Value: it’s all the same
Posted by Jen Zeman on April 7th, 2009
The value of today’s online education is comparable to a traditional college or university, since nearly all traditional universities offering online degrees/courses. The quality of an online degree is no less than that earned by students going to a physical classroom to earn a degree. The difference between the two is only in delivery of the course. I believe the value and quality of online degrees was initially questioned when this type of delivery was first introduced, with some comparing online delivery to the type of correspondence courses Sally Struthers use to advertise. Correspondence courses and online courses from accredited universities are not the same! The key word is “accredited”; when researching online degrees, especially at institutions you may not be familiar with, make sure they are accredited by its regional accreditation group. An example is UMUC, who is a sister university within the University of Maryland system and is accredited by the Middle States Commission on Higher Education (http://www.umuc.edu/middlestates/index.shtml). I had no doubt I was receiving a high-quality, legitimate education.
Financially, online courses offer the same value dollar for dollar with traditional courses except most institutions charge some sort of “technology fee” for the online course. It varies with different institutions – some charge per course while others charge a lump sum per semester. The technology fee usually goes towards the upkeep of online classrooms (e.g. software, technical staff, etc.). Always double check the tuition and fee schedule for online courses to decipher any extra fees. For me, the extra technology fees were not an issue since I was just happy to be able to earn a bachelor’s degree from the comfort of my own home!
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This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 7th, 2009 at 5:00 am and is filed under Student Voices, Value of Online vs. Traditional Colleges. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.
