OnlineCollegePlan.com knows the importance of affordability in higher education. Americans are currently 1.26 TRILLION in student loan debt. Students who graduated this year will carry an average of over $37,000 in student debt along with them into their new careers. Nobody wants that, and in fact, many recent graduates simply can't afford to repay their student loans - evidenced by the 11% that are delinquent. The very best way students can avoid this burden is to borrow less. That's where quality affordable online bachelor's degree programs come in.

Many college expenses, such as textbooks, meal plans and rent can be eliminated by earning a degree online. Anne Velusa, research editor at OnlineCollegePlan.com, set out to find which colleges in the U.S. offered the most affordable online undergraduate degrees by filtering data from NCES, a branch of the U.S. Department of Education. She found 50 high quality, accredited schools offering online bachelor's degree programs with a net average tuition range of $1,320-$8,722.

OnlineCollegePlan's ranking (http://www.onlinecollegeplan.com/most-affordable-online-bachelors-degree-colleges/) also includes in-state and out-of-state tuition rates, graduation rate, transfer-out rate, student population and number of undergraduates for each of the 50 schools.

The oldest school in OnlineCollegePlan.com's ranking is Augusta University (Augusta, Georgia), although it was originally founded in 1828 as Georgia Regents University. Augusta University ranks at #23 with an extremely reasonable yearly average net price of $7,667.

The newest school that made the top 50 is Western Governor's University (Salt Lake City, Utah), which was founded in 1997. WGU is ranked at #44 with a manageable yearly average net tuition of $8,624.

The complete OnlineCollegePlan.com ranking includes the following schools:

50. McNeese State University (Lake Charles, Louisiana)
49. Missouri Southern State University (Joplin, Missouri)
48. University of New Orleans (New Orleans, Louisiana)
47. Indiana University-Kokomo (Kokomo, Indiana)
46. Prairie View A & M University (Prairie View, Texas)
45. Texas A&M University-Commerce (Commerce, Texas)
44. Western Governors University (Salt Lake City, Utah)
43. Northwestern Oklahoma State University (Alva, Oklahoma)
42. Texas Woman's University (Denton, Texas)
41. Cleary University (Ann Arbor, Michigan)
40. National American University-Ellsworth AFB Extension (Rapid City, South Dakota)
39. University of Tennessee-Martin (Martin, Tennessee)
38. University of Alaska Southeast (Juneau, Alaska)
37. University of Louisiana at Lafayette (Lafayette, Louisiana)
36. Florida SouthWestern State College (Fort Myers, Florida)
35. Kentucky State University (Frankfort, Kentucky)
34. University of Alaska Fairbanks (Fairbanks, Alaska)
33. Northern Kentucky University (Highland Heights, Kentucky)
32. University of Louisiana at Monroe (Monroe, Louisiana)
31. University of Texas of the Permian Basin (Odessa, Texas)
30. Texas A & M University-Texarkana (Texarkana, Texas)
29. Indiana University-East (Richmond, Indiana)
28. Brigham Young University-Idaho (Rexburg, Idaho)
27. University of South Florida-Sarasota-Manatee (Sarasota, Florida)
26. University of Hawaii-West Oahu (Kapolei, Hawaii)
25. Winston-Salem State University (Winston-Salem, North Carolina)
24. University of Arkansas-Fort Smith (Fort Smith, Arkansas)
23. Augusta University (Augusta, Georgia)
22. College of Southern Nevada (Las Vegas, Nevada)
21. Pensacola State College (Pensacola, Florida)
20. Indiana University Northwest (Gary, Indiana)
19. Southern University at New Orleans (New Orleans, Louisiana)
18. St. Petersburg College (Clearwater, Florida)
17. Wright State University-Lake Campus (Fairborn, Ohio)
16. University of Houston-Downtown (Houston, Texas)
15. Northeastern State University (Tahlequah, Oklahoma)
14. Florida State College at Jacksonville (Jacksonville, Florida)
13. Clear Creek Baptist Bible College (Pineville, Kentucky)
12. Allen College (Waterloo, Iowa)
11. Fayetteville State University (Fayetteville, North Carolina)
10. Utah Valley University (Orem, Utah)
9. Dalton State College (Dalton, Georgia)
8. Virginia Baptist College (Fredericksburg, Virginia)
7. University of Texas at El Paso (El Paso, Texas)
6. Peninsula College (Port Angeles, Washington)
5. Daytona State College (Daytona Beach, Florida)
4. Florida Gateway College (Lake City, Florida)
3. Hobe Sound Bible College (Hobe Sound, Florida)
2. Indian River State College (Fort Pierce, Florida)
1. South Texas College (McAllen, Texas)