Electrical or similar CAD software — useful if your track leans toward power systems or design work.
Final Thoughts
Going through this whole research process changed my opinion completely. I went in assuming online EE programs were a watered-down version of a “real” degree, and came out realizing that, if you pick a properly accredited program and take the lab component seriously, you end up with essentially the same education — just delivered on a schedule that fits around a job or family instead of the other way around.
It’s not a shortcut. The math doesn’t get easier because it’s online, and nobody’s going to hand you a diploma for showing up. But if you’ve been stuck outside the door of an engineering career because life didn’t line up with a traditional four-year, on-campus schedule, this is a legitimately real path back in — not a gimmick.
FAQs
Is an online electrical engineering degree respected by employers? Yes, as long as it’s from an ABET-accredited program. Employers in engineering fields care much more about accreditation and your project portfolio than whether your classes happened in a lecture hall or through a laptop.
Can I become a licensed Professional Engineer (PE) with an online EE degree? Generally yes, provided the program is ABET accredited. You’ll still need to pass the FE exam, gain qualifying work experience (usually four years), and then pass the PE exam, same as anyone with a traditional degree.
How long does an online electrical engineering degree take? A bachelor’s typically takes four years full-time, but most working adults doing it part-time take five to six years. It depends heavily on how many courses you take per semester and whether you’re transferring in prior credits.
Do online EE programs actually include hands-on lab work? Yes, through a mix of mailed lab kits, simulation software like LTspice and MATLAB, remote access to university lab equipment, and sometimes short in-person intensives. It’s not identical to daily in-person labs, but it covers the practical skills you need.
How much does an online electrical engineering degree cost in the US? It varies a lot by school, generally somewhere between $10,000 and $40,000+ total for a bachelor’s degree, depending on the institution, in-state vs out-of-state rates, and any lab or technology fees. Always ask for a full cost breakdown, not just the advertised per-credit rate.