Web Multimedia Design Degree Programs

Flexibility was the top metric for our No. 1 school, whether you're interested in online courses or determined to attend class on campus. The Phoenix, Arizona, campus of the Art Institutes system of schools features campus-based courses that can be taken in the evening or on weekends, and more than 40 percent of the student body took at least some of their coursework online in 2015.

The Art Institute of Phoenix offers two programs for Web design students. The 90-credit Associate of Applied Science (A.A.S.) program concentrates on the graphical side of Web design, while the 180-credit Bachelor of Arts (B.A.) curriculum includes some courses specific to designing for the Web.

Note: The Art Institutes is no longer enrolling students at the Phoenix campus, which will be closing at the end of 2018. Students interested in the graphic design program may want to check the school’s website and explore opportunities at other campuses.

This institution in Louisville, Kentucky, was the smallest school to make our top ten, awarding fewer than 125 degrees in 2015, but the numbers suggest that there's more to that small student body than meets the eye. For example, the student-faculty ratio was just 5:1 that year, meaning that one-on-one time with professors is likely to be available for students who need it.

Web design students at Sullivan University, formerly Sullivan College of Technology and Design, have two program approaches to choose from, each designed to prepare them in a different way for a career in creative IT. Artistically focused Web designers can earn either a B.A. or an A.A.S. in computer graphic design, while those inclined more toward the coding and programming side of the field can pursue an A.A.S. in dynamic Web development.

If you're looking for an multifaceted set of Web design skills, Coleman University might just have what you're looking for. The San Diego institution offers just three bachelor's degree programs as of 2017 — game development, cybersecurity and software development — and all three of them include subjects of study that apply to careers in Web design.

The software development program focuses on technical skills like Web interface development and server-side Web programming, while the game development plan features courses in digital imagery and 3D asset modeling. Cybersecurity students get extra training in networking concepts and in-depth study of virtualization, Windows computing environments and Linux network administration.

Rocky Mountain College of Art and Design offers Bachelor of Fine Arts (B.F.A.) study plans in graphic design and animation. The graphic design curriculum offers a broader base of training for Web designers, teaching fundamentals of user interface design and tips and tricks for popular graphical software programs. Both are available fully online.

RMCAD is one of the top online schools for Web design in the country, reporting that 100 percent of its 2015 student body took at least some of their coursework via distance education. On top of that, just two other schools in our top ten featured a lower average cost of tuition and fees for in 2015 than this Lakewood, Colorado, school, which also has an open admissions policy.

The largest school on our list comes in at No. 5, and Web design students can find a comparably large range of degree options to suit their individual goals. For example, the Bachelor of Science (B.S.) degree in computer science at the University of Wisconsin-Stout features concentrations in game design and mobile application development, each of which have skills in common with Web design.

UW-Stout's B.F.A. in graphic design and interactive media, however, might be the best choice for aspiring Web designers. That degree's concentration in interaction design focuses specifically on design solutions for websites, digital interfaces and Web-based software applications. UW-Stout also ranked No. 2 in affordability among our top ten schools, charging students an average of $9,203 for tuition and fees in 2015.

As the second member of the Art Institutes system to make our list, the Illinois Institute of Art-Schaumburg offers a selection of Web design degrees similar to that available at most system locations. The A.A.S. in graphic design takes 90 credit hours of study to complete and teaches typography, layout and digital illustration, among other essentials. The B.F.A. requires 180 credit hours and adds coursework in corporate identity design, art direction and media business law to the A.A.S. curriculum.

Elective courses available to B.F.A. students can further tailor your skills for the Web. Training in image manipulation, designing for multimedia display and the fundamentals of interactive design can teach you new ways to use your design skills in the online environment.

Note: The Art Institutes is no longer enrolling students at the Schaumburg campus, which will be closing at the end of 2018. Students interested in the graphic design program may want to check the school’s website and explore opportunities at other campuses.

Our No. 7 school ran away with the top ranking in our affordability category, reporting an average tuition and fees cost that came in under $8,000 for the year in 2015. Dakota State University also set aside our list's largest percentage of its annual operating budget to spend on instructional expenses like course development and classroom technology.

Web design students have a few study tracks to choose from at DSU. The computer graphics concentration of the South Dakota institution's B.S. in digital arts and design program aims to prepare students to create and publish interactive pages with Web-ready graphics, while the B.S. in computer science can give you a solid foundation of programming skills and other technical necessities.

One of the six degree plans available at this for-profit school in Raleigh, North Carolina, aims to provide a suite of skills that would serve you well in the graphic design field. Although packaged as a degree for advertising students, the interactive media arts degree at Living Arts works to train you in typography, layout, digital illustration and website development — all vital Web design skills.

What's more, the numbers suggest that the investments made toward student success at Living Arts are paying dividends. Just one other school rolled a larger portion of its budget back into academic support expenses like advising and career counseling for the 2015 school year, and the graduation rate here ranked No. 2 among schools on our list.

The Art Institute of Portland is the third outpost of the Art Institutes system to land in our top ten, and its offerings for Web design students take a similar approach to the programs available at the previous two locations listed. The B.F.A. in graphic and Web design takes about 45 months of full-time study to complete, while earning the 90 credits required for the A.A.S. plan typically takes around two years.

If you're interested in a slightly different path, the Portland campus has another option that can lead you to an effective set of Web design skills. The curriculum of the B.F.A. in advertising also contains valuable subjects of study for digital media designers, including computer graphics, visual communication, digital layout and Web design fundamentals.

Note: The Art Institutes is no longer enrolling students at the Portland campus, which will be closing at the end of 2018. Students interested in the graphic design program may want to check the school’s website and explore opportunities at other campuses.

If you've already got some basic experience with the tools and techniques of Web design and want to add some next-level elements to your work, our No. 10 school might have the program you're looking for. The Bachelor of Applied Science (B.A.S.) in animation and visual effects at the San Francisco Bay Area's SAE Expression College includes courses in motion studies, live action compositing and other advanced motion graphics concepts that can add rare value to your Web portfolio.

Students looking for online degrees that can impart top-level skills are in luck at SAE, as well. According to the NCES, 100 percent of the students enrolled at the for-profit school in 2015 took at least some of their courses online.