5 Things To Know About Getting An Online College Degree To Supplement Your Career Skills

By Stan Roach

Increasing your earning potential and enhancing your entrepreneurial skills are all things you probably strive for as an entrepreneur or self-employed individual. Maybe you want to learn new skills or branch out but aren’t sure where to begin. Online school might be the answer. Soft skills like communication and interacting with others can be honed with certain business degrees, preparing you for working with any kind of client and increasing your chances of increasing your earnings. But who has time for more college work? You do, of course! An online degree from an accredited University is just as valid as one from a traditional school and doesn’t require as much of a time and travel investment.

You Can Still Work While Getting A Degree

If you’re not fresh out of college and have other responsibilities—like work, family, and other obligations—finding the time to physically attend a college can range from being difficult to being totally impossible. Attending college online offers a solution to this problem due to accessibility and convenience. You can still find time for your studies in between your working hours. Since classes are typically designed around a work-at-your-own-pace structure, you can get your coursework done, learn what you need to learn, and apply what you’ve learned to your studies – all in your own time.

There Are Many Degrees Available

When selecting an online college, you may find yourself a bit surprised to see the sheer variety of degrees that are typically available for prospective students. There’s actually quite a bit of variety. Here’s just a sampling of some of the

• Business Administration
• Computer Science
• Nursing
• Marketing
• Human Resources
• Supply Chain Management
• Education and Teaching
• Engineering (civil, mechanical, etc)
• Psychology
• Accounting
• Biology
• Communication
• Construction Management
• Data Science

Most schools offer bachelor’s and master’s degrees in these fields. Some may offer online doctorate programs and certifications as well. This is, of course, only a small selection of what online universities have to offer, with many nonprofit schools offering comparable programs (not to mention being more focused on your education) than those of their for profit counterparts.

There Are Unique Options For Online Schools

Up until recently, the college experience was essentially limited to attending either local schools or gaining entry and moving to another city to attend the University. Correspondence courses and hybrid classes sort of bridged the gap for a while, but attending school entirely online is a relatively recent phenomenon. When it comes to online schools, there are a number of unique options out there. Many are based in the US and they can vary between being a for profit entity or a nonprofit school. The latter of which tends to be a better fit for online learning and offers extensive resources for students.

Some Schools Don’t Require Tuition

Tuition can be expensive. Scholarships, financial aid, and loans are built on the platform of understanding that it’ll cost a sizable amount of money to attend and obtain a degree. But what if we told you there were some schools that don’t require tuition at all? The University of the People is one such school, and possibly the only one of its kind. “How’s that possible?”, you might ask, “don’t all colleges require tuition?” Most of them do, but instead of tuition, the University of the People only charges assessment fees per each completed course. They’re a nonprofit, so any funds they do acquire go back into paying for faculty, resources, keeping the college going, and educating students rather than filling the coffers of some organization or corporate entity.

Scheduling Is Flexible

Something that traditional brick and mortar schools always failed to understand is that students have a life outside of the curriculum. Sure, academics are important, but so is putting food on the table in taking care of one’s family. This is an area in which online universities excel. As we mentioned before, you can do your studies in between other things like work and running errands. But scheduling your classes around what you need to learn for your degree and not overwhelming yourself are just a few of the benefits online schools offer. You can take as many or as few classes as you like to earn a degree on your own time. In some cases, you can have your degree faster by taking more courses or if you’re feeling overwhelmed, it’s just as easy to dial things back a bit. Schedules are important and doing what’s most flexible for you is the key to online college success.