There has never been a better time to begin the pursuit of an online bachelor’s degree. Colleges and universities across the nation continue to roll out online degree programs and expand their options for majors each year. In the U.S., 5.4 million college students take at least one online class per year. Because of the expansion of students seeking online courses and schools offering those courses, resources and access are better than they’ve ever been for those who would like to earn a degree online.
Currently, over 276 American colleges and universities accredited by the US Department of Education offer online degree programs. They represent a widespread of tuition costs, degree offerings, and online class styles. While a decade ago a student hoping to get an online degree had very few options, now a diverse amount of majors are available covering many different careers and job tracks.
The quality and acceptance of online degrees have also increased recently. Many universities and colleges do not make a differentiation between diplomas awarded for students who exclusively completed online coursework and those awarded for traditional on-campus students. That means when you are interviewing for a job, your employer likely will not know if your degree was earned on-campus or online.
Employers also seem to be warming to the idea of treating online degrees the same way they would a degree earned on-campus. Biases regarding the quality of your college degree have always existed for some companies and certain positions. That’s why people shell out hundreds of thousands of dollars for an Ivy League education — you’re much more likely to get a job with one of those degrees. However, more and more well-known and respected schools now offer online degrees and whatever cache the school may have tends to extend to online degree holders as well.
Public colleges and universities have been especially quick to jump on the online degree bandwagon and many have robust degree programs available in a wide range of majors. Well-known schools like Arizona State University and Pennsylvania State University have stayed on the cutting edge focusing vast resources on expanding and widening options for online degree seekers.
Community colleges have also been pioneers in online education, often seeing it as a way to expand their student body without expanding their physical infrastructure. Many community colleges offer associate’s degrees which can be used to transfer to a four-year college that allow students to save considerable money on their first two years of education while also giving them the flexibility of an online degree schedule.
If you are just about to begin the process of applying for an online bachelor’s degree program, you’ll find that you have a great many options. While online offerings grow more robust with each yeard, there can be little doubt that now is the best time to try to seek an online degree.
