As an MSU Denver Online student, you receive all benefits of in-person students, including 24/7 tutoring and mental health support, plus dedicated Success Coaches for your online journey.
Declare a fully online major and you can get up to $1000 per semester in scholarships that are not need based.
MSU Denver courses are designed with your career in mind and we offer internship and job placement assistance unique to your situation.
The online B.S. in Environmental Sustainability draws on the full depth of MSU Denver’s Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences, one of the few undergraduate departments in Colorado that integrates environmental policy, climate science, physical geography, and Geographic Information Systems (GIS) under one roof. The program is built around real problems: land use conflict, climate adaptation, sustainable resource management, and the spatial analysis tools that professionals in those fields use every day. Courses are developed and taught by faculty who are active researchers and working in the field.
This is a STEM-designated degree. The GIS component is substantive. Graduates leave with technical skills that set them apart from candidates with more generalist environmental backgrounds.
Gabrielle Katz, Ph.D., is a professor and chair of the Department of Earth and Atmospheric Sciences. Her research focuses on riparian ecosystems, biological invasions, and ecological restoration across the American West. She has earned more than 15 research grants, produced more than 15 peer-reviewed publications, and her work has been cited more than 1,100 times. Before joining MSU Denver, she held research appointments at Arizona State University and Colorado State University.
Physical Earth Systems – Explore how land, water, climate, and atmosphere interact, and how those systems are changing under human pressure.
Environmental Science Foundations – Study ecosystems, water resources, climate change impacts, and resource use through the lens of applied environmental problem-solving.
Environmental Policy and Planning – Learn how regulations, land use decisions, and planning frameworks shape what gets built, protected, or restored, and who has a say in those decisions.
Environmental Justice – Examine how environmental burdens and benefits are distributed across communities, and what equitable decision-making looks like in practice.
Geographic Information Systems – Build hands-on proficiency in GIS, the core technical skill across planning, consulting, land management, and environmental analysis roles.
Climate Change Science and Adaptation – Move beyond the basics into the science of climate systems, regional impacts, and the planning strategies communities are using to respond.
Geospatial Methods and Applications – Apply GIS to real problems through cartography, remote sensing, web mapping, spatial modeling, and GIS programming.
Global Environmental Challenges – In your senior capstone, integrate everything across a sustained project focused on a complex, real-world environmental problem.
Colorado’s planning agencies, land management offices, federal bureaus, and environmental consulting firms all hire for the kinds of positions this degree prepares you for.
The GIS skills in this degree also open doors in industries that have nothing to do with the environment, including real estate, logistics, public health, and emergency management, anywhere spatial data drives decisions.
Median annual salaries for occupations this degree prepares you for.
Source: U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, Occupational Employment and Wage Statistics, May 2024.
Environmental Scientists |
Urban and Regional Planners |
Cartographers and Photogrammetrists
Cassy leads campus-wide climate action, energy, waste, and sustainability strategies across CCD, MSU Denver, and CU Denver. She credits the systems-thinking foundation of her MSU Denver degree with her ability to navigate the social and institutional complexity of a tri-institutional campus, bringing diverse stakeholders together around solutions that are collaborative, realistic, and measurable.
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Request InformationAs an online student, you are fully included and fully supported.
Online does not mean alone at MSU Denver. We’re here for you.
Low in-state tuition, reduced tuition for western states, scholarships exclusive to online majors, and flexibility to take as many or few classes as you want, all make MSU Denver the affordable online choice.
As low as $315.20 /credit*
Example: 12 credits – $4,703.36 total including tuition & fees.
*Colorado Opportunity Fund (COF) reduces per-credit costs for eligible Colorado residents.
As low as $646.80 /credit
Example: 12 credits – $7761.84 total including tuition & fees.
Western Undergraduate Exchange (WUE) and Roadrunner Interstate Tuition (RIT) reduce nonresident costs for certain states.
Declare a fully online major and you may qualify for up to $1,000 per semester (fall/spring). No separate scholarship application is required.
Learn more about eligibility and how it works.
Exclusively online students save over $100 per semester in fees compared to on-campus students.
See detailed tuition and fee information:
Undergraduate Tuition & Fees.
Figures shown are example 2025–26 rates.
Most applicants are admitted, and you will usually receive your admission decision within a few days.
Want to see how your credits may apply before you apply? Use Transferology to check how your previous classes may count toward your degree.
You are typically eligible for admission if you have a 2.0 or higher unweighted high school GPA, are 20 or older with a high school diploma or GED, or have 24 or more transferable college credits.
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