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Are online college degree programs helpful to your career?
Results so far:
| No | 26% | 176 votes | Total: 675 votes | |
| Yes | 74% | 499 votes |
No
by Michael Cronin
Created on: January 15, 2011 Last Updated: January 23, 2011
Any reasonable person (or employable person, for that matter) knows that there will never be a time when someone will come knocking at your door with an opportunity that seems too good to be true and actually is that good. Yet, there are hundreds of accredited for-profit online universities that operate in exactly this way. The majority of applicants to Harvard or Yale never receive so much as an acknowledgement of their application. The online universities never turn down anyone that qualifies for the federal financial aid dollars that go right into the pockets of their shareholders.
Ask the admissions advisor that tries to enroll you into their fine institution about their own educational background. Many of these promoters of formal education have no college degree. That does not make them bad people, but rather reinforces the fact that they are professional sales people and that even if they have a degree, they cannot find a job in the industry in which they earned their degree. The admissions advisor is a high pressured salesperson. They are selling you a concept, an idea, not an actual product of any type. They are selling you on your own dreams by asking you whether or not you hate your current job or your current place in the world. They then tell you that all of your dreams will come true if you earn your college degree and then agree to pay back all of the student loans that go along with it.
If you are of the vast minority that actually finish school with a degree from an online university that that makes this process as easy as possible by inflating your actual performance and issuing grades that are well above the level of performance that you have actually achieved, you will probably find that most companies that are hiring candidates for your chosen field will not even consider you for the positions that they have available. Even most graduate level students from these online universities have no communication or language skills. It behooves the adjunct professors that teach at these online universities to continue offering passing grades to students that do not deserve them because the reward of doing so is too good to pass up. Putting degrees in the hands of people that do not deserve them is one of the goals of our current philosophy of leveling the playing field for everyone. Also, because the institutions are technically accredited, the government that funds this type of inadequate education would have to admit that the billions of taxpayer dollars that the US government issues to for profit schools are nothing more than wasted tax dollars that end up funding television commercials for institutions like the University of Phoenix. Nothing that is worth doing is ever easy.
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Yes
by Kathy Million
Created on: March 07, 2009 Last Updated: March 08, 2009
Online education is truly the wave of the future. The internet has made it possible for working adults and homemakers to pursue higher education without uprooting their lives. Online universities are now offering degree and certification programs that equal or surpass those offered by traditional schools. As online schooling is becoming more frequent and widely accepted, the high quality of education provided by many online universities is being noticed by potential employers.
As a non-traditional college student myself, I have had tremendous success. As a result I am highly supportive of online education. I earned my Associate of Science in Interdisciplinary Studies - Educational Paraprofessional from Kaplan University Online. In the fall I will be attending Phoenix Online to begin working toward my Bachelor of Science - Elementary Education. So far my experience with online degree programs has been favorable and highly regarded among employers. I have found that my supervisor has been impressed with the overall quality of my education and my knowledge as an education paraprofessional. I have never had an employer or faculty member question the credibility of my university or my credentials.
I researched both traditional and online schools before deciding on Kaplan University. The degree program offered by Kaplan covered the same courses offered by local colleges, and the professors were all highly qualified. The entire faculty had a either a Masters or a PhD and several years of experience. The courses offered were excellent in comparison to other courses I have taken in traditional college classrooms.
Online education is constantly improving as technical advances are made. Many colleges are now offering video and audio courses as well as interactive classrooms. These classrooms provide all of the support and opportunities that students will find in traditional schools. Another advantage to online education is the personal attention that students receive from their instructors. A lot of traditional universities use lecture type classes that are very impersonal and do not provide a lot of communication with the instructors. In online schooling, the professors read and respond to each student's work and questions personally. Classroom discussions are also used in online education. Students will post essays and answer questions in a forum, and respond to the work of other students. This allows students to learn from each other, debate points, and enhance their understanding of the material. This was one of the features of online learning that I valued the most as a student. I am extremely happy with my online college experience. The education that I received from Kaplan University was extensive and relevant to my degree program and the academic support I received from Kaplan was excellent. I found it to be extremely beneficial to my career and I highly recommend online education to anyone seeking to pursue a degree or certification while maintaining a career or raising a family.
Learn more about this author, Kathy Million.
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