Online college or degree thru university online?
I am confused about getting a degree through an online college such as Baker, or University of Phoenix online, or going through an actual univerysity like University of Illinois. What is the difference? I am wanting a degree in Computers and my husband wants a degree in business administration. I need someone to help me clarify. ????
The are two big overall differences: 1) quality of the education meaning is the institution accredited and 2) how employers perceive them.
Some online colleges are not accredited and if you spend your time and money completing a degree through them only to later find out it isn’t acceptable by companies, I don’t expect you’d be very happy. A lot of them falsely claim to be accredited, but they have to have regional accredidation to actually count. Plus, completing a degree through these schools automatically advertises that you completed the degree online, while doing it though a traditional university does not indicate that you completed the degree online (it doesn’t show up on your transcript and the name of the school doesn’t imply it). If you complete the degree through a traditional university that offers online degrees, you’ll stand a better chance of receiving a good quality education and more times than not, these programs are accredited and it’s easier to check to make sure they are.
Some, but not all, employers do not count degrees from places such as University of Phoenix, Strayer, etc. as "Real" degrees. With that being said, you don’t want to have to justify your degree to anyone. If you work hard for something, you want people to appreciate it and accept it w/o any questions.
With that being said, go for the degree through the traditional university.
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The are two big overall differences: 1) quality of the education meaning is the institution accredited and 2) how employers perceive them.
Some online colleges are not accredited and if you spend your time and money completing a degree through them only to later find out it isn’t acceptable by companies, I don’t expect you’d be very happy. A lot of them falsely claim to be accredited, but they have to have regional accredidation to actually count. Plus, completing a degree through these schools automatically advertises that you completed the degree online, while doing it though a traditional university does not indicate that you completed the degree online (it doesn’t show up on your transcript and the name of the school doesn’t imply it). If you complete the degree through a traditional university that offers online degrees, you’ll stand a better chance of receiving a good quality education and more times than not, these programs are accredited and it’s easier to check to make sure they are.
Some, but not all, employers do not count degrees from places such as University of Phoenix, Strayer, etc. as "Real" degrees. With that being said, you don’t want to have to justify your degree to anyone. If you work hard for something, you want people to appreciate it and accept it w/o any questions.
With that being said, go for the degree through the traditional university.
References :
In addition to the info already given, you should know that getting a degree online through a traditional university is much cheaper! So…expensive, crappy degree, or cheaper, better degree? Easy choice.
I take some of my classes online, and attend some in person on campus. There’s a $40 fee for the online classes (on top of the tuition,) which isn’t much at all. I really like doing a combination of classes, because the online ones can be done in private, at any hour of the day, while the campus classes give me the "college experience," allow me to ask questions of other students and professors, and–most importantly–they get me out of the house and away from being a mommy for a few hours!
You can take evening classes, too. I attend school 4 nights a week, 6-9 pm, so look into courses that can work around your schedule.
Good luck to you!
References :
As long as you get your degree from a regionally accredited college your degree should be recognized as valid by potential employers or academic institutions. That having been said not all online colleges are viewed the same just as not all campus programs are viewed the same. I would recommend contacting a number of schools to find the best fit for you and your needs (tuition, schedule, and reputation). Too often people choose to attend the first program they see that they are interested in, rather than taking the small amount of time to do a little more research. The nice thing about taking classes online is that you are not limited by geography.
This site has some good information on regionally accredited online degrees in both business administration and computers, and some colleges to help expand your search:
http://www.ecollegefinder.org
Good Luck!
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here are some search results
References :
http://yabloog.com/online_college_.html