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Fifty years ago, a bachelor's degree was respectable, a master's
was amazing, and a doctorate was almost unheard of. Today,
industry demands a college education along with a few years
experience or a graduate degree. With increased college enrollment
in the past twenty years, undergrad degrees just aren't as
competitive as they used to be. For many students, online
graduate study could be the answer to this problem.
Online degrees depict a dream
life. Consider a world without early classes, stale lectures,
or scribbled notes. Have you ever wished it? I have. But while
'distance education' can limit a student's early mornings,
it isn't a stress-free life. "Fighting for time with
the professor" and "sensing an absolute seclusion
from campus" are only a few problems one Berkeley grad
encountered. Absence from campus can effect more than one's
social life, relationships with professors can suffer, which
may impact future job references. But students like Lora Thompson
at Illinois U who overcome such dilemmas are able to finish
their degrees at their own pace.
Students have two types of educational institution choices
in online study: the distance learning department of traditional
schools or online only universities. Traditional schools like
NYU and Johns Hopkins continue to assign funds into online
masters degrees in instructional design and public health.
Many state schools like Texas and Virginia have masters in
business and education, which tend to be the popular online
degrees nationwide. And since online students have access
to campus facilities, in a sense, you can have your cake and
eat it too.
The new kid on the collegiate block is the online university.
Institutions like the University of Phoenix and Strayer University,
solely dedicated to online programs have become the new craze
in graduate study. With a 70% increased enrollment from last
year, Phoenix alone is flexing the muscle of these new schools.
The National Education Association (NEA) comments that, "these
schools are the future of online graduate studies." Without
athletic departments or student newspapers, online schools
focus all their energy into real-life education, discarding
the "ivory tower experience" of traditional universities.
Even if the online life does sound appealing, it's not for
everyone. Most successful online students are married or have
a full-time job. The traditional grad student like Jane Gail
from Stanford may miss "the camaraderie and group learning
that being on-campus provides." But for certain students
the online discussions and class chat rooms that many programs
provide are more compatible with their schedule. Determining
the optimal online student has nothing to do with age, sex,
or intelligence, but everything to do with study habits, social
life, and responsibilities.
Past financial aid scandals and the feeble accreditation
of some online schools and programs have hindered the credibility
of distance education and kept the 'degree mill' stereotype
attached to this learning method.
The cost of tuition continues to hamper online degrees, too.
On average, an online MBA program costs $22,000. While this
is $10,000 cheaper than Harvard Business School, it is twice
the in-state rate at Georgia Tech. But this is the tendency
for all online programs: cheaper than the elite but costlier
than state. The problem with this as one professor noted is
that "students pay for faculty reputation in traditional
programs." This doesn't exist online.
While online grad study is booming with Beanie Baby popularity,
grad courses still only make up 16% of all e-learning offerings;
and programs in the humanities- the most popular undergraduate
fields are just starting to gain traction. It's true, online
degrees present comfortable options but to ensure you're a
successful online student, make sure that you are well-suited
to the program you choose as well as its method of delivery.
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