If you have been wanting to continue your education, or wanting to change careers, the decision to go back to school should be an easy one, now, you just need to decide on how you are going to do it.
The good thing is, there are many ways to take courses now and work towards your goal. One of the options available is to take your courses online. The Coronavirus pandemic makes the decision to take it online even more reasonable.
But before you jumped in, there are at least 10 things you need to check before choosing an online college.
In my previous post, we talked about the first 5 things you need to clarify and to be fully sure of before choosing an online program. Make sure you also read them as they were related, to get the complete information.
In this post, we are going to discuss the next five things. And here they are:
6. The Overall Cost
How much continuing your higher education online will cost you? You need to know, not only the actual tuition fee, but also other expenses such as the textbooks and other materials (just as I mentioned in part 1 of this post, if your online classes could provide you with fully digitals materials, and your textbooks available on eBooks form, you will save some money from the shipping cost).
You need to also calculate your internet package costs, your electricity bills, and whether or not you still need to allocate some budget for transportation cost, such as gas money or train/bus tickets, since there are some of the learning activities still required you to show up in person on campus once a month or once in a fortnight, for example.
Other things you also need to consider are whether or not you need to purchase new technological devices to access your online classes, or pay for some monthly payments for new apps, and other technical aspects to support your online learning.
If your classes are going to be performed live, it means you need to standby on a fixed time and date to attend your classes.
If you have small children, even though you are home with them, you might need to hire a babysitter so that you can focus on your lesson. This is also an additional cost you need to consider.
7. The Credibility of the Institute/College/University
Surely, we must consider the credibility of the institution/college/university before we decide to attend online classes there. To check on a University Ranking and their position among others, you can click on this link.
Choose the one with a reputable image and has been offering classes online for quite a while now. Read the reviews and see what the alumni have to say about their experiences joining the program.
If the online program is new, choose the one from a reputable university/college. If they have a good quality program in their traditional classroom setting, most likely their online curriculum will be the same, only now they adjust the curriculum and the teaching methods to become suitable for online learning.
When we are talking about the credibility of a college/university, we usually refer to their accreditation. If you look up at the dictionary, the general definition of accredited is to be officially authorized or approved.
The term accreditation commonly used in connection with educational institutions is basically a stamp that a college or university meets basic standards.
In some countries, this accreditation even narrowed down to more specific categories. For example, the best ones with the highest standards of education and facilities are accredited A, the next tier will be accredited B, and so on.
When choosing an online program for your education, make sure the program is offered by an accredited college/university since it means that the school is accredited by an established and accepted accrediting body, as well as any specialized accreditation.
If your country’s accreditation standard divides them into a more specific category such as accredited A, B, and so on, it goes without saying that it will be better for you if you can enroll in an online program in an A accredited college/university.
By doing so, you will have access to a higher standard of education and gain more prestige from your degree, which will be beneficial for your career. For many companies in many industries, the name and reputation of the institution where you get your education really does matter.
8. The Exam Methods
Before choosing an online course, you need to check on how are they going to conduct the exams.
Ideally, you can take your exams online, just like you do with your classes, but some online courses might still require you to take your exams in person, in a classroom with a proctor, just like you would normally do in a traditional classroom setting.
Since this kind of exam is usually set on a specific schedule, you need to take the courses at a college/university close to where you live. Otherwise, it will be difficult for you to arrange your schedule to attend your exam.
For example, if you took an online program provided by the university/college in a different city. You need to drive there for a couple of hours, or book a train/bus/airplane tickets and make hotel reservations.
This will cost you extra money and also can be exhausting as you might get tired of your travel prior to taking your exam.
Not to mention the time and energy you will spend on arranging your travel, which you can spend on focusing on your exam, should you do not need to make such an arrangement.
Another option to take the exams is to have them at another school. Some college/university has more than one location, perhaps even in different cities. If they do, check if you can have your in-person exam on one of their campuses which is closer to your home.
Some schools also offer an option of scheduling the exam at another school. In this case, the school that offered online courses collaborates with another school that has the policy to allow external students to have their exams in their location.
If they have this kind of exam, usually you can join the exams with other students from that school and follow their schedules or have the exams with your fellow online classmates on specific schedules.
Some online courses even allow you to schedule your exams privately with a proctor at a time convenient for both of you, as long as the date of the exams taken before the course end date.
But one thing to keep in mind, if you need to pay an additional cost for your exam (because it is not included in your tuition fees, for example), the cost of scheduling a private session for your exam will be higher than if you take it along with groups of other people.
9. Transferring your Prior Learning Credits
If in the past you have taken courses that, for some reason, you couldn’t manage to finish, you may be able to transfer your prior learning credits to another program or another college/university entirely.
But if you choose to continue your education by taking an online program, you need to make sure the online program will accept the transfer of your prior learning credits from the course you have taken before, even though it was from a non-online program.
In many schools, they will allow the transfer of prior learning credits, as long as they were relevant to the program you will take at their institution.
Bear in mind that each school has very specific rules about what courses can be transferred and there is often an additional costs to do the transfer.
If you want to be able to transfer your prior learning credits, make sure you choose a relevant program to your prior study and the one which allowed you to transfer your prior learning credits.
This way, you don’t waste time and money re-doing things you’ve done before in your previous school.
10. The Acknowledgement from Your Industry
We want to continue our education to a higher level for many reasons. One of the main reasons is to boost our career. Therefore, you need to make sure if your online degree will be acknowledged by your industry.
Most schools don’t differentiate between degrees earned on-campus and degrees earned through online learning, neither do professionals in many different kinds of industries.
Make sure your employer and many professionals in your industry have the same policy, otherwise you need to take the conventional classroom classes since it will be acknowledged more by people who could make or break your career.
Back to School Research Workbook
Use this printable workbook to record your Back to School Research. Don’t make all that Campus Visits, Virtual Tours, Webinars, and Q&A with the school’s admission personnel go to waste !! Write down the information you have collected in this workbook.
Study them later carefully to help you weigh in the pros and cons of each university and decide the best place for you to continue your study.
Over to You
With increasing technology and the growing number of distance and online programs being made available, and the global pandemic which made opting for an online course a more reasonable choice, more and more colleges/universities offering online programs.
Before you choose the online program, you need to make sure you choose the right one for you and your goals. Those 10 points of these two parts posts are some of the things to check if you consider continuing your education online.
What do you think about the points mentioned above (and in the previous post)? Did you still have any worries and doubts?
Did you consider taking your courses online but were too nervous to try? Leave me a comment below! I will be happy to hear from you.
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Thanks so much, stay safe and till next time!
Related Articles:
- 10 Things You Need to Check Before Choosing an Online College (Part 1)
- 7 Amazing Advantages of Attending Online School as Student-Moms and Mature Students
- 10 Study Abroad Advantages for Mature Students (Part 1)
- 10 Study Abroad Advantages for Mature Students (Part 2)
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Good post.