Quick answer:Corrections degrees usually cover custody operations, offender management, correctional law and community supervision at associate and bachelor’s level. The officer occupation is projected to shrink by 7.8 percent this decade while the community-supervision side grows, and that split is the whole decision this page is built around.
What the Coursework Usually Covers
Correctional law and procedure - inmate rights, use of force standards, due process, and the case law that governs both
Offender behavior and rehabilitation - risk and needs assessment, substance use, mental health in custody, evidence-based programming
Community corrections - probation, parole, pretrial services, electronic monitoring, and reentry planning
Juvenile justice - a separate legal framework with its own custody and supervision rules
Corrections administration - staffing, budgeting, accreditation of facilities, liability, and the supervisory writing the job actually requires
Most programs include a report-writing and documentation component, which is not filler. Incident reports are evidence, and the quality of the writing is a large part of how supervisors are picked.
Why This Page Is Separate From Criminal Justice
CIP 43.0102, “corrections,” is its own federal program code, awarded by 118 institutions at associate or bachelor’s level (IPEDS Completions, 2024). This site’s criminal justice page covers the survey codes - 43.0100, 43.0104, 43.0107 and 43.0199 - which treat policing, courts and corrections as one system studied together.
The difference matters to a reader searching this term. Someone typing “corrections degree” is usually already working in a facility, or has an application in, and wants the credential that maps to that specific career ladder. A survey criminal justice program gives corrections roughly one course. A 43.0102 program gives it the whole curriculum, and the school list below is the set of institutions that actually award it.
At 118 institutions the supply is moderate rather than deep, and the state and metro pages below break that same national pool down by location with state wage data alongside it. Before you request information anywhere, ask how the program handles the community-supervision track and get a written transfer evaluation of any academy or military training you already hold. With that filter set, compare online corrections programs enrolling now:
Colleges Offering This Degree
Every school listed is verified in federal IPEDS data both to award this degree and to offer programs that can be completed entirely by distance education at this level. Whether this exact degree is delivered fully online varies by school, so confirm the format before you apply.
How we rank schools – graduation rate, graduate earnings, cost and retention.
Advertising plays no part.
This page lists 10 schools, closest group first, then ordered by
BOC Score with the highest at the top.
10 of them carry a score.
LOCAL RANK
Location / proximity to this page
Defines the local group
Graduation rate how often students finish
30%
Median earnings, 10 years after entry whether it paid off
25%
Average net price what students actually pay after aid; lower ranks higher
20%
Retention rate how many come back for year two
15%
Fully online availability whether you can study while working
10%
Scores come from IPEDS (2024) and the U.S. Department of Education College Scorecard.
Earnings are for all graduates of a school, not one program, so treat them as a signal
about the institution rather than about this subject.
Sponsored listings are paid placements and are labelled as such; they are separate from
this ranking and never change it. Read the full methodology.
Most degree pages lead with the wage. This one leads with the projection, because it is the number that should shape the decision.
Employment of correctional officers and jailers is projected to move from 387,500 in 2024 to 357,400 in 2034, a change of -7.8 percent (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). That is one of the steeper declines in the public-safety group, and the causes are structural rather than cyclical: falling incarcerated populations in many states, facility consolidation and closure, and a steady policy shift toward supervision in the community instead of custody.
Two things soften it without cancelling it. First, turnover in custody work is high, so the occupation still shows about 30,100 openings per year even while shrinking - the door is open, it is just opening onto a smaller building. Second, the decline is concentrated in the line officer role, not in the field as a whole.
That is the case for treating this degree as a supervision and administration credential rather than an entry ticket. Entry to custody work rarely requires a degree at all; agencies hire on their own academy and background process. What a degree changes is the range of roles you are eligible for afterwards.
Where the Work Is Growing Instead
Probation officers and correctional treatment specialists earn a median $66,270 across employment of 89,390, with the top 10 percent at $107,790 or more, and that occupation is projected to change by 2.6 percent through 2034 with about 7,900 openings a year (BLS OEWS, May 2025; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34).
That is a smaller occupation than custody, and it is the one moving in the right direction. It also has a credential gate that custody does not: most agencies require a bachelor’s degree for probation and correctional treatment roles, and many expect coursework in criminal justice, corrections, social work or psychology specifically. The four-year version of this degree is the direct route to that requirement.
The practical implication for a student is to weight the community corrections, offender behavior and case management coursework over the institutional security coursework. The first three are where the field is moving, and they are also the courses that transfer usefully into human services and public administration work if you later leave corrections entirely.
Credit transfer is decided by the receiving institution and genuinely varies, so request a written transfer evaluation before you enroll.
Who This Degree Suits
Officers already working inside a facility. This is the core audience. The associate degree is the common first step, often taken part-time around shift work, and the bachelor’s is what opens sergeant, lieutenant, classification and program-management roles. Programs in this field are used to shift-worker schedules.
People aiming at probation, parole or pretrial services. The bachelor’s is effectively the entry requirement, and this is the coursework those agencies recognize.
Tradespeople considering a public-sector move. Corrections recruits heavily from people with hands-on, physically demanding backgrounds, and the pension and benefit structure of public employment is a genuine draw. Go in with the projection above in front of you, and plan the supervision track from the start rather than assuming the line role will still be there in fifteen years.
People who want the research and policy side should look at the criminology degree instead, which runs at bachelor’s and master’s level and studies why offending happens rather than how facilities are run.
A degree in this field is designed to support promotion and role change, not to guarantee either. Individual outcomes may vary, and is college worth it covers the general tradeoff.
What These Careers Pay
Correctional officers and jailers earn a median $58,940 across 380,500 jobs while the occupation is projected to change by -7.8 percent through 2034; probation officers and correctional treatment specialists earn a median $66,270 and are projected to grow 2.6 percent (BLS OEWS, May 2025; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34).
Corrections at a Glance
Metric
Detail
Source
Median annual wage
$58,940
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Wage range
$42,760 (10th pct) - $93,220 (90th pct)
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Employment
380,500 correctional officers and jailers
BLS OEWS, May 2025
Projected change (2024-34)
-7.8%, about 30,100 openings per year
BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34
Typical credential
Associate for entry and early promotion; bachelor’s for supervision and community corrections
Program catalogs
Institutions awarding
118
IPEDS Completions, 2024
Geo coverage
State, metro and city pages - see Programs by State below
Site structure
SOC codes covered
33-3012 correctional officers and jailers; 21-1092 probation officers and correctional treatment specialists
BLS OEWS, May 2025
The Two Roles Side by Side
Role
Median
75th percentile
Employment
Projected change
Correctional officers and jailers
$58,940
$75,850
380,500
-7.8%
Probation officers and correctional treatment specialists
$66,270
$84,780
89,390
2.6%
All wage and employment figures BLS OEWS, May 2025; growth figures BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34.
The second row pays more at both the median and the 75th percentile, and it is the one that is growing. Custody is the larger employer by a factor of more than four, so the community-supervision route is competitive - a smaller number of posts drawing from a much larger pool of officers who want them.
State variation is also unusually wide in this field. The median for correctional officers runs from $52,670 in the largest employing state to $96,370 in the highest paying one (BLS OEWS, May 2025), which is a bigger spread than most occupations on this site and worth checking against where you actually intend to work.
Frequently Asked Questions
How much do correctional officers make?
The national median annual wage is $58,940 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The bottom 10 percent earn $42,760 or less and the top 10 percent earn $93,220 or more, across employment of 380,500.
Is corrections a shrinking field?
For the officer role, yes. Employment of correctional officers and jailers is projected to change by -7.8 percent from 2024 to 2034 (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). Turnover is high enough that there are still about 30,100 openings per year, but the headcount itself is falling.
What roles does a corrections degree open besides custody work?
The supervision and community-supervision side. Probation officers and correctional treatment specialists earn a median $66,270 across employment of 89,390, and that occupation is projected to change by 2.6 percent from 2024 to 2034 (BLS OEWS, May 2025; BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34). That role usually requires a bachelor's degree, which is the main reason to take the four-year version of this program.
How many schools offer a corrections degree?
118 institutions awarded CIP 43.0102 at associate or bachelor's level in 2024 (IPEDS Completions, 2024). That is a modest supply, and the state and metro pages below organize that same national pool by location.
What is the difference between a corrections degree and a criminal justice degree?
Criminal justice is the survey degree covering policing, courts and corrections together under CIP 43.0100 and its related codes. This page covers CIP 43.0102, corrections specifically, which is where custody operations, offender management, sentencing and community supervision get the whole curriculum rather than one term.
Can you study corrections online?
Yes. The coursework is legal, procedural and behavioral rather than laboratory-based, and associate and bachelor's programs in this field are commonly delivered by distance education. Any required firearms, defensive tactics or academy training happens through the hiring agency, not the degree.
Does the degree replace the corrections academy?
No. Hiring agencies run their own academy and certification process, and requirements are set state by state, so confirm them with your state corrections agency or licensing board. The degree is designed to move you up the ladder rather than through the door.
Is this a realistic move from a trade?
It can be. Corrections work already draws heavily from people with hands-on backgrounds, and the shift-based schedule is familiar. The honest caution is the projection above: this is a field to enter with the supervision or treatment track in mind. Individual outcomes may vary.
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 - Correctional Officers and Jailers (SOC 33-3012), Probation Officers and Correctional Treatment Specialists (SOC 21-1092)
U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections, 2024-34
U.S. Department of Education, IPEDS Completions, 2024 - CIP 43.0102
About this guide: Researched and written by the TradeCareerPath Editorial Team. Our editorial team researches and sources every trade school and career guide using federal labor and education data, including BLS OEWS and Employment Projections, DOL apprenticeship records, IPEDS, College Scorecard, and state licensing boards. We follow the editorial standards documented at /editorial-policy/.
