23 Online Business Programs for High School Students [2027]

Feb 11

TL;DR

You’ll find 23 online programs here, spanning entrepreneurship, finance and analytics, and university pre-college business courses. The big split is live classes versus self-paced courses, and certificates versus the few programs that award college credit. If you’re in grades 9 to 12, most will fit, and a few accept you from age 13. Prices run from $350 for NYU Stern’s webinar series to $8,160 for eight Harvard credits. If you’d rather build a company than study one, Young Founders Lab lets you launch a revenue-generating startup with a mentor and pitch it to investors at Demo Day.

Online business programs let you learn from university faculty and industry professionals without leaving home or giving up your summer job. Many run on weekends, during the school year, or at your own pace, so you can fit them around everything else. Most programs cover entrepreneurship, finance, marketing, or leadership through live classes, simulations, and projects. The best ones end with something you made yourself, like a pitch, an analyst report, or a business plan.

If you are also weighing on-campus options, take a look at our guides to business pre-college programs and Ivy League business programs for high school students.

How do you choose an online business program?

Start with format, since a live program and a self-paced course ask for very different things of your week. Then check what you’ll finish with, whether it carries credit, and whether you qualify.

Pick live or self-paced first: Live programs meet at set times, so you get instructors and classmates in real time but have to protect those hours. Self-paced courses fit around school and sports. USC Pre-College Online’s FAQ says each course has five modules of roughly five to six hours apiece; most students finish in two to four weeks, and you get up to 90 days to complete it.

Look at the final project: A capstone, analyst report, pitch, or business plan gives you something concrete to show for your time. A course that ends with a quiz gives you far less to talk about afterward.

Decide whether you need credit: A few programs put grades on a university transcript, while most award a certificate. Credit usually costs more and comes with a heavier workload.

Check eligibility early: Many programs set an age floor or a narrow grade window, so confirm you qualify before you put time into an application. Cornell’s precollege courses, for example, take rising and current juniors and seniors aged 15 to 19.

How much do online business programs cost?

Online business programs for high school students run from $350 for NYU Stern’s four-session webinar series to $8,160 for two credit-bearing Harvard courses. Where a program falls in that range depends mostly on two things: live instruction and college credit.

Short, non-credit options cost the least: NYU Stern’s Future Business Leaders Webinar Series charges $350 for four online Saturday workshops. Wharton’s self-paced Understanding Investing and Portfolio Management costs $579 and has no application fee.

Live, instructor-led programs sit in the middle: Wharton’s 2027 online programs, including Financial Decision Making, Future of the Business World, and Leadership in Action, cost $4,099 each, while Sports Business Academy is $4,799, with a $100 non-refundable application fee on top.

College credit costs the most: Harvard’s 7-Week SSP Online lists $4,180 for 4 credits or $8,160 for 8 credits in 2026, plus a $75 application fee. Cornell’s online courses are billed per credit at the rate its Board of Trustees sets, so a heavier load raises your total.

Ask about aid: Wharton Global Youth’s costs and aid page lists partial online scholarships, usually $500 to $4,000, for U.S. citizens with financial need who apply by the January 27, 2027 priority deadline. NYU Stern asks students who need financial help to email the program directly.

Do online business programs give you a certificate or college credit?

Most give you a certificate of completion, and only a few award college credit on an official university transcript. Check which one you’re paying for before you enroll, since the two carry different weight.

Certificates are the default: Wharton’s online programs include a certificate of completion and a digital badge credential. USC Pre-College Online awards its certificate once you finish every module and answer at least 70 percent of the knowledge-check questions correctly.

Credit means graded college coursework: Harvard Summer School’s SSP Online page says its classes are for-credit, graded college courses, with 4 credit hours required and the option to take 8. Cornell records the grades and credits from its online courses on an official Cornell transcript.

Industry certificates sit in between: NYIF’s Young Equity Analyst Program ends with an NYIF certificate and a reference letter from the institute. Neither counts as college credit, but both show you finished specialized finance training.

Transfer policies vary: Each college decides whether to accept credit you earned in high school, so check with the schools on your list before you count on it.

What skills do you build in an online business program?

You’ll usually come away able to read a company’s financials, explain how the main business disciplines connect, and present a recommendation. The exact mix depends on whether the program leans toward finance, entrepreneurship, or general business.

Financial analysis: NYIF’s Young Equity Analyst Program teaches you to read income statements, balance sheets, and ratios, then forecast sales, profits, expenses, and cash flow using step-by-step model templates. You then feed your own assumptions into a free cash flow to the firm model to estimate a stock’s fair value.
A map of business careers: NYU Stern’s webinar series covers accounting, finance, management, marketing, real estate, and sports and entertainment across its Saturday sessions. That breadth helps if you aren’t sure where you fit yet.
Competitive thinking: NYIF also uses frameworks like SWOT to analyze competitors and the barriers that protect a business, a habit you’ll use in any strategy or startup work.
Presenting your work: Programs with a capstone push you to defend your reasoning out loud. NYIF encourages graduates to show their finished financial model to a future employer.

How we chose these online business programs

Every program on this list was checked against its own official page.

Fully online delivery: Live and self-paced formats both count, but any required on-campus time ruled a program out.

A clear outcome: Each pick ends with something you can point to, such as a capstone, analyst report, pitch, certificate, or transcript credit.

Transparent costs: We list published tuition and application fees. Where a program doesn’t publish a figure, we mark it as an estimate.

Who teaches it: We noted who designs and leads each course, from university faculty to industry professionals and mentors.

Section	Top programs	Cost	Best for
Entrepreneurship and leadership programs	Young Founders Lab, Babson Academy Summer Study, Brown Leadership Institute (Online), Wharton Global Youth: Leadership in Action, USC Pre-College Online: Entrepreneurship	$1,795 to $6,295	Students who want to build ventures, lead teams, and finish with a pitch, Action Plan, or real startup
Finance and business analytics programs	Wharton Global Youth: Financial Decision Making, Wharton Understanding Investing and Portfolio Management, NYIF Young Equity Analyst Program, NYIF Young Finance Scholar Program, USC Pre-College Online: Finance	$579 to $4,099	Students who want to learn how money, markets, and data drive business decisions, from personal finance basics to stock valuation
University pre-college business courses	Harvard Summer School Secondary School Program (Online), Cornell Precollege Studies (Online), Columbia Pre-College Programs (Online), NYU Stern Future Business Leaders Webinar Series, Wharton Global Youth: Sports Business Academy	$350 to $8,160	Students who want a course from a university’s pre-college office, from a short certificate series to graded college credit

Entrepreneurship & Leadership Programs

These programs focus on building ventures, leading teams, and solving real problems, usually through projects or simulations rather than lectures alone.

1. Young Founders Lab

Location: 100% virtual, with live interactive workshops and one-on-one mentorship
Cost/Stipend: $2,900 for the core program; full financial aid available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: No published rate or cohort size; selective via online application, an admissions review, and an interview process (estimate)
Dates: Cohorts run at scheduled points across the year; team track lasts about 4 weeks, individual track about 12 weeks; the most recently confirmed cohort started in June
Application deadline: Rolling within the cycle; the most recently confirmed cycle's deadlines fell in March, April, and May
Eligibility: Open to all high school students; students can build individually or as part of a team

Founded and run by Harvard entrepreneurs, Young Founders Lab is a real-world startup bootcamp modeled on incubators like Y Combinator. Students spend the program building an actual revenue-generating startup, moving through business fundamentals and ideation, a market-research and MVP-building phase, and a growth and go-to-market phase that ends in a demo day. Mentorship comes from entrepreneurs who've worked at companies including Google, Microsoft, and Meta.

Who it's best for: A student who wants to build and launch a real, revenue-generating company rather than study business theoretically.

2. Babson Academy Summer Study

Location: Fully online through live Zoom classes, with a separate in-person format at New England Innovation Academy in Marlborough, MA (estimate)
Cost/Stipend: About $6,295 for the online format in the most recent cycle, plus a $95 application fee (estimate)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: No published rate or cohort size; admission is by application (estimate)
Dates: Three weeks each July; the most recently listed session ran July 8 to 28, 2026 (estimate)
Application deadline: The most recent online cycle listed a mid-March registration deadline (estimate)
Eligibility: Rising high school juniors and seniors

Babson Summer Study is built around Babson's Entrepreneurial Thought & Action method, which teaches you to spot a problem and act on it before you have every answer. You work on social, economic, and environmental challenges framed by the U.N. Global Goals, and completing the course earns 4 Babson College credits. Online students meet daily, starting in a large virtual session before splitting into smaller faculty-led sections.

Who it's best for: A rising junior or senior who wants college credit attached to an entrepreneurship course and is ready for a full three-week summer commitment.

3. Brown Leadership Institute (Online)

Location: Online through Canvas, with twice-weekly live workshops and one-on-one instructor meetings
Cost/Stipend: $5,778 for the four-week online format (2026 rate)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: No published rate; applications are reviewed on a rolling basis (estimate)
Dates: Four weeks each summer; the 2026 online session ran June 22 to July 17
Application deadline: Rolling admission; the 2026 cycle closed in mid-May and Summer 2027 dates had not been posted at the time of writing (estimate)
Eligibility: Students completing grades 9 to 12, ages 14 to 18

The Leadership Institute pairs one course of study with leadership training, and its course list has included Leadership in Changing Business: Social Entrepreneurship. Every student finishes with an Action Plan, a concrete proposal for tackling a problem in their own school or community. Expect 15 to 20 hours a week of reading, written discussion, and live workshops, with no letter grades.

Who it's best for: A student drawn to social enterprise who would rather design a real community project than study business models in the abstract.

4. Wharton Global Youth: Leadership in Action

Location: Online, with live daily sessions on the Wharton Online Learning Platform
Cost/Stipend: $4,099 (2027 rate); partial scholarships of $500 to $4,000 for U.S. citizens with financial need
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; no rate or cohort size published (estimate)
Dates: Two weeks; 2027 sessions run June 14 to 25 and July 5 to 16
Application deadline: Priority deadline January 27, 2027; rolling admission after that
Eligibility: Students in grades 9 to 12 with demonstrated leadership ability; international students welcome

Formerly called Essentials of Leadership, this program trades lectures-only learning for simulations. You negotiate competing interests in the OPEQ simulation and represent stakeholders in a multi-day wildfire mitigation exercise that ends with a public news release. Each day includes two hours of live instruction from Wharton instructors and an hour of recitation with Penn teaching assistants.

Who it's best for: A student who already leads a club or team and wants structured practice negotiating, managing conflict, and making calls under pressure.

5. Wharton Global Youth: Future of the Business World

Location: Online
Cost/Stipend: $4,099 (2027 rate)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: No rate or cohort size published; admission is by application (estimate)
Dates: Two weeks each summer; 2026 sessions ran June 15 to 26 and July 6 to 17, with 2027 sessions expected on a similar pattern (estimate)
Application deadline: Wharton's online summer programs share a January 27, 2027 priority deadline (estimate)
Eligibility: Students in grades 9 to 12

Future of the Business World introduces the foundations of a Wharton education through innovation, entrepreneurship, emerging technologies, and product design. Learning runs through group work, project-based assignments, and business simulations built around current business themes. Students also get access to the Wharton Youth Network, an online community that runs alongside the summer programs.

Who it's best for: A student curious about where new products and startups come from who wants a broad, project-based first look rather than an in-depth look at one discipline.

6. USC Pre-College Online: Entrepreneurship, Exploring What It Takes to Create Your Own Business

Location: Online and self-paced, built around recorded lectures and assignments
Cost/Stipend: $1,990 tuition plus a $35 application fee
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Rolling admission with decisions in three to five business days; no acceptance rate published
Dates: Rolling start dates about every two weeks; upcoming 2026 starts include October 26, November 9, November 23, December 7, and December 21. Students are expected to finish in four weeks and keep access for 90 days
Application deadline: Application and tuition are due the Wednesday before each Monday start date
Eligibility: At least 14 years old and enrolled in high school or a secondary program; recent graduates and gap year students can request an exemption

Taught by Glenn Fox of USC's Lloyd Greif Center for Entrepreneurial Studies, this course covers the entrepreneurial mindset and how founders turn it into a working venture. Topics include market sizing, finding value for customers, small business finance, and pitching to funders. Industry professionals from finance and law add a practical view of how small businesses and startups actually run.

Who it's best for: A student with a business idea who wants a flexible, low-commitment course on validating a market and pitching before trying to launch.

7. Rice University Precollege Online: Business Programs

Location: Online and self-paced, with video lessons and mentor support
Cost/Stipend: $1,795 per course; need-based scholarships available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: No transcripts or recommendation letters required; no acceptance rate published (estimate)
Dates: Multi-length courses offered throughout the year
Application deadline: Rolling; courses run year-round with no single deadline (estimate)
Eligibility: Students ages 13 and up

Rice's business track includes Entrepreneurship: From Ideas to Impact in Fintech alongside The Business of Economics. Each course runs 20 to 30 hours of video lessons, simulations, and assignments, ending in a capstone project you can present in any format you like. A mentor supports you throughout, and you earn a Certificate of Completion from Rice University.

Who it's best for: A younger student, from age 13, who is interested in fintech startups and wants to study on their own schedule during the school year.

Finance & Business Analytics Programs

These programs teach how money, markets, and data drive business decisions, from personal finance basics to stock valuation.

8. Wharton Global Youth: Financial Decision Making

Location: Online, with live daily sessions on the Wharton Online Learning Platform
Cost/Stipend: $4,099 (2027 rate); partial scholarships of $500 to $4,000 for U.S. citizens with financial need
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; no rate or cohort size published (estimate)
Dates: Two weeks; 2027 sessions run June 14 to 25 and July 5 to 16
Application deadline: Priority deadline January 27, 2027; rolling admission after that
Eligibility: Students in grades 9 to 12 with an interest in economics and finance; international students welcome

Built on a curriculum by Wharton finance professor David Musto, this program covers budgeting, credit, financial markets, banking, and long-term investing. You practice with real-world datasets and Excel throughout and finish with a group project. No prior finance background is required.

Who it's best for: A student new to finance who wants live Wharton instruction and hands-on Excel practice before committing to a heavier investing program.

9. Wharton Global Youth: Understanding Investing and Portfolio Management

Location: Online and self-paced
Cost/Stipend: $579, with no application fee (2027 rate)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open enrollment; no application or selection process
Dates: 16 to 18 hours of self-paced work; you can enroll immediately
Application deadline: None; enrollment is open year-round
Eligibility: Students in grades 9 to 12

This self-paced course introduces the core ideas behind modern investing, including financial markets, asset classes, risk and return, portfolio theory, and responsible investing. Lessons come from Wharton faculty on video, and at $579 it is the lowest-cost Wharton option on this list. Note that it does not include access to the Wharton Youth Network.

Who it's best for: A student who wants Wharton-built investing content on a tight budget and is disciplined enough to finish a course with no live sessions.

10. NYIF G2020 Young Equity Analyst Program

Location: Live virtual evening sessions; NYIF also lists in-person and self-paced formats
Cost/Stipend: $1,990 for the live virtual session
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Enrollment through NYIF's online checkout; no selection process or rate published (estimate)
Dates: Next live virtual session runs August 9 to 20, 2027
Application deadline: No fixed deadline published; enrollment stays open until seats fill (estimate)
Eligibility: Students older than 13

Run by the New York Institute of Finance, this program teaches stock research the way professional analysts approach it. You read financial statements, apply ratios, and build a free cash flow model to calculate your own fair value for real companies. Graduates receive an NYIF certificate and a reference letter.

Who it's best for: A student who already likes following the stock market and wants to practice valuation work that looks like a real equity analyst's job.

11. NYIF G2020 Young Finance Scholar Program

Location: Live virtual evening sessions, with a self-paced online version also available
Cost/Stipend: $1,990 for the live virtual session; $950 for the self-paced version
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Enrollment through NYIF's online checkout; no selection process or rate published (estimate)
Dates: Next live virtual session runs July 19 to 30, 2027
Application deadline: No fixed deadline published; enrollment stays open until seats fill (estimate)
Eligibility: Students ages 15 to 18 (grades 9 to 12)

Young Finance Scholar is NYIF's broad introduction to finance, covering macro and microeconomics, how Wall Street works, IPOs, mergers and acquisitions, and fintech. Sessions mix lectures with breakout discussions, and the program ends with a Fund Manager Game presentation. It also includes a lecture on communication skills.

Who it's best for: A student who wants a wide survey of how the finance industry works, with a cheaper self-paced route if the live schedule does not fit.

12. USC Pre-College Online: Analytics, The Power of Data for Businesses

Taught by Charlie Hannigan, an assistant professor of clinical data sciences and operations at USC Marshall, this course covers what data is, how to clean and organize it, and how businesses classify it to find insights. It closes with a preview of where analytics is heading, including neural networks and AI. Real data sets, case studies, and industry speakers show how companies put data to work.

Who it's best for: A student who likes numbers and wants to see how data drives business decisions before choosing between a business or data science path.

13. USC Pre-College Online: Finance, From Personal Literacy to Global Markets

This course moves from personal finance and planning to how companies raise money through stocks and bonds. Taught by Michael Paranal, academic director of USC's Master of Business Taxation, it finishes with an introduction to digital currencies and blockchain. You cover the time value of money, interest rates, and risk and return along the way.

Who it's best for: A student who wants practical money skills for their own life alongside an introduction to corporate finance careers.

14. Wake Forest Online Immersion: Investing, The Future of Finance

Location: Online and self-paced, with video lessons and mentor support
Cost/Stipend: $1,595 per course; need-based scholarships available
Acceptance rate/cohort size: No transcripts or recommendation letters required; no acceptance rate published (estimate)
Dates: Multiple 1-, 2-, and 4-week sessions
Application deadline: Rolling; sessions run throughout the year (estimate)
Eligibility: Students ages 13 and up

Led by Stephan Shipe, a Wake Forest finance professor, this course covers how companies raise capital, ESG investing, decentralized finance, and how fintech is disrupting lending and insurance. Investment bankers, traders, and private equity executives contribute through video. The capstone asks you to pick a public company and write an analyst report on how these trends affect it.

Who it's best for: A student interested in where finance is heading, from crypto to ESG, who wants to finish with a written analyst report to show for it.

University Pre-College Business Courses

These are business courses from universities' pre-college offices, ranging from short certificate courses to full credit-bearing classes.

15. Columbia University Pre-College Programs: Online Summer

Location: Online, with live interactive classes
Cost/Stipend: $2,868 for a 1-week session and $4,018 for a 2-week session (Summer 2026 rates), plus a $95 application fee
Acceptance rate/cohort size: No published rate or cohort size; admission is by application (estimate)
Dates: 2027 sessions: June 21 to 25 (1 week), July 12 to 23 (2 weeks), and July 26 to August 6 (2 weeks)
Application deadline: Applications open in mid-November 2026; session deadlines are posted on Columbia's dates and deadlines page (estimate)
Eligibility: High school students; check Columbia's admissions page for the exact grade range (estimate)

Columbia's online summer program offers more than 40 courses across a dozen subject areas, including business options. Classes run Monday through Friday with discussions, debates, simulations, and group projects. You leave with a Columbia University Certification of Participation and an evaluation letter on your performance.

Who it's best for: A student who wants a short, intensive Ivy League course in a single week or two rather than a month-long commitment.

16. Columbia University Pre-College Programs: Academic Year Weekend

Location: Online
Cost/Stipend: $2,868 per session for one course; each additional course costs $2,700, plus an $80 application fee
Acceptance rate/cohort size: No published rate or cohort size; admission is by application (estimate)
Dates: Fall 2026 runs October 9 to November 22; Spring 2027 runs January 15 to March 21
Application deadline: Apply before the start of each term; check Columbia's dates and deadlines page for the Spring 2027 cutoff (estimate)
Eligibility: Students in grades 9 to 12

Academic Year Weekend lets you take Columbia courses during the school year, with three-hour classes held on Fridays, Saturdays, or Sundays. You can take up to four courses per term, though Columbia recommends one to three. Weekend events add college prep and career exploration workshops.

Who it's best for: A student whose summers are already full and who would rather learn on weekends during the school year.

17. Cornell University Precollege Studies: Online Program

Location: Online through Canvas, in live or self-paced formats depending on the course
Cost/Stipend: $2,013 per credit for Fall 2026 through Summer 2027; a 3-credit online course costs $6,039, plus an $85 application fee
Acceptance rate/cohort size: No published rate or cohort size; admission is by application (estimate)
Dates: Winter 2027 runs January 4 to 22; Summer 2027 offers three-, six-, and eight-week options from June through August, with details due in December
Application deadline: Session deadlines are posted on Cornell's dates and deadlines pages (estimate)
Eligibility: High school students ages 15 to 19 who have completed sophomore year (estimate)

Cornell's online program puts you in regular, credit-bearing undergraduate courses, recorded on an official Cornell transcript. Course options include business and hotel management alongside other subjects. The winter session packs 15 weeks of coursework into 15 days.

Who it's best for: A junior or senior who wants transferable college credit and can handle a full university workload.

18. Harvard Summer School: Secondary School Program (Online)

Location: Online, through live and asynchronous classes
Cost/Stipend: $4,180 for 4 credits or $8,160 for 8 credits (2027 rates), plus a $75 application fee
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Selective; no rate or cohort size published (estimate)
Dates: 7-week online options each summer; the 2026 seven-week session ran June 20 to August 8 (estimate)
Application deadline: Harvard posts deadlines on its program calendars page, with applications opening December 1, 2026 (estimate)
Eligibility: High school students ages 16 to 18 (estimate)

The Secondary School Program enrolls you in for-credit, graded college courses taught by Harvard faculty and visiting instructors, including an economics, finance, and public policy track. Online students can use Harvard's online resources such as the libraries but do not get campus access. Tutoring, advising, and the Harvard Writing Center are open to all formats.

Who it's best for: A student who wants a graded Harvard transcript in business-adjacent subjects and can commit to college-level coursework for most of the summer.

19. Wake Forest Online Immersion: Business, Strategy & Innovation

This course studies how companies like Netflix and Apple build their strategy, innovate, and compete. It is taught by Wake Forest professor Dan Fogel and Lee Weiss, a Kaplan executive who has launched multiple startups. The capstone asks you to write a memo and presentation to a real company's leadership on the strategic threats it faces.

Who it's best for: A student fascinated by big tech companies who wants to practice thinking like a strategy consultant.

20. USC Pre-College Online: Building Blocks of Business

Building Blocks of Business uses the Business Model Canvas to show how accounting, marketing, operations, finance, and data analytics fit together. You learn through business simulations and active learning modules. At the end you take the role of an investor and compare two business models to decide which is more likely to be profitable.

Who it's best for: A student who wants a broad tour of how a business works end to end before picking a specialty.

21. USC Pre-College Online: Digital Marketing

Taught by Kristen Schiele, an associate professor of clinical marketing at USC Marshall, this course covers building a digital marketing plan, brand voice, content, and social media strategy. You also learn how to read campaign data to measure what is working. It is the only marketing-focused course on this list.

Who it's best for: A student who already creates content online and wants to understand the strategy and data behind it.

22. Wharton Global Youth: Sports Business Academy

Location: Online
Cost/Stipend: $4,799 (2027 rate)
Acceptance rate/cohort size: No rate or cohort size published; admission is by application (estimate)
Dates: Three weeks each summer; the 2026 session ran July 6 to 24 (estimate for 2027)
Application deadline: Wharton's online summer programs share a January 27, 2027 priority deadline (estimate)
Eligibility: Students in grades 10 and 11 only

Sports Business Academy applies leadership, management, and marketing to the sports industry. It covers the business and legal side of college, Olympic, and professional sports organizations. At three weeks, it is the longest of Wharton's live online programs on this list.

Who it's best for: A sophomore or junior who loves sports and wants to see the front office side of the industry.

23. NYU Stern Future Business Leaders Webinar Series

Location: Virtual, across four Saturday sessions from 9 AM to 12 PM
Cost/Stipend: $350; students who need financial assistance can contact the program directly
Acceptance rate/cohort size: Open registration; no selection process published (estimate)
Dates: Fall 2026 sessions run November 7, 14, 21, and 28
Application deadline: Registration is through NYU Stern's payment page; no separate deadline is published (estimate)
Eligibility: Students in grades 9 to 12

This NYU Stern series helps you explore business disciplines and career paths through interactive virtual sessions. It is led by faculty director John Hopkins from Stern's accounting department. At $350, it is the most affordable live program on this list.

Who it's best for: A student who is not sure which part of business interests them and wants a low-cost, low-commitment way to explore.

Frequently asked questions: online business programs for high school students

1. What are some free online business programs for high school students?

None of the 23 programs on this list is free, but the cheapest ones cost less than you might expect. NYU Stern’s Future Business Leaders Webinar Series is $350, and Wharton’s self-paced investing course is $579. Aid can close the gap too: Wharton offers full scholarships for its non-credit online programs to School District of Philadelphia students with financial need, and partial online scholarships to other U.S. citizens. For options that cost nothing, see our roundup of free business courses for high school students.

Are online business programs worth it for high school students?

They’re worth it when you finish with something you built rather than a stack of watched videos. Programs with live sessions, a mentor, or a capstone, like Wake Forest’s analyst report or Brown’s Action Plan, give you work you can show and explain. If a course is all recorded lectures with a quiz at the end, read the syllabus closely before you pay.

What is the best online business program for high school students?

The best program is the one that matches what you want to walk away with. If you want finance skills, NYIF’s Young Equity Analyst Program has you build a free cash flow model to estimate what a stock is worth. If you want college credit, Harvard’s SSP Online and Cornell’s online courses both put graded work on an official transcript. If you want to build an actual company, Young Founders Lab has you launch a revenue-generating startup with a mentor and pitch it at Demo Day.

Can high school students take online business courses?

Yes, and many programs accept you before junior year. USC Pre-College Online takes students from age 14 and lets you start year-round, while Rice and Wake Forest accept students from age 13. Some programs are narrower: Cornell’s precollege courses are for rising and current juniors and seniors aged 15 to 19, and Wharton’s Sports Business Academy only takes grades 10 and 11. Check eligibility before you start an application.

How much time does an online business program take?

It can be anywhere from about 12 hours to most of your summer, depending on the format. NYU Stern’s webinar series is four three-hour morning sessions, and USC’s self-paced courses have five modules of roughly five to six hours each. At the other end, Harvard describes its Secondary School Program as full-time and built to match the pace of a college term. If you’re juggling school, sports, or a job, a self-paced or weekend option will be easier to finish.

When should you apply to online business programs?

For live summer programs, apply in the winter before. Wharton’s applications open in November, and its January 27, 2027 priority deadline is also the cutoff for scholarship consideration. Self-paced courses work differently: USC lets you begin year-round, so you can enroll whenever your schedule opens up. School-year options run on their own calendars, like NYU Stern’s fall series on four Saturdays in November 2026, so check dates a few weeks ahead.

Luke Taylor

Luke is a two-time founder, a graduate of Stanford University, and the Managing Director at the Young Founders Lab