Online Electrical Engineering Degree Guide for Tradespeople 2026

Quick answer: An online electrical engineering degree is usually a hybrid ABET-accredited BSEE: lectures and problem sets are remote, but circuits and power labs require some in-person or proctored lab work. Electrical engineers earn a median of $120,630 a year, versus $63,190 for electricians (BLS OEWS, May 2025), which is the pay gap that pushes licensed tradespeople into the degree.

Online Electrical Engineering Degree at a Glance

What Does an Online Electrical Engineering Degree Actually Involve?

The academic content is not softened because it is delivered online. A BSEE is built on a math and physics spine: calculus through differential equations, calculus-based physics, then circuit analysis, signals and systems, electromagnetics, electronics, microcontrollers, and a power or communications track. Most programs land around 120 credit hours and finish with a capstone design project.

What changes online is the delivery. Lectures are recorded or streamed, homework and exams are proctored remotely, and simulation tools replace some bench time. What does not change is the lab requirement. ABET’s criteria for engineering programs expect students to demonstrate hands-on experimental competence, so a program that claims zero physical lab work should be treated as a warning sign, not a convenience.

Programs solve the lab problem three ways: short on-campus intensives, approved partner lab sites near the student, or shipped lab kits with instrumented boards and remote proctoring. Ask which model a program uses before you enroll, because an intensive means requesting time off.

Why Are Most “Online” Electrical Engineering Degrees Really Hybrid?

Power and electronics labs involve energized equipment, oscilloscopes, spectrum analyzers, and machines that cannot be shipped to a kitchen table. That physical reality is why the honest label for most of these programs is hybrid. If you want a genuinely fully online path with no travel, engineering technology is more likely to offer it than engineering, which is one of several reasons to compare the online engineering technology degree route before committing.

For tradespeople already working full time, the practical question is how much travel the degree demands and whether it clusters. A program that groups labs into two summer intensives is easier to survive than one that requires a weekend on campus every month.

BSEE vs BSEET: Which Accreditation Do You Need?

This is the single decision that most affects your ceiling, and it is decided by which ABET commission accredits the program.

The PE consequence is the part people miss. Several state boards treat an ETAC-accredited technology degree differently from an EAC-accredited engineering degree when evaluating licensure applications, sometimes requiring additional experience and sometimes not accepting it at all. If there is any chance you will want to stamp drawings for utility, consulting, or building-systems work, the EAC-accredited BSEE is the safer buy. If you are staying inside a manufacturer where the industrial exemption applies, the technology degree may serve you fine. The trade-specific breakdown lives in which engineering degree fits your trade.

What Transfers From an Apprenticeship or Associate Degree?

Field experience does not convert to engineering credit directly, but three things frequently do reduce the load:

Associate degree coursework. An AAS or AS in electrical or electronics technology usually clears general education, and sometimes lower-division circuits and digital logic. An AS with a full calculus and physics sequence transfers far better than an AAS heavy on shop courses. The comparison in associate vs bachelor degree is worth reading before you assume your credits move.

Registered apprenticeship. DOL Registered Apprenticeship programs tracked in RAPIDS often carry ACE credit recommendations, which many schools accept as elective or technical credit. See college credit for apprenticeship for how to get those hours evaluated.

Military training. Navy electronics technicians, Air Force electrical and environmental specialists, and Army power generation soldiers can submit a Joint Services Transcript for ACE-recommended credit. Military credit for college covers the submission process.

CLEP and DSST exams handle a lot of the remaining general education. What none of this does is remove calculus, differential equations, or the core electrical sequence. Those are the hard middle of the degree, and every accredited program requires them.

Where trade experience genuinely pays off is comprehension speed. If you have pulled service, sized conductors, terminated motor controls, or troubleshot a variable frequency drive at 2 a.m., the power systems and machines courses read like documentation of things you already understand. The full transition path is mapped in the electrician to engineer guide.

How Does the FE and PE Licensing Path Work?

Licensure runs through NCEES in every state, and the sequence is the same everywhere even though the details differ by board:

1. Graduate from an EAC-accredited engineering program.
2. Pass the NCEES Fundamentals of Engineering (FE) exam, ideally in your final year or right after graduation while the math is fresh.
3. Work under a licensed professional engineer for the experience period your state board requires.
4. Pass the NCEES Principles and Practice of Engineering (PE) exam in Electrical and Computer, choosing the power, electronics, or computer depth module.
5. Apply to your state board for licensure.

Most electrical engineers in product and manufacturing work never take this path because the industrial exemption covers them. Utility engineering, consulting firms that stamp drawings, and building electrical design are where the PE stops being optional. If your background is construction electrical work, that is exactly the sector you are most likely to re-enter, so plan for the FE early.

Where Do Electrical Engineering Graduates Actually Work?

Four sectors absorb most of the graduates who come out of the trades:

Power and utilities. Transmission and distribution design, substation engineering, protection and relaying, grid interconnection studies. Linemen and utility electricians land here with an advantage, and this sector is the most PE-driven of the four.

Industrial controls and automation. PLC and drive systems, motor control design, plant electrical infrastructure, instrumentation. Controls technicians who move up often keep working with the same equipment from the design side instead of the maintenance side.

Semiconductors and electronics hardware. Circuit design, test engineering, embedded systems, and RF work. This is the crossover territory with electronics engineering and with computer hardware engineering, which focuses on processors, boards, and computer system components.

Defense and aerospace. Avionics, radar, power distribution for platforms, and test. Avionics technicians with a Joint Services Transcript and an existing clearance are unusually well positioned, since a clearance is a genuine hiring asset. Related aviation degree paths sit in the online aviation degree guide.

Later, many engineers move toward engineering management, where the degree plus field credibility is a stronger combination than either alone.

What Is the Pay Gap Between the Degree and the Trade?

This table is the whole argument for the degree, stated in BLS terms rather than marketing terms.

Wage and employment figures: BLS OEWS, May 2025. Projected change: BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34.

Read it carefully rather than just looking at the top line. Electricians are a much larger occupation with faster projected growth, about 81,000 openings per year, and the 90th percentile of $108,510 overlaps the technologist range. The degree is not a rescue from a bad trade. It is a shift into work with a higher median, a higher ceiling, and different physical demands. Note also that the technologist occupation, at 0.6% projected change, is the weakest of the four on growth even though it still shows about 8,400 annual openings from replacement needs (BLS Employment Projections, 2024-34).

Quartile detail for electrical engineers: the 25th percentile is $92,830 and the 75th is $152,950 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). The mean annual wage is $125,100, above the median, which is what you expect when senior and specialized roles stretch the top of the distribution.

Which States Pay Electrical Engineers the Most?

Source: BLS OEWS, May 2025.

New Mexico and the District of Columbia are thin markets driven by national laboratories and federal work, so a high median there reflects a small, specialized employer base rather than broad opportunity. For volume, Texas employs 20,870 at a median of $129,450 and New York employs 8,770 at $119,010 (BLS OEWS, May 2025).

Electronics engineering pays differently by geography. California leads at $160,520, followed by New Jersey at $158,730, Maryland at $155,650, and Massachusetts at $138,230 (BLS OEWS, May 2025). Maryland and the District of Columbia reflect defense and intelligence demand; Massachusetts and California reflect semiconductor and device firms.

How Should a Working Tradesperson Sequence the Degree?

Do the cheap, portable work first. Get a transcript evaluation before you enroll anywhere, so you know exactly which of your existing credits move. Knock out general education through CLEP, DSST, or a community college while the math placement is still ahead of you. Then take the calculus sequence deliberately, one course at a time, because a failed calculus course is the most common point where working adults stall out.

Confirm two things in writing before the first tuition bill: that the program is accredited by ABET’s Engineering Accreditation Commission under the exact program name you are enrolling in, and how the lab requirement is satisfied. Verify accreditation on ABET’s own listing rather than on a program’s marketing page. Programs are accredited individually, so a school with one accredited engineering program does not automatically have an accredited electrical engineering program.

Cost varies widely between public in-state, public out-of-state, and private online programs, and it is worth comparing total credit requirements rather than any single line item. Fewer required credits after transfer evaluation is usually the biggest lever you control.

Frequently Asked Questions

Related Guides and Degree Paths

• Electrical Engineer career guide - full occupation profile, duties, and state-by-state wage data for SOC 17-2071.
• Electronics Engineer career guide - the higher-median sibling occupation, SOC 17-2072, covering devices, RF, and embedded work.
• Computer Hardware Engineer - where a BSEE crosses into processors, boards, and computer systems.
• Engineering Manager - the advancement path once you have the degree plus field credibility.
• Electrician to Engineer - the step-by-step transition plan written for licensed electricians.
• Degree Careers - every occupation on this site that requires a bachelor’s or higher.
• Online Degrees - the full index of online and hybrid degree guides for tradespeople.
• Online Engineering Technology Degree - the ABET ETAC alternative, and when it is the better fit.
• Which Engineering Degree Fits Your Trade - matches your current trade to the discipline with the shortest path.
• Associate vs Bachelor Degree - what an associate degree does and does not do for engineering admission.
• College Credit for Apprenticeship - turning DOL Registered Apprenticeship hours into transcript credit.
• Military Credit for College - using the Joint Services Transcript and ACE credit recommendations.
• Online Aviation Degree - the parallel path for avionics and A&P technicians.

Electrical Engineering Degree Programs by State

State pay, licensing and metro-level data for this degree. Wage and employment figures on every state page come from BLS OEWS, May 2025.

Alabama * Alaska * Arizona * Arkansas * California * Colorado * Connecticut * Delaware * District of Columbia * Florida * Hawaii * Idaho * Illinois * Indiana * Iowa * Kansas * Kentucky * Louisiana * Maine * Maryland * Massachusetts * Michigan * Minnesota * Mississippi * Missouri * Montana * Nebraska * Nevada * New Hampshire * New Jersey * New Mexico * New York * North Carolina * North Dakota * Ohio * Oklahoma * Oregon * Pennsylvania * South Carolina * South Dakota * Tennessee * Texas * Utah * Vermont * Virginia * Washington * West Virginia * Wisconsin * Wyoming

Sources

• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics (OEWS), May 2025 - SOC 17-2071 Electrical Engineers, SOC 17-2072 Electronics Engineers Except Computer, SOC 17-3023 Electrical and Electronic Engineering Technologists and Technicians, SOC 47-2111 Electricians. National and state median wages, wage percentiles, and employment levels.
• U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Employment Projections program, 2024-34 - projected employment change and average annual openings for the occupations above.