If you’ve been paying attention to recent changes in education, you will notice that many more students – including those who are fresh out of high school and want to pursue a bachelor’s degree – are opting for online courses. This shift in trend is becoming apparent among professionals wanting to pursue a master’s degree too.
This is an interesting trend to follow, especially since online degrees weren’t that popular a few years ago. Today, however, even hiring managers value accredited online degrees more than ever. So, is getting an online degree really the right step to take for you?
Considering the Challenges
One of the first thing you need to know about today’s best online degrees is that they are accredited. Top universities such as Bradley University are making their distance learning programs available to more students. That doesn’t mean the standards applied to these online courses are lower than those of offline programs.
In fact, online courses can be more challenging than their offline counterparts. You don’t have that pre-designed structure added to the course. What you have is extra flexibility to study at your own time and complete the course at a pace you are comfortable with the most. You’re the one who needs to do the hard work of allocating enough time for studying and sticking to the schedules.
As an online student, you will also have to deal with distractions. It is easy to abandon that one hour of study time you have allocated when there are friends inviting you to go out with them. You need to overcome these challenges in order to successfully acquire the online degree.
More Fields to Choose From
Unlike a few years ago, you are no longer limited to a degree in information technology or business administration when choosing an online program to take. Bradley University now offers BSN to DNP online courses you can take from the comfort of your home, along with programs in various other fields.
There are also more specialization options for online students. Even when you’re pursuing an online MBA, you can choose to specialize in anything from international marketing to supply chain management and digital marketing. If you want a course related to Criminal Justice, you can now get an Online Criminal Justice Degree.
Among the many reasons why employers now value online degree holders is because of the up to date curriculums today’s top programs have. You can pick up a lot of skills that are useful in your career, along with industry-specific insights and knowledge that will help you push your career forward even further.
There Are Financing Options, Too
Just because you’re pursuing a degree online, doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy aids and grants, too. Scholarships designed specifically for online students – especially for professionals who pursue an online master’s or doctorate degree – are widely available. Student loans are also easier to find these days.
Certain degrees are known to be more affordable than the equivalent offline degrees. The doctor of nurse practitioner programs we talked about earlier are great examples of how online degrees are up to 40% more affordable. Add these advantages, and you should be able to answer the question we asked at the beginning of the article.
