Online Degrees - All you wanted to know about them

The term “Online degrees” has now become the buzzword all over and most people are talking about it or planning to enrol for one. This article has been written to give a clear understanding about online degrees and what are the issues connected with them.

As per Wikipedia, the term Online degrees basically refers to college degrees ( which also include High School Diplomas and non-degree certificate programs ) that can be earned primarily or entirely through the use of an Internet-connected computer , rather than attending college in a traditional campus setting. The improvements in technology and use of internet worldwide have led to proliferion of online colleges that award associate’s, bachelor’s, master’s and doctoral degrees.

This is a very attractive way for people to pursue further studies because it offers the following obvious advantages
1) Since there is no need to attend a regular college , it means that it can be done from the comfort of your home.
2) There are no fixed classroom hours , so one can do it without disturbing their existing lives and schedules - either at home or at the office. People do not have to give up their jobs to do online degrees.
3) You can complete the degrees at your own pace ( in most cases ) and are not bound by any time bound schedules. You can read the coursework and complete the homework and exercises at your convenience
4) Online degrees are generally easier on your budget as compared to Campus programs. Not only is the basic fee lower for online courses , but even the cost of transport is quite prohibitive , especially with rising gasoline prices. Hence online degrees are very affordable to most people.

However there are many issues that need to be addressed while going in for an online degree.

What is “Accreditation”?
It is very essential to ensure that the online degrees being provided by Colleges and Universities meet acceptable quality levels.There are many fake colleges offering fake degrees. These are referred to as “Degree Mills” or ” Diploma Mills”. The degrees that they award are worthless and not accepted anywhere.
Educational Accreditation is done by the U.S Department of Education.The United States has been divided into six geographic regions and for each region a non-governmental Regional Accreditation board has been appointed to handle the accreditations of Institutions and courses in their areas.
Students who plan to enroll for a genuine Online degree should ask for proof of accreditation from one of the Regional Accreditation boards

How good is your Online Degree?

The quality of online degrees compared to Campus programs is a highly debatable and controversial issue. In the initial years , they were definitely looked down upon , but with the improvement in Technology and the other benefits that are available , Online Degrees are gaining in popularity and are being accepted by more and more people, especially employers.But this only applies to ‘accredited’ online degrees. Further, the level of acceptance depends on the field. and online programs are not considered suitable to certain fields , where classroom instructions are considered important.
According to a recent poll conducted by Zogby International, a leading consultancy firm , Four in Five leaders favourably view online degrees. You can read more by clicking on this link .
Further with new legislation, the Federal limits on financial aid to Online courses has been removed, and the number of people enrolling for online degrees in going to grow substantially.
Employers are gradually accepting the fact that we are living in the 21st century and that we have to accept the new way of education , instead of continuing to live in the past.
According to a survey conducted by The Sloan Consortium in 2007, online enrollments have continued to grow at rates far in excess of the total higher education student population, albeit at slower rates than for previous years.

Where are Online courses available?

As per the reports of The Sloan Consortium

• More than 96% of the very large institutions have some online offerings, which is more than double the rate observed for the smallest institutions.

• The proportion of institutions with fully online programs rises steadily as institutional size increases, and about two thirds of the very largest institutions have fully online programs, compared to only about one-sixth of the smallest institutions

• Doctoral/Research institutions have the greatest penetration of offering online programs as well as the highest overall rate ( more than 80%) of having some form of online offering ( either courses or full programs)

Almost 3.5 million students were taking at least one online course during the fall 2006 term , which was nearly 10% more than the number reported in the previous year.

Hence it is not difficult to find good online degree programs. A majority of these institutions are Title IV degree granting institutions , which are eligible for Federal Student Aid

Is Financial Aid available for Online degrees?

Till very recently , students who were going through online degree programs were not able to get any financial aid from the Federal Government , unless half of their study program was campus based ( as per the 50 percent law established in 1992 ). However this was changed in 2006 and now financial assistance is available in the form of federal loans, grants and work study is also available.