Ball State University

ball state university accreditation

Ball State Academics

Ball State University appears in our ranking of Top 30 Great Value Colleges for an Online Master’s in Curriculum and Instruction.

Degree programs available at Ball State University span a broad array of departments, including Anthropology, Art, Biology, Business, English, Finance and Insurance, History, Sociology, and even Speech Pathology and Audiology. Degree programs offered at Ball State University prepare students to enter their chosen field not only with a solid understanding of the core curriculum, but also myriad sciences, arts, and languages as elective credits. Professors will directly offer their expertise and support to students throughout their educational journey – and often become more like friends than instructors throughout the course of a four-year degree. For graduate students, Ball State University offers a compelling curriculum on a flexible schedule, and perhaps just as importantly, all of the degree programs and certificate programs offered at the university are competitively priced.

Ball State’s online programs are delivered by the same faculty members who teach on campus.  Online degrees and certificates are offered at all degree levels, from associate’s degrees all the way up to doctoral degrees.  Traditional on-campus students can also take online courses during their summer breaks.  Some of the more popular online bachelor’s degrees include business administration, nursing (RN to BSN), and criminal justice/criminology. There are several online education degrees offered at the master’s level, including elementary education, curriculum and educational technology, business education, coaching education, and a unique online Transition to Teaching Program for Elementary Education. Five online doctoral degrees in education are also offered.

About Ball State University

Located just 50 miles northeast of Indianapolis, Ball State University offers a beautiful, welcoming campus to conventional students and a powerful online learning platform for students pursuing their higher education from the comfort of their own homes. Ball State’s excellence as an institution of higher learning began in the late 1800s, when business leaders in the city of Muncie came together to create a local college to boost the development of the local economy. Frank C. Ball and his brothers were young industrialists from New York who moved to Muncie in search of opportunities to grow their glass container business. There, they encountered a small, private teacher training school in 1899. Unfortunately, the community’s efforts to keep the college’s doors open failed, which paved the way for the Ball brothers to purchase the land and buildings and donate them to the State of Indiana. This donation from the Ball brothers became the Indiana State Normal School Eastern Division in 1918 to meet Indiana’s need for more and better teachers and later evolved into Ball State University.

Ball State University Accreditation

Ball State University is accredited by the Higher Learning Commission. Ball State University offers about 190 different degree programs and concentrations, and many of those programs have won awards. The school is made up of eight academic colleges, and since choosing a major can be a difficult undertaking, the university offers a personality test on their website that can help prospective students match a degree program to their personality. Some of their bachelor degree programs are offered in a “3 program,” which means that a student could earn a bachelor’s degree in just 3 years by attending courses in the summer. A few of the award-winning degree programs offered in the 3 program are their Bachelor’s degree in Anthropology, their Bachelor’s degree in Business Economics, and their Bachelor’s degree in Criminology and Criminal Justice.

Ball State University Admission Requirements

Admission to Ball State is very competitive and unfortunately the university cannot accommodate everyone who applies for admission. Each application is considered for level of course work, academic performance, extracurricular participation in high school, and standardized test scores. Ultimately, prospective students are evaluated to determine if they will be likely to be successful at Ball State University.

The university uses the following criteria when considering applications:

Diploma

Ball State specifically prefers the Indiana Academic Honors Diploma or its out-of-state equivalent for new admissions. In the very least, the university looks for an Indiana Core 40 diploma or its out-of-state equivalent.

Required Courses

Students must have completed the following courses to be eligible for admission: four years of English, three years of science, three years of mathematics, three years of social studies. Foreign language study is strongly recommended but is not required for admission.

International students interested in applying for admission to Ball State University should include their passport or financial documents to be eligible for immigration documents, and should also include transcripts of their Test of English as a Foreign Language score. A minimum score of 79 on this test is required for admission. SAT and ACT scores are not required.

Transfer students will be considered if they have achieved a cumulative grade point of average of at least 2.0 on a 4.0 scale. Only credits earned at regionally accredited universities can be considered for transfer. Admission for transfer students is based on academic performance at the last university attended. All transcripts from all universities attended must be submitted. Students who apply while still enrolled at another university are accepted on a conditional basis, and will become ineligible and their acceptance revoked if they drop below a 2.0 average at their current university.

Ball State University Tuition and Financial Aid

Currently, the cost of attending Ball State University is $7,890 per semester for Indiana residents or $24,462 per semester for out-of-state residents. There are over 500 scholarships available to incoming freshman. A few of the most valuable scholarships available are the Ball State Scholar Award, the Ellison Scholarship, the Distinction Scholarship, the Impact Grant, the Presidential Scholarship, the Whitinger Scholarship, and the RPM Advisory Board Merit Endowment Scholarship.

Many scholarships are based on talent, leadership, service, or academics, but need-based programs also exist. Additionally, Ball State administers a number of financial aid programs from federal, state, private student aid programs, and institutional programs. Nearly every student enrolled at Ball State University is eligible for some form of financial aid.

One of the finest online learning institutions in the country, Ball State University offers a plethora of degree programs for students interested in earning their degree or certificate entirely online. Online degree programs offered by Ball State University include Applied Behavior Analysis, Business Administration, Criminal Justice, General Studies, Logistics and Supply Chain Management, and an RN to BSN degree program. The U.S. World News Report ranked Ball State University as one of the best online bachelors degree programs in 2018.

Whether students are looking for an excellent education in a traditional brick-and-mortar university or innovative online learning from a reputable, well-established university, Ball State University offers an affordable education that can propel students into virtually any new career path they choose. Though admission can be competitive and the coursework can be demanding, pursuing a degree at Ball State University seems well worth the effort and expense.