Online Engineering Degrees: What ABET Means and Why It Decides Everything

Engineering is one of the few fields where the accreditation question is not pedantic. It determines whether you can become a licensed professional engineer, and in some jurisdictions whether you may legally call yourself an engineer at all. Getting this wrong is expensive in a way that is very hard to fix afterwards.

ABET, and what it actually accredits

ABET is the body that accredits programmes in engineering, computing, engineering technology and applied science. The critical detail people miss: ABET accredits individual programmes, not institutions.

A university can hold perfectly good institutional accreditation, and run an engineering degree that ABET has never accredited. “Our university is accredited” answers a different question from the one you are asking. Search ABET’s own directory for the exact programme name and the exact campus or delivery mode.

Engineering versus engineering technology

This is the distinction that catches people, because the degree titles look nearly identical and the marketing rarely separates them.

Engineering technology is a legitimate and useful qualification, and technologists do valuable work. The problem is that people enrol in one believing they are getting the other, then discover years later that their state’s licensing board treats them differently.

Rules vary considerably. Some states accept an ETAC degree toward licensure with additional experience; others do not accept it at all. Because online programmes are disproportionately technology programmes, this matters more here than on campus.

The honest position on online bachelor’s degrees

Searches like “online mechanical engineering degree” return a great many results. Most are one of these:

• Master’s degrees, which are genuinely common online and offered by many well-regarded universities.
• Engineering technology bachelor’s degrees rather than engineering.
• Hybrid programmes requiring on-campus laboratory sessions or residencies.
• Degree-completion programmes for people who already hold an associate degree or substantial credit.
• Programmes without ABET accreditation at all.

A fully online, ABET-EAC accredited bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, taken from scratch with no in-person component, is rare. The reason is structural rather than snobbery: EAC criteria require substantial laboratory work and a capstone design experience, and those are hard to deliver entirely at a distance.

This is not a reason to abandon the idea. It is a reason to expect a hybrid, and to ask precisely what the in-person requirement is before enrolling rather than discovering it in year two.

How online programmes handle laboratories

Ask which model the programme uses, how many residency weeks are required across the whole degree, and what they cost. A programme advertised as online that requires four separate two-week campus visits is a different proposition for someone working full time, and the total travel cost can rival a semester of tuition.

The route to a PE licence

If professional licensure is your goal, the sequence is broadly consistent across states, though details differ.

1. Earn an ABET-EAC accredited bachelor’s degree. This is the path with no complications.
2. Pass the Fundamentals of Engineering exam, usually taken near graduation. Passing makes you an engineer in training.
3. Accumulate qualifying experience, commonly around four years, typically under the supervision of a licensed PE.
4. Pass the Principles and Practice of Engineering exam in your discipline.
5. Apply to your state board. Licences are per state and do not transfer automatically, though reciprocity arrangements exist.

Not every engineer needs a PE. It matters most in civil and structural work, anywhere designs are stamped for public safety, and for consulting independently. Many engineers in manufacturing, software-adjacent and product roles never obtain one and are not disadvantaged.

But the decision is easiest to make at the start. Choosing an EAC-accredited programme keeps the option open at no cost. Choosing a technology programme may close it, and reopening it later means additional coursework or years of extra experience.

Where online engineering genuinely works well

• Master’s degrees. The strongest case by far. Many highly regarded universities run online engineering master’s programmes that are academically identical to the campus version, and the students are frequently working engineers. Coursework at this level is analytical rather than laboratory-heavy.
• Computing and software. ABET-CAC accredited computing degrees translate well online, because the laboratory is a computer.
• Degree completion. If you hold an associate degree or partial credit, online completion programmes are well suited and widely available.
• Engineering management. Explicitly designed for working engineers moving toward leadership.

If you are already working in a technical role and want to advance, the online master’s route is one of the better-value options in higher education, particularly where an employer contributes. See how long a master’s degree takes for how the credit structure works, and how to check an online degree for the accreditation verification steps.

Questions to ask before enrolling

• What is the exact degree title, and is that exact programme listed in ABET’s directory?
• Is it accredited by EAC or ETAC?
• Does the accreditation cover the online delivery of this programme specifically?
• How are laboratories handled, and how many in-person weeks are required in total?
• What is the total cost per credit including laboratory kits, residency travel and fees?
• What proportion of graduates pass the FE exam?
• How much transfer credit will you accept from what I already have?

The FE pass rate question is the most revealing and the least often asked. A programme that prepares students properly will know its number and share it.

Which engineering disciplines suit online study

Not all engineering translates equally. The pattern follows how much of the learning happens at a bench.

This is why searches for online mechanical engineering return so many results that are not quite what they appear. Mechanical sits in the awkward middle: analytically it works online, but its laboratory requirements are substantial, so genuinely accredited fully online bachelor’s options are scarce while master’s options are plentiful.

The FE exam, and when to sit it

The Fundamentals of Engineering exam is the first formal step toward licensure, and the timing advice is consistent enough to state plainly: take it in your final year, or as soon after as you can manage.

• It is a broad examination covering mathematics, physics, chemistry, statics, dynamics, thermodynamics, circuits, ethics and economics.
• All of that is material you have just covered. Every year you wait, more of it fades.
• It is computer based and offered year round in most disciplines, with a discipline-specific version for your field.
• Passing makes you an engineer in training, which is what employers look for on a graduate CV in licensure-relevant fields.

Engineers who intend to get licensed and delay the FE for several years frequently describe it as the hardest exam they sat, not because it got harder but because they had to relearn subjects they had not touched since their second year. Sitting it while the material is fresh is the cheapest advantage available in the whole licensure process.

One consequence for programme choice: ask any online programme whether it prepares students for the FE and what proportion pass. A programme oriented toward licensure will build toward it. One that has never considered the question is telling you what kind of qualification it is.

The cheapest route into an engineering degree

Engineering is expensive and the first two years are the most standardised part of it, which makes it unusually well suited to a transfer route.

Calculus, physics, chemistry, statics and introductory programming are broadly the same wherever they are taught, and community colleges teach them at a fraction of university prices. Completing them there and transferring into an ABET-accredited bachelor’s programme produces the same degree from the same institution as students who paid full price throughout.

• Look for an articulation agreement. Many states publish guaranteed transfer pathways between community colleges and public engineering schools, sometimes with admission guaranteed on completing a specified sequence.
• Take the courses in order. Engineering prerequisites are strictly sequential, and arriving having taken calculus but not physics can cost a semester.
• Confirm each course transfers before enrolling in it, in writing, against the specific programme you intend to enter.
• Watch the transfer cap. Programmes limit how many credits they accept, and engineering caps are often tighter than elsewhere.

If a fully online bachelor’s is scarce in your discipline, this is frequently the better answer to the same problem: the first half done locally and cheaply, the second half at an accredited engineering school. Our guide to how many credits an associate degree takes covers how that first half is structured, including the transfer-designed degree types to look for.

There is also a shorter stopping point worth knowing about. An engineering technician associate degree is a two-year qualification leading directly into technical work in manufacturing, testing and maintenance. It is not a route to a PE licence and it is not the same as an engineering degree, but it is real employment after two years, and some people use it to work while completing a bachelor’s part-time with employer support.

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