Online Early Childhood Education Degree: Associate to Master's

By the Transforming Education editorial team. Reviewed for accuracy against the sources listed below.

Early childhood education covers the years from birth to about age eight, and the degree you need depends entirely on where you want to work. A child care center, a Head Start classroom and a public school kindergarten sit under different rules, pay very differently and ask for different credentials. This guide explains the levels of the degree, the Child Development Associate credential, when a state license is required and when it is not, what the field hours look like online, and what the Bureau of Labor Statistics reports about pay.

What the degree is and who it is for

An online early childhood education degree prepares you to teach and care for young children, with coursework in child development, language and literacy, play-based learning, family engagement, observation and assessment, and working with children with disabilities. Programs split along one line: those focused on birth to age five, which lead to child care, preschool and Head Start roles, and those that extend to the early elementary grades and lead to a state teaching license, usually described as PreK-3 or birth through grade 3.

Online delivery suits this field because so many students are already working in it. The University of Cincinnati's online B.S.Ed. in Early Childhood Education is designed to build on associate degree competencies for people already working in preschools, Head Start programs, child care centers or family child care. Liberty's B.S. in Early Childhood Education Interdisciplinary Studies names child care facilities, churches, private schools and paraprofessional roles in public schools as its destinations.

Associate, bachelor's or master's?

The BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook sets out the floor: preschool teachers typically need at least an associate degree, teachers in center-based Head Start programs must have at least an associate degree, and at least 50 percent of Head Start preschool teachers nationwide must have a bachelor's degree in early childhood education or a related field. Public school preschool teachers are generally required to have at least a bachelor's degree and to be licensed to teach early childhood education, preschool through third grade.

At the graduate level, the University of North Dakota's online M.S. in Early Childhood Education is 32 credits, 100% online, listed at two or more years and described as a non-licensing degree that follows National Association for the Education of Young Children guidelines.

The CDA credential

Alongside degrees sits the Child Development Associate credential, administered by the Council for Professional Recognition. For the center-based birth to five credential, candidates need 120 hours of formal early childhood education training with no fewer than 10 hours in each of eight subject areas, 480 hours of professional work experience within three years of applying, with at least 160 hours each with infants, toddlers and preschoolers, a professional portfolio, a verification visit by a professional development specialist, and an exam.

The CDA is a workforce credential, not a degree, and the two often work together. Coursework in an associate or bachelor's program can supply the training hours, and your job supplies the experience hours. The BLS notes that some states require a professional credential of this kind for preschool roles, which may involve coursework, experience, a written exam and observation of the candidate with children.

Licensure (PreK-3) versus non-licensure

This is the decision that determines both your job options and your pay, and program pages state it clearly once you know where to look.

Non-licensure degrees are the right degree for a different job. For a child care center, Head Start classroom or private preschool, a non-licensure bachelor's plus a CDA is a coherent path. For a public school kindergarten or first grade, only a licensure track gets you there, and it will include a full student teaching block.

Note: "Early childhood" in a degree title does not tell you the license band: Kansas and North Dakota frame it as birth through grade 3, Illinois as birth through grade 2. Check your state's band first.

Accreditation and why it matters

Institutional accreditation comes first. UND, Fort Hays State, Cincinnati and ASU are accredited by the Higher Learning Commission, with Fort Hays State's reaffirmation in March 2024 setting its next review for 2033-34; Greenville reports HLC accreditation since 1947; Liberty is accredited by SACSCOC.

For licensure tracks, look next for accreditation of the educator preparation provider. The Council for the Accreditation of Educator Preparation is recognized by CHEA; the Association for Advancing Quality in Educator Preparation, founded in 2017, is also CHEA-recognized and has more than 200 member providers in 34 states and territories. UND states its early childhood degree is accredited by CAEP. Fort Hays State's College of Education reports accreditation by CAEP and the Kansas State Department of Education through 2031. Greenville's School of Education reports CAEP accreditation from May 2021 through May 2028 and Illinois State Board of Education approval since 1974. Cincinnati states its College of Education, Criminal Justice and Human Rights is CAEP-accredited even though the online early childhood degree itself is non-licensure.

State approval is the third layer and the one that connects to a license; UND, Greenville and Fort Hays State each name their state.

Curriculum, credits and duration

Bachelor's programs run 120 to 128 credits. UND lists 125 to 128 credits over an estimated four years. Fort Hays State and Greenville list 120 credits, with Greenville quoting a duration of two to three years, a figure that assumes transfer credit. ASU's early childhood studies B.A.E. is 120 credits in 40 classes of 7.5 weeks, with fewer classes for transfer students. Liberty's degree is 120 credits in 8-week courses and accepts transfer credit for up to 75% of the degree. Cincinnati's program is built as a completion degree on top of an associate degree and offers part-time and full-time options with starts in fall, spring and summer.

Our articles on social-emotional learning activities and executive functioning activities cover two areas that early childhood methods courses lean on heavily.

Field experience and student teaching

Every program on this page includes in-person work with children, and licensure tracks include student teaching.

• UND: field experiences completed where you live, plus a required ten weeks of early childhood student teaching.
• Fort Hays State: a 16-week student teaching experience in PreK and K-3 classrooms, with placements in approved settings across the United States or internationally and the option to propose a location, pending approval.
• Greenville: more than 300 field hours in real classrooms with partner school districts.
• Cincinnati: a 150-hour preschool student teaching course, a practicum of 70 hours in an infant classroom and 70 in a toddler classroom, and an optional 200-hour internship required for Ohio Preschool Associate Licensure.
• ASU: practical experiences that can be completed at a site holding a Department of Human Services license.

If you already work in a center, ask whether your workplace can host observations and practica; licensure tracks usually require the student teaching block in a school setting that matches the license.

Admissions basics

Undergraduate admission is typically a high school diploma or equivalent plus transcripts. Licensure eligibility is a separate gate: UND requires an overall GPA of at least 2.75 for its licensure recommendation, along with passing state exams and a background check. Fort Hays State lists established GPA criteria, a background check, a professional statement and letters of recommendation for its early childhood unified program. Liberty states that no standardized testing is required for admission.

What it costs (approximate ranges)

According to NCES, average undergraduate tuition and fees in 2022-23 were about $9,800 at public four-year institutions for in-state students and about $40,700 at private nonprofit four-year institutions. Online rates published by the programs here, which change annually:

• Fort Hays State: $275.65 per credit hour online, about $4,134.75 for a 15-credit semester.
• Liberty: $410 per credit for full-time online undergraduates in 2026-27, $475 part time.
• Greenville: $485 per credit.
• UND: the same tuition rate for all online students regardless of residency; figures are on a separate cost page.
• Cincinnati: fees are on a separate page; the program notes that current Ohio early childhood professionals may be eligible for the TEACH Early Childhood Ohio scholarship.

Budget for a CDA application, state licensure exams and background checks on top of tuition.

Career outlook and pay

Pay in early childhood education follows the license line more sharply than in any other teaching field. The BLS reports a May 2025 median annual wage of $38,140 for preschool teachers. Employment was 583,200 in 2025 and is projected to grow 4 percent from 2025 to 2035, about as fast as the average for all occupations, with about 66,700 openings a year, most from replacing workers who leave.

Cross into the licensed grades and the picture changes. Kindergarten and elementary school teachers earned a median of $63,820 in May 2025, with kindergarten teachers at $62,680, and about 99,400 openings a year are projected. Preschool special education teachers earned a median of $64,830. The licensure decision you make at enrollment is, in effect, a pay decision.

The state reciprocity caveat

Early childhood licenses are state-issued and the age bands differ by state, which makes transfer less tidy than for elementary licenses. A North Dakota birth-through-grade-3 license and an Illinois birth-through-grade-2 license will each be reviewed on their own terms by any state you move to. The Texas Education Agency, for example, runs a credentials review for out-of-state certified educators that takes about six to eight weeks and issues a letter with any next steps. Choose a program approved in the state where you plan to teach, or confirm that state's rules for out-of-state preparation before enrolling.

How to choose

1. Decide on the setting first: child care and Head Start, or public school PreK-3. That determines whether you need a licensure track.
2. Match the program's age or grade band to your state's license.
3. Check institutional accreditation, then CAEP or AAQEP for licensure tracks, then state approval.
4. Ask whether your current workplace can host field hours and whether an associate degree or CDA coursework transfers.
5. Compare per-credit cost and total credits, and check whether tuition differs by residency.

For the licensing steps in order, see how to become a teacher.

How we verified this guide

Every figure above was checked on the page cited on November 7, 2026. Pay and employment data come from the BLS Occupational Outlook Handbook (May 2025 wages, 2025-35 projections). CDA requirements come from the Council for Professional Recognition. Program credits, policies and rates come from each university's own pages, and nonprofit status from the institution's site or its IRS filings as indexed by ProPublica; where we could not confirm a detail, such as a certification outcome or a tuition figure, we said so or left it out.