A Tale of Two Online Degree Education Experiences

Mike and Nicolas have both given serious thought to earning a degree online and wandered how best to leverage an online degree education to help each of them achieve their goals.  Both are fired up and ready to tackle the tasks before them.  The difference is one of them will succeed and the other won’t.

What was the difference?

Mike, like Nicolas, is primed and ready to dive into an online degree program.  He’s invested a bit of time researching online degree programs and made his choice to attend one of the first online degree universities he found.  He really liked the slick college website, the pitch he received from the number he called to get more information about the school from was really good too, the fact they’ll walk you through applying for financial aid seem helpful, and a degree that was what he was looking for.

The school really made the whole thing easy.  The tuition seemed a bit step, but the school really looked good.

With no more thought, he enrolled shortly thereafter and was on his way without another thought.

Nicolas, in contrast, truly committed to finding the right school for his needs.  He spent a great deal of time weeding out the good online degree programs from the bad ones with the goal of making the most of his online degree education.  First, he identified the degree he wanted to earn, found several online degree programs which offered it, and finally narrowed them down to his finally choice.

Nicolas then gathered a list of questions he wanted ask about the school and program he needed answered first and called the college.  The responses he got were direct and honest.  His call was worth the effort as he learned about the schools accreditation, the program, other student’s experiences, and spoke with a counselor as well.

Ready, he enrolled.

18 months later, Mike and Nicolas were in vastly different places.

Mike had become disenchanted with his choice of schools because he didn’t feel the quality of the courses were very good for the amount of money he was spending and started looking into possibly transferring to another program.  He’d also read some recent articles in the news the school had a poor reputation for quality and specifically mentioned in an article about problems in the for profit education industry.

What he quickly discovered was his school wasn’t accredited by a recognized body and the 36 credits he earned since joining wouldn’t transfer to a fully recognized program anyplace else.  He was sick at the thought of having spent so much money and time at a school that wasn’t going to help him get any closer to earning a degree than he was before joining.

He faced the reality of having to start over.

Nicolas was much happier.  He too had earned 36 credit hours and was preparing his next semester of courses with the help of his academic advisor.  Tuition was steep, but he truly found value in his college experience.  He was happy with his choice and support received from this school.

The courses were challenging, but he was managing the course load and learning a great deal.  He was on his way to earning a valid online degree.

The stories of Mike and Nicolas might be fictional, but a great deal of truth lies within each.

Online degree education can be a rich rewarding experience for those who put in the time and effort needed to find a good program.  Unfortunately, much of what is advertised on the internet for distance education isn’t worth much to you.  The best programs rarely reach the top of search engine results, while websites promoting everything from for profit colleges to degree mills do.

Finding that right program for you can be a bit like panning for gold.  You have to sift through a good deal of junk to find that nugget you can do something with.  As you digest the experiences of Mike and Nicolas think carefully about how you wish to manage your own online degree education and what you wish to gain from it.

If your goal is a honest and meaningful degree then know that programs exist online that can help you with your goal.  Also understand the decision to attend a school shouldn’t be taken lightly.

Search carefully to find that nugget of education gold that will help you earn a degree.  If you do, like our fictional Nicolas, you too will soon be on the path to earning your online degree as well.

If not, then you risk wasting both time and money; both of which are lost once spent.

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