Study Finance in Washington State

With two large university systems – the University of Washington and Washington State University – you have plentiful options for getting your finance degree in the Evergreen State. Add in many different private institutions, and you have even more choices for completing your college studies!

Finance is a popular option at Washington’s institutions. This is especially true at the graduate level – the number of online graduate degrees in this field is far greater than undergraduate options. Nevertheless, we’ve compiled a list that includes both to help you decide which degree is the right choice for your needs. While this isn’t a complete list of all the available programs in Washington, it does represent some of the most popular options.

Best Accredited Online Finance Degrees in Washington State - Finance Bachelor's, Master's and MBA Programs in Washington State

Online Finance Degrees in Washington State

Listed below are some of the popular schools offering online finance degrees in Washington State:

  • Central Washington University
  • Washington State University
  • Eastern Washington University
  • University of Washington
  • Liberty University
  • Southern New Hampshire University
  • UMass Global
  • Capella University
  • Grand Canyon University

Central Washington University

Online Bachelor of Science in Business Administration—Finance a

The Bachelor of Science in Business Administration—Finance Specialization from Central Washington University is a great option if you’re just starting your college career or you’re changing from a different major. It’s a typical four-year program, though taking extra classes each semester (and summers) can cut as much as a year off of the timeline needed to graduate.

The program’s curriculum focuses on building competencies in three areas: investments, managerial finance, and financial markets and institutions. To accomplish this, Central Washington divides the curriculum into several components, each of which you must complete to earn your degree.

Most of your first two years in the program are spent completing general education requirements. These broad-based classes explore essential liberal arts fields like math, communication, social sciences, art, natural sciences, and language. Alongside these introductory courses, you’ll begin taking business foundations classes for your major.

For example, you’re required to take 100- and 200-level classes like Managerial Accounting, Business Computer Skills, and Introductory Business Statistics. You’ll also take Financial Accounting, Legal Environment of Business, and Microeconomic Principles, among others.

The next component of the curriculum is the business core sequence. These upper-level classes explore more specific topics in business, finance, and related fields. A good example of this is Principles of Management. This 300-level class explores broad and narrow principles of management, including structure and strategy, leadership, and human behavior in the workplace.

As another example, you’ll take Introductory Financial Management, a 300-level class that explores the financial decision-making process in business. This includes discussions of topics like capital structure, risk and return, capital budgeting, and securities valuation. Other courses within the business core include the following:

  • Professional Development II
  • Public Speaking for Business and Organizations
  • Macroeconomic Principles
  • Business Writing
  • Management Information Systems

The finance specialization includes three required classes and two electives. The required courses explore topics like money and banking, intermediate financial management, and investments. In each case, you’ll learn essential knowledge and skills in these areas that enable you to provide sound financial analyses to your employer, be that a major financial institution or an individual seeking your financial advice.

The selection of electives you can choose from is quite broad. On the one hand, you can take courses in International Economics and Public Finance if you’re interested in working in global markets. On the other hand, you can take a Personal Financial Planning class that helps prepare you for a career as a financial planner for individuals and families.

The final component of this program is a College of Business capstone that includes a Strategic Management course. This class examines the problem-solving and decision-making processes in management situations, and integrates your learning from various other courses in the curriculum. The result is that you’ll have the ability to reflect on your learning, integrate it, and apply that knowledge to various strategic management scenarios.

You can apply to CWU online. You must satisfy each of the requirements below to be admitted:

  • Have a high school diploma or the equivalent.
  • Have a 3.0 high school GPA or higher (for guaranteed admission).
  • Submit official high school transcripts and official transcripts from every college or university you’ve attended.

To be admitted to the College of Business, you must have 30 or more college credits with a 2.25 GPA or higher. You must also complete ENG 101 and ENG 102 with a C- or higher and attend a College of Business Major Declaration Session.

Washington State University

Online Master of Business Administration in Finance

Washington State’s Carson College of Business offers an online Master of Business Administration in Finance that builds off your undergraduate degree to provide you with the high-level knowledge and skills required to advance your career.

This program includes in-depth studies in core areas of finance. This includes technical aspects of finance as well as building general business skills like leadership and a commitment to ethical practice. You’ll explore topics like financial decision-making, risk, and diversification. You’ll also learn about investor psychology, portfolio management, and interest rate theory, among many other topics.

You must complete at least 36 credits to complete this degree. If your undergraduate degree is in a non-business field, though, you’ll first have to complete up to 16 credits of foundational coursework so you have the necessary knowledge to be successful in this program.

The MBA curriculum is divided into four sections. The first section focuses on topics related to strategic planning and leadership. For example, you’ll take classes like:

  • Applying Design Thinking to Career and Life
  • Beyond the MBA: Applications of Principles, Theory, and Practice
  • Managerial Leadership and Productivity
  • Strategic Planning for Personal and Program Success
  • Strategy Formulation and Organizational Design

From there, your courses focus on functional business tools. For example, the Financial Management course teaches you applicable theories and principles that enable you to analyze business financial problems. Likewise, you’ll take an Information Systems Management course that teaches you how to utilize technology to assess an organization’s financial health.

The functional business tools section also includes studies in Accounting, Performance Measurement, and Controls. This class helps you develop improved financial decision-making skills while enhancing your ability to anticipate and evaluate varied alternatives for improving the financial future of an organization. The three remaining classes in this segment – Business Analytics, Marketing Strategy, and Special Projects or Independent Study – help you build additional skills that make you a competent future financial professional.

The finance concentration includes three classes:

  • Investment Analysis
  • Interest Rates and Finance Markets
  • International Finance

The totality of these courses gives you much deeper insights into the finance field. You’ll learn about the theory and practice of investments, interest rates and bond pricing, and financing decision-making on an international scale. These classes are all very high-level, focus on theory and the application of finance tools, and use quantitative techniques to solve common finance-related problems.

The program’s final component is a capstone project and final presentation. The capstone actually begins in the program’s third semester. Throughout the course, you’ll work on a business plan that shows your ability to integrate the knowledge and skills from all the MBA courses you’ve taken. Once you’ve fully developed your business plan, you must present it to a faculty panel for their approval.

You can apply to Washington State University online at any time. The admissions requirements for this program are as follows:

  • Have an undergraduate degree from an accredited college or university.
  • Have a 3.0 undergraduate GPA or higher.
  • Submit official transcripts from every college or university you’ve attended.
  • Provide a current resume or curriculum vitae
  • Provide one letter of recommendation.
  • Submit a statement of purpose in which you discuss how your academic and professional background has prepared you for this program.
  • Submit official GMAT scores (though GRE scores can be used if you apply for a GMAT waiver).

Eastern Washington University

Online Master of Business Administration in Finance

The online Master of Business Administration in Finance from Eastern Washington University is a 44-credit, full-time program that can be completed in less than a year. During your time in the program, you’ll gain enhanced knowledge of financial management and managerial decision-making that makes you a more attractive candidate for jobs after graduation. You’ll emerge from the program with skills in international financial management, financial statement analysis, and international investment, to name but a few.

Eastern Washington’s School of Business is accredited by the Association to Advance Collegiate Schools of Business (AACSB), and as such, it ranks as one of the top business schools in the world. The curriculum is also highly rigorous to prepare you to be one of the best-prepared MBA graduates in the nation.

The first step is to complete foundation coursework, if necessary. These general business classes are typically covered in an undergraduate business or finance program. However, if you’re entering the program with a degree in a different field, the chances are good you’ll need to complete the following classes prior to starting the MBA program:

  • Finance
  • Quantitative Analysis in Business
  • Essentials of Accounting

Each of these courses is worth four credits and lasts six weeks. The accelerated format means you can finish the prerequisite work more quickly and start your MBA studies sooner.

The next phase of the program is core coursework worth 28 credits. These classes examine central areas of finance like Corporate Finance, Marketing Management, and Leadership and Ethics. You’ll take a course in Data-Driven Decision-Making, too, which helps you organize, examine, and report on data in an effort to make more informed financial decisions.

Another interesting core course is Essentials of Operations Management. This class touches on the methods of production and service management and gives you an understanding of the quantitative tools and concepts you can use to solve specific business problems. You’ll learn about product design, principles of supply chain management, and inventory scheduling, among other topics.

An MBA capstone is also a required core component. This 4-credit class requires you to synthesize your knowledge from other core courses to solve a complex organizational issue in a case study or simulation format.

The curriculum then moves to the three-course finance concentration. These classes, which include Financial Statement Analysis, International Financial Management, and International Investments, build relevant skills for your future finance career, including, but not limited to, the following:

  • Reading, interpreting, and analyzing financial statements.
  • Understanding international financial markets, exchange rates, and financial management in international organizations.
  • Analyzing foreign exchange rates, global investing, and diversification.

You’ll complete the curriculum by taking one elective class of your choice. The program offers many different options for meeting this requirement, including options in cost accounting, international forensics accounting, business intelligence in health systems, and team leadership, to name a few.

You must meet the following requirements to be considered for admission:

  • Have a bachelor’s degree from a regionally accredited college or university.
  • Have a cumulative undergraduate GPA of 3.0 or higher.
  • Submit official transcripts from every college or university you’ve attended.
  • Submit a professional resume.

University of Washington

Online Master of Science in Computational Finance and Risk Management

The University of Washington’s Master of Science in Computational Finance and Risk Management is a highly specialized degree focusing on quantitative finance theory and computational techniques. You have the option of enrolling part-time or full-time. As a part-time student, you’ll need three years to complete the degree requirements. As a full-time student, you can finish your studies in just 18 months.

The 42-credit curriculum is split between required and elective coursework. The required classes, which number 26 credits, explore topics like Investment Science, Financial Data Science, Asset Allocation and Portfolio Management, and Options and Other Derivatives. You’ll also take a class in Monte Carlo Methods in Finance, which explores derivatives pricing, risk management, trading, and financial theories.

A course in Ethics in the Finance Profession is also a required component of this program. You’ll discuss ethical theories and develop a better understanding of ethical conduct in financial management applications. What’s more, you’ll learn about common ethical challenges, relevant finance laws, and regulations as well.

The last required course is your choice between Financial Data Access and Analysis or Optimization Methods in Finance. The Financial Data class helps you gain skills in using SQL, VBA, Excel, and other technologies to retrieve, organize, and analyze financial data. Meanwhile, the Optimization Methods class includes studies of linear programming theory, general nonlinear programming theory, Stochastic programming theory, and other essential optimization topics.

The elective component includes 16 credits, which is four courses of study. The program offers a laundry list of possible electives, ranging from Credit Risk Management to Advanced Trading Systems to Fixed Income Analytics. You can also choose any of the following to meet the elective requirements for this degree:

  • Portfolio Performance Analysis and Benchmarking
  • Endowment and Institutional Investment Management
  • Quantitative Risk Management
  • Energy Markets Analytics and Derivatives
  • Financial Time Series Forecasting Methods

You can choose special electives to fulfill part of these requirements, too. For example, there’s an Independent Research or Study option that allows you to explore a topic of your choice. You can also choose to participate in an internship, which gives you academic credit for working in the financial field in a job training situation.

Yet another special elective option is a Master’s Thesis. This option is only open to you if you’re a highly qualified student and you wish to pursue a Ph.D. Developing a thesis requires extensive time and research, and you’re required to defend your work to a committee prior to your degree being conferred.

You can apply to this program with a bachelor’s degree in a non-business field. However, doing so requires you to complete undergraduate prerequisites prior to starting your MBA studies. These required prerequisites are as follows:

  • Introduction to Financial Markets
  • Mathematical Methods for Quantitative Finance
  • Probability and Statistics for Computational Finance
  • R Programming for Quantitative Finance
  • Introduction to Computational Finance and Financial Econometrics

The following admissions requirements must be met to be considered for admission:

  • Have a bachelor’s degree from an accredited college or university.
  • Have a 3.0 undergraduate GPA or higher.
  • Submit a statement of purpose.
  • Submit a current resume.
  • Provide two letters of recommendation.
  • Submit GRE or GMAT scores (though this is optional).

Liberty University

Bachelor of Science in Business Administration – Data Analytics and Finance

The Bachelor of Science in Business Administration – Data Analytics and Finance at Liberty University is a 120-credit program that requires four years of full-time studies to complete. Each course in this program is entirely online with no on-campus obligations. Furthermore, each course follows an accelerated 8-week format, enabling you to finish your classes more quickly while taking fewer classes at a time.

Liberty University provides additional benefits. For instance, you can transfer up to 75 percent of the total credits required to complete this program. This allows you to utilize previously earned credits effectively while obtaining a degree from an accredited and esteemed institution.

You must complete a minimum of 39 credits in the general education category out of the 120 credits needed to graduate. Liberty University mandates at least 12 credits in Communications and Information Literacy courses, 3-6 credits in Technological Solutions and Quantitative Reasoning, and seven credits in Critical Thinking. Additionally, you are required to take three credits in Civic and Global Engagement, six credits in Social and Scientific Inquiry classes, and eight credits in Christianity and Contexts.

Subsequently, you’ll proceed with Major Foundational Courses. The number of courses you must complete depends on your prior coursework. If, for example, you have completed a business-related associate’s degree, you might only need to take one or two Foundational Courses. However, if you have not studied business, you might need to complete up to 15 credits in Foundational Courses. These classes include:

  • Intermediate Business Computer Applications
  • Introduction to Business Research Methods
  • Introduction to Probability and Statistics
  • Organizational Behavior and Management
  • Principles of Microeconomics

The next phase of this program involves 36 credits of Major-Area Requirements. Here, you’ll acquire knowledge and skills specific to finance and data analysis. For example, you’ll take a 300-level Financial Statement Analysis class, where you’ll learn how to critically evaluate financial reports and use the information contained therein to make informed decisions.

You’ll also take a 300-level Finance Principles course that examines major financial theories, techniques, and applications. Other classes include Managerial Principles, International Business, and Principles of Marketing. Additionally, coursework in Operations Strategy, Human Resources Management, and Business Analytics for Decision-Making is required.

The Data Analytics and Finance concentration requires 18 credits of focused coursework in accounting and business. You’ll take Intermediate Financial Accounting I, Money and the Financial System, and Investments. Courses in Forecasting and Predictive Analytics, Real Estate Finance and Investment, and Advanced Financial Management are also required.

Finally, you must complete free electives, which can be chosen from any undergraduate program. Depending on your credit status, you might need as few as nine elective credits or as many as 24.

You can begin the application to Liberty University online at any time. To apply, complete the following steps:

  • Submit an undergraduate application for admission and a $50 application fee.
  • Submit official high school transcripts or GED scores.
  • Provide official transcripts from every college or university you’ve attended.
  • Provide evidence of English language proficiency if English is not your native language.

What is an Online Master of Business Administration With a Finance Concentration?

An online Master of Business Administration (MBA) with a finance concentration is a graduate-level program designed to deliver advanced business education with a focus on finance through an online platform. This format allows students to study remotely and often at their own pace, making it an attractive option for working professionals and those with other commitments.

Program Structure

The curriculum typically consists of core MBA courses and specialized finance courses. Core courses cover essential business principles such as business strategy, organizational behavior, marketing management, operations management, managerial economics, leadership, business ethics, financial accounting, managerial accounting, and business law. These foundational courses provide a broad understanding of business management.

Specialized finance courses delve deeper into topics such as corporate finance, investment analysis and portfolio management, financial markets and institutions, international finance, financial risk management, mergers and acquisitions, derivatives and financial instruments, and financial planning and analysis. These courses are designed to equip students with advanced knowledge and skills specific to the finance sector.

In addition to these core and specialized courses, students may have the option to choose electives based on their interests and career goals. Many programs also include a capstone project or thesis, which allows students to apply their acquired knowledge to real-world business problems, often in collaboration with businesses or financial institutions.

Program Length and Flexibility

The duration of an online MBA with a finance concentration typically ranges from 18 months to three years, depending on whether the student is enrolled part-time or full-time. The flexibility of online programs is one of their key advantages, enabling students to schedule their studies around personal and professional commitments.

Admission Requirements

To be admitted to an online MBA program with a finance concentration, applicants typically need a bachelor’s degree from an accredited institution. Many programs prefer or require applicants to have professional work experience. While some programs require GMAT or GRE scores, many have waived this requirement or offer waivers based on work experience.

Other common requirements include letters of recommendation, a personal statement or essay outlining career goals and motivations for pursuing an MBA, and sometimes an interview.

Career Outcomes

Graduates of an online MBA with a finance concentration can pursue various career paths, including roles as financial analysts, investment bankers, corporate financial managers, financial consultants, portfolio managers, risk managers, and financial planners.

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