UA Little Rock’s Online Graduate Degree Ranked Among Best, Most Affordable in Nation

A UA Little Rock online program has been ranked among the best in the country for those seeking a master’s degree in communication, according to a new report from Forbes Advisor.

Forbes Advisor, a platform that provides consumers with rankings on the most cost-effective higher education options, has chosen UA Little Rock’s online Master of Arts in Mass Communication program as one of the more affordable choices in the country. The program was named to Forbes Advisor’s list of the Best Online Communications Master’s Degrees of 2025.

The ranking is composed by studying several data points including credibility, affordability, and student success and experience, as well as the ease of the application process. Forbes Advisor lauds UA Little Rock’s online mass communication program due to its 33-credit curriculum that covers a wide range of topics, including journalistic freedom and responsibility, visual journalism, and news media and the First Amendment. 

Students in the program choose between the media research track, which includes a master’s thesis, and the professional media track, which involves creating a professional project. The media research choice prepares distance learners to evaluate and conduct academic research in mass communication. Meanwhile, the professional mass media option gives students advanced professional experience in strategic communication/public relations or multi-platform journalism through the creation of a project for their capstone experience.

The Forbes Advisor study also noted that UA Little Rock earned the best score out of the 10 other educational institutions in the ranking for lowest average in-state tuition rates.