Accreditation is the number one thing to be concerned about when investigating online college degrees. You can check the U.S. Department of Educations website to see if a school you’re interested in is in fact accredited. They have an extensive list of accrediting agency’s and website links for both online colleges and off line.U.S. Department of Educationhttp://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/accreditation_pg7.html
Why is accreditation so important?
Unfortunately the Internet is full of diploma mills that will provide anyone a phony degree for a fee. To protect yourself from being taken in by these fraudsters you need to thoroughly check the accreditation of any online college degree program you may be interested in.
Advantages
The great thing about online college degrees is you can study when it’s convenient for you and at your own pace and you can take courses that may not be available in your local area.
Other pluses include:
- You’re not being exposed to other peoples germs. Like swine flu for example. Or H1N1 to be technically correct.
- No travel expense to and from school. Doesn’t matter if you live in an isolated location as long as you have a good Internet connection.
- Attending an online college will be less expensive than a traditional college. You’re saving fuel, vehicle maintenance and parking fees right off the top.
- Everyone in your class is treated equally. No bias because the professor doesn’t like people with green hair or some other physical characteristic that he can’t see.
Disadvantages
- Lack of face to face communication with professors and classmates. For some this is an issue, for others it’s a bonus.
- If you have a hard time being self motivated then an online college degree may not be for you.
- No instant feedback.
- You can’t just raise your hand and ask the professor a question about something you don’t understand. You’re going to have to email him and wait for a response which can take up to a day or so.
How Students Fare
According to government reports average students earning online college degrees out performed students receiving face to face instruction.
Return To Distance Learning Counselor from Online College Degrees