Online Colleges for an Adult Student

[Leajess99]

Does anyone have any experience with going to college online? I want to get my bachelor's degree online (my schedule doesn't allow for me to attend traditional classes) but I am leary about all of these colleges that advertise on tv. Are they legitimate? I don't want to waste my time and money for a degree that isn't worth the paper it is written on.

TIA

I did my online classes at the local University. Many colleges and universities now offer online degrees so I would honestly check with one in your area. My degree would have been 100% online had I started the registration process early enough rather than being a last minute admit so no online classes for my degree were available the first semester.

 

[racechick8293]

Go with a college that has a traditional, bricks and mortar, presence, and you'll be fine. Make sure that they're regionally accredited.

Stay away from places like Kaplan, UoP, Strayer, Rasmussen, Walden, DeVry, Keiser, Westwood, etc. Just about all of the for-profits are a joke. Be sure that you're not looking at a for-profit school- do your research online before enrolling anywhere!

This is a good starting place for rankings. Just be aware that there is a mix of not-for-profit and for-profits on the list.
http://oedb.org/rankings

 

[DisneyMomma81]

Many of you mention accreditation ~ WGU is fully accredited. *This* is a NBC *national* news story on WGU.

 

[quentina]

Stick with a brick and mortar University that offers online degrees and you should be fine.

This!

 

[aaarcher86]

I am getting my BA from Ashford University online currently. They are located in Iowa, but I'm in Ohio.

So far, I enjoy it. They allow me to take 1 class for 5 weeks rather than taking 4 or 5 classes for an entire semester. It works better for me as I get bored easily.

 

[tonilea]

Stick with a brick and mortar University that offers online degrees and you should be fine.

This is exactly what I was going to post. I am currently enrolled in both online and on location classes. My last two years will be strictly online.

 

[pintamino]

I've taken a couple classes through Penn State World Campus as part of my degree (7 or 8 classes, I think). You definately need to be self-motivated and comfortable with technology. If you are, I'd recommend them in a heartbeat!

Plus, you still get a Penn State degree in the end -- arguably, one of the top recognized names world-wide, and if not top then certainly extremely well known.

 

[dsanner106]

I would agree with all on your list except for Walden and as Devry is primarily a brick and morter school would not have it on the list. The fact that schools are for profit or not really doesn't matter as all schools are for profit. If you look at the richest 100 institutions, none of them are what you would call for profit. I worked for over a decade at number 4 on the list and assure you, ivy league schools and highly ranked state schools are all about the bottom line. They structure themselves carefully separating profit centers from the educational areas of the school so they can still get non-profit funding from the govt. The profit areas then donate profits to the schools through the endowment funds or by purchasing things like lights for the football field or chairs for the cafeterias. When you look at the ranking of schools, why would you separate for profit from non? The whole idea is to get a good degree, so why would that matter. After all, you can pay 40,000.00 a year to get an ivy leage liberal arts degree or 30,000.00 for 4 years at a for profit and get the same degree with nearly the same prestige. Just pick the school and program right for you and forget the rest.

Drew

Go with a college that has a traditional, bricks and mortar, presence, and you'll be fine. Make sure that they're regionally accredited.

Stay away from places like Kaplan, UoP, Strayer, Rasmussen, Walden, DeVry, Keiser, Westwood, etc. Just about all of the for-profits are a joke. Be sure that you're not looking at a for-profit school- do your research online before enrolling anywhere!

This is a good starting place for rankings. Just be aware that there is a mix of not-for-profit and for-profits on the list.
http://oedb.org/rankings

 

[allison443]

duplicate, so sorry!

 

[allison443]

I would agree with all on your list except for Walden and as Devry is primarily a brick and morter school would not have it on the list. The fact that schools are for profit or not really doesn't matter as all schools are for profit. If you look at the richest 100 institutions, none of them are what you would call for profit. I worked for over a decade at number 4 on the list and assure you, ivy league schools and highly ranked state schools are all about the bottom line. They structure themselves carefully separating profit centers from the educational areas of the school so they can still get non-profit funding from the govt. The profit areas then donate profits to the schools through the endowment funds or by purchasing things like lights for the football field or chairs for the cafeterias. When you look at the ranking of schools, why would you separate for profit from non? The whole idea is to get a good degree, so why would that matter. After all, you can pay 40,000.00 a year to get an ivy leage liberal arts degree or 30,000.00 for 4 years at a for profit and get the same degree with nearly the same prestige. Just pick the school and program right for you and forget the rest.

Drew

Bolding mine-are you saying that a degree from Harvard/Yale/Princeton etc. and a degree from say Kaplan or Strayer have "nearly the same prestige"? Sorry, not true.

Not trying to offend anyone who attends Kaplan, etc. All schools have their place. But the resulting degrees are not equal.

 

[honugirl]

Before going for a degree online, I would make sure that style of learning suits you. I'm one that loves hands on and enjoys interacting with my instructors. Unfortunately I'm stuck in an online class this quarter and it's become a complete and utter disaster! I would drop it if I could. My instructor seems to just want to do the bare minimum and you're left sorting out the pieces on your own. If this isn't a strong suit of yours, I would definitely say online isn't a good choice. There is minimal interaction with other students, almost zero, so if you feed off the interaction with other students, online probably isn't for you either. Hopefully it works out. Good luck!

 

[eeyorethegreat]

Go with a college that has a traditional, bricks and mortar, presence, and you'll be fine. Make sure that they're regionally accredited.

Stay away from places like Kaplan, UoP, Strayer, Rasmussen, Walden, DeVry, Keiser, Westwood, etc. Just about all of the for-profits are a joke. Be sure that you're not looking at a for-profit school- do your research online before enrolling anywhere!

This is a good starting place for rankings. Just be aware that there is a mix of not-for-profit and for-profits on the list.
http://oedb.org/rankings

I don't know of the value of the education but in our state we have two brick and motar Kaplan campuses

 

[dsanner106]

Bolding mine-are you saying that a degree from Harvard/Yale/Princeton etc. and a degree from say Kaplan or Strayer have "nearly the same prestige"? Sorry, not true.

Not trying to offend anyone who attends Kaplan, etc. All schools have their place. But the resulting degrees are not equal.

Well you have chosen rather extreme ends of the spectrum for your example, rather unfairly. Would you say a degree from Harvard/Yale carries the same prestige as one from Central Washington State? Both are brick and morter schools so to imply the difference in the degrees lies in their buildings makes little sense. To make a fair comparison, Harvard and Yale have online programs, would you say their degrees carry similar prestige with a Harvard or Yale degree earned on campus? Of course they do. Likewise Penn State's online university degree is printed on the same paper as the one you get on campus. My point was more about choosing an appropriate program for the student. Having hired several hundred people for all sorts of roles on a major university campus, I can tell you that I hired Technicians for our computer labs. Some had four year degrees from a local highly regarded university, others had studied at Devry. We paid a bit more to the Devry grads as their education had better prepared them for the technical aspects of the job and automatically included certifications that the state schools do not. You may choose to pursue certification on your own or not. Never judge a book by it's cover or a school by it's bricks.

D

 

[wtccheermom]

Does anyone have any experience with going to college online? I want to get my bachelor's degree online (my schedule doesn't allow for me to attend traditional classes) but I am leary about all of these colleges that advertise on tv. Are they legitimate? I don't want to waste my time and money for a degree that isn't worth the paper it is written on.

TIA

www.wgu.edu/

Western Governors University is regionally accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, one of the major accrediting commissions recognized by the U.S. Department of Education, and by the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. WGU has the distinction of being the only university to receive regional accreditation from four regional accrediting commissions(a) the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities; (b) the Higher Learning Commission of the North Central Association of Colleges and Schools; (c) the Accrediting Commission for Community and Junior Colleges of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges; and (d) the Accrediting Commission for Senior Colleges and Universities of the Western Association of Schools and Colleges.
WGU is also nationally accredited by the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC).[15]
In October 2006, the WGU Teachers College became the first exclusively online school to receive accreditation from the National Council for the Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE).[16]In 2008 WGU won a 21st Century Award for Best Practices in Distance Learning from the U.S. Distance Learning Association (USDLA).[17]
In May 2009, Western Governors University's Nursing Education Programs were accredited by the Commission on Collegiate Nursing Education (CCNE). The initial accreditation, which has a five-year term, was awarded following a rigorous process that included a site visit as well as a review of WGU's nursing curriculum.[18]

 

[bridget]

I also say stick with a traditional university that has expanded to online. I'm actually applying for a doctorate program at a major state school that will be mostly online courses. This is an incredible opportunity!

I don't think I could have done my undergrad online. However, once I got in the field and had experience, graduate classes worked just fine online.

 

[PrincessV]

OP, you've gotten a lot of good information already here! I'll ditto the need for good accreditation and add this: try searching by the program you want and consider out of state state schools, too. I'm finishing a degree now from the State University of New York (SUNY), but live in FL. SUNY and others offer in-state tuition costs to out of state online students, which helps keep costs down.

Also, I know someone else mentioned knowing what kind of learner you are - I think this is critical. I happen to be a completely visual learner and a professional writer; schooling online has been absolutely ideal for me. But I've heard from others in my classes that they've had a hard time of it because they learn best through lecture or hands-on experiences.

 

[jedijill]

Wow, didn't realize I carried such a stigma with my degrees. BS in Telecommunications Management from DeVry and a MBA fro University of Phoenix. Guess my degrees sucked so much that I should have never been admitted to a Tier 1 law school or have a professional career in 2 different Fortune 100 companies.

Jill in CO

 

[luvsJack]

Accrediation matters much more than whether it is a brick and mortar school. The stigma that some people still attach to online schools really is not there anymore.

Whatever school you choose should be regionally accrediated.

I attend WGU now. My major is elementary ed.. WGU is regionally and nationally accrediated. Forewarning: It is NOT easy, at all. I will say this, I have had more interaction with instructors and advisors from WGU than I did taking online classes from a brick and mortar school. I have also learned more and worked harder than I did at a "regular" school.

I contacted the State Dept. of Ed in my state to make sure there wouldn't be a problem. I was told that as long as the school is regionally accrediated, I am fine. I take proctored tests at a private college close by and will do my student teaching at a local school.

ETA: WGU is non-profit and cheaper than a lot of schools.