How to Find 4-Week Online College-Credit Courses

You’re just one month away from a new career, a new skill, or one more completed college prerequisite.

Accelerated online courses cut down the number of weeks spent in a typical 15-week term to eight or fewer. Plenty of accelerated courses can be completed in just four weeks.

Because the content in these courses is so condensed, four-week college classes take a big upfront time commitment and entail a greater workload. The focused effort is perfect if you want to go from “couch to 5K” in a subject.

And what subject? You pick. Between universities, community colleges, and online colleges, there are tons of online four-week courses to choose from that can fast-track your degree.

Note: The following programs may or may not offer accelerated classes.

Many colleges have adopted accelerated courses for all types of subjects. You can find four-week courses in art, accounting, legal studies, and the humanities. Four-week courses in these subject areas result in the same college credit typically earned in three months.

You can also find four-week online classes that lead to work-ready credentials. Most of these are in a handful of in-demand fields such as phlebotomy, medical billing and coding, and teaching English as a foreign language (TEFL).

Below are some examples of where you can find four-week online college-credit courses.

Accelerated degree programs can lead to associate, bachelor’s, and master’s degrees. These courses of study include a variety of accelerated classes. Each fast-paced course typically runs 4-8 weeks.

Both four-year universities and community colleges may offer accelerated classes in online, in-person, or hybrid formats.

Many colleges and trade schools offer four-week classes online to help students earn professional certifications and credentials fast in in-demand fields like healthcare and the trades.

Those interested in healthcare careers can often find four-week classes in phlebotomy, medical billing and coding, and nursing assisting. In the trades, you can take accelerated classes to become a solar energy technician, HVAC specialist, assistant plumber, or assistant electrician.

Many bachelor’s programs on the semester system offer accelerated courses during the summer term. These short and rigorous sessions allow you to explore new subjects, knock out a few credits, or even fit an entire year’s worth of work into just three months.

Four weeks isn’t much time to complete challenging college coursework. Even in today’s educational landscape, the four-week course is on the short end of accelerated course lengths, which can run up to 10 weeks.

While four-week courses may be new to higher education, they’re popping up at more colleges and for an ever-growing list of subjects.

For example, you can take career-focused four-week classes online at major distance-learning schools like National University and the University of Phoenix. You can also take self-paced online courses at Western Governors University and Colorado State University Global.

Four-week classes online can fly by — both a blessing and a curse. Here are some of the biggest pros and cons of enrolling in four-week online college-credit courses.

If you need credits or a certificate in a hurry, a four-week online course could be right for you.

Just be sure you have a month to dedicate, that you’re not overpaying for the course, and that in the end, the credits or certificate you earn do what you expect them to: land you a job or contribute toward a degree.

Note: The insights on this page were reviewed by an independent third party compensated for their time by BestColleges. Page last reviewed June 6, 2024.