Teachers and librarians searching for online master's degrees should look first at public universities. A new online college affordability survey by GetEducated.com has found that 27 high-quality, low-cost online degrees in education and library science are available for under $10,000.

GetEducated.com is an online education group that ranks and rates online college programs for credibility and affordability. The distance education group analyzed tuition and fees at 101 regionally accredited universities that offer 313 online master’s degrees to come up with national rankings of the Best Buys in online master’s for teachers and librarians.

Wide Variation in Costs for Online Master’s

Educators and librarians will find online master's degrees ranging in price from $5,600 to $41,000.  The average cost of a distance learning master’s for educators is $15,714. According to GetEducated.com’s survey, the top 27 ranked best buys all come in under $10,000—and they all are issued by public, nonprofit schools.

Online Education Costs Soaring

GetEducated’s 2005 survey of online master’s in education and library science found tuition and fee costs ranging from $3,294 to $32,850. The increase in price from 2005 to 2009 is much higher than the rate of inflation for this same time period, showing how markedly higher education prices have risen.

Today's most affordable online graduate degree in education can be found at Appalachian State University in North Carolina.  North Carolina residents can earn a master's in educational media for just $5,535. (Non-residents will pay significantly more: $23,922.)

The University of Wyoming Outreach offers the least expensive distance learning degrees for both in-state and out-of-state educators: a master of science in education/instructional technology and a master of arts in education/adult and post-secondary education. Both degrees cost about $7,000.

The first private college to crack the Best Buy rankings is Saint Joseph's College of Maine with a cost of about $10,890 for its online master of science in education.

The most affordable for-profit, online education school in the rankings: Northcentral University, in Arizona.  This online college received an affordability ranking grade of “B” for its master of education, priced at $12,260.

The most expensive online master’s in library science:

* Drexel University, Pennsylvania ($41,175)
* Syracuse University, New York ($40,212)
* University of Washington, Washington ($35,721)

The most expensive master's in education degrees:

* Drexel University, Pennsylvania ($38,870)
* Columbia University, New York ($34,720)
* St. John's University, New York ($31,065)
* Capella University ($30,456)