Online College Degrees

The Internet has brought a tremendous amount of convenience to our lives in so many areas. Why shouldn’t studying and obtaining a degree benefit from the wonders of modern technology as well?

Many people have been tempted by ads offering to let them study for and earn a college degree from the comfort of their own home, in their own good time. Others are unable to physically attend university due to time or financial restraints, but could benefit greatly from obtaining a college degree.

There are many legitimate online college degree courses out there for both types of people. There are also a lot of scams. Like most things on the Internet, offering to let people study for and earn a college degree online has spawned a huge number of very professional frauds. The problem is they look very convincing and official, and usually offer terms that are almost too good to be true, but are still just believable.

Some even offer to print what appear to be a legitimate degrees simply for paying - no studying required! Obviously, such a degree is worthless, both in that you didn’t really learn anything and in that potential employers will slam the door in your face if you present such a document.

All that is to say, as with anything purchased or applied for online, do some initial research if you are looking to get into an online college degree program. Most of the scams have already been tagged and listed by several watchdog websites, so weeding them out is fairly easy if you take the time to do so.

As for legitimate opportunities, there are many. A growing number of major universities are offering both undergraduate and post-graduate degree programs online. Of course, if you are wanting to go into medicine or some other field that requires hands-on learning and experience, your required degree is not going to be offered online. But for those degrees that fit with online learning, colleges and universities are actually becoming increasingly eager to sign up “distance learners,” as evidenced by expanding advertising efforts.

If the term “distance learning” seems archaic, it is. Advancements in online streaming video, audio and other instantaneous communications methods make the virtual learning environment almost as interactive as a physical learning environment.

Now, even with the advancements in technology and the legitimacy of these online degree programs, a lot of employers still view degrees obtained through online learning with skepticism. This is natural. All social changes brought about by new technology take a while for a society as a whole to get used to.

The good news is that a growing number of employers, including large corporations, are realizing that just because a job candidate received a degree through a university’s website instead of physically sitting in class and living on campus does not mean that his or her education level is diminished. And those employers are rapidly influencing more employers to view online college degrees in the same way.

So, if push comes to shove over your dream job, just do some quick online research, find a major corporation that has accepted job candidates with online degrees from the same university as you, and point that out in your interview.