The Online College Degree has Arrived

S. Rinaldi — 2008-03-07

Earning an accredited college degree online has never been easier! Learn about the different types of degree programs available, regional accreditation and the benefits of earning your degree online and then choose the school that's best for you.

An Online College Degree is a Great Choice for Furthering Your Education. Gone are the days when earning an accredited college degree meant packing off to a university campus somewhere, or if you were already a working professional, dragging yourself out to night classes after a long day of work.

Today's colleges offer a great selection of online and part online / part on-campus degree programs. The added commute, the extra time and added costs of studying on campus have always been a hurdle for adults seeking to expand their education and credentials.

Nowadays, it's hard NOT to find a college or university that doesn't at least offer a handful of distance degrees and probably many more credit courses online. From Ivy League to Community Colleges, there's much to choose from.

Online Graduate Programs

For those who have already earned an undergraduate degree, a online masters degree program could be for you. As with online bachelors degrees, online masters and even Ph.D. programs are now very common.

There are many benefits to earning your bachelors, masters, or Ph.D. entirely, or at least partly online. First, you could likely earn your diploma faster than you would by attending entirely on campus. Due to the overall ease of taking courses online, you may be able to carry a larger course load than you would if you had to attend live classes.

Non-Accredited Degree Programs

Non-Regionally-Accredited college degree programs have gotten a bad rap over the years. However, there are actually many good schools that choose not to pursue regional accreditation due to the costs, or other factors - or may be in the long process of obtaining regional accreditation.

If your job, or career path does not require a regionally accredited degree and you find a program that interests you, then by all means, do some research and find out if that school may be a good fit for you. Many fields also have specialized accrediting bodies, separate from regional accreditation. This should also be taken into consideration when choosing a school. Remember, just because a school is not regionally accredited, does not mean that the degrees it confers are not legal.

In the USA, each state has its own regulations for degree-granting institutions. Schools that follow these regulations within their state can legally confer degrees. It is your employer, or professional licensing board that determines whether they will accept your credentials - or in the case of transferring course credit to another institution, the school will determine whether or not they will accept your transfer credit.

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The Online College Degree has Arrived