Many individuals have jobs and families to take care of. It is difficult enough for them to care for a family while working a full time job. The traditional schedules that community college and local universities offer can make it impossible for many to every achieve the goal of getting a degree.
In our daily lives, we have so many things to dedicate our time to. There has been a revolution in education, though. Online college courses are increasing more and more. Because of the advances of technology, many colleges and universities have taken the plunge into offering their degree programs in an online virtual classroom setting.
This can provide a great alternative for people who have to work full-time jobs, for single mothers, and for older people who may be self-conscious in a traditional college class room. Now, you have the opportunity to get an accredited degree completely through online classes. Some of them require a daily attendance, while others only require that you finish a certain amount of work within a week's time.
In order to be sure that your school of choice is legitimate you will need to have certain key elements to look for. One key element is accreditation. There are "diploma mills" that claim all types of accreditation, but true accreditation should meet the state's guidelines. This is also known as regional accreditation.
Some Tell-Tale Signs Of Bogus Diploma Mills Are:
• Quickie Degrees. It takes time to earn a degree. A degree program that guarantees you earn the degree in a week or a few months is probably not legitimate.
• Sound Alike Names. Some of these slick diploma mills use names that sound and look like those of well-known, and accredited universities and colleges. Be sure to check that the school you are considering is actually the school you think it is.
• Prestigious-sounding foreign named schools. They can fool you into thinking they are some big and fancy school, when in actuality they are located in a Po Box drawer.
There re are many different programs that are offered in the form of online degrees. It is advised that anyone wanting to take this avenue of advanced education do their homework and research the school of choice and the classes that are offered
So how can you be sure that you are going with an accredited college or university?
Here's how to verify academic credentials:
A. Make contact with the school. If you aren't able to speak to a live admissions counselor then you may be dealing with a diploma mill.
B. Research the school on the Internet. You can check to see if the school is accredited by a RECOGNIZED AGENCY. There are many agencies that will accredit anything out there. Legitimate colleges and unversities are accredited by real agencies that make them under go a rigorous review of the quality of their educational programs.
C. Many diploma mills will claim to be "accredited" but the accreditation stems from a bogus, but official sounding agency they invented.
D. Use the internet to access the U.S. Department of Education at www.ope.ed.gov/accreditation to check on the database of accredited academic institutions.
E. Check the list of recognized regional and national accrediting agencies at the Council For Higher Education Accreditation. Their website is http://www.chea.org
F. Review the school's website. It can be tricky to pick out a diploma mill sometimes. Some of these slicksters have a "dot-edu" web adress. This does not guarantee that it is legitimate.
It's probably a diploma mill if;
A. tuition is charged per degree instead of per credit, semester, or course
B. there are few or unspecified degree requirements
C. the emphasis is on work for life experience
D. the school is new or has changed its name
The advantages to getting an online degree is that you do not have to commute to and from your home to a classroom. There is no rigid schedule to adhere to, and you can work your study time around your daily chores. One of the disadvantages is that you do not have anyone standing over you to make sure that you stay focused and disciplined to get your work done.
Because of this, you will have to make sure that the degree that you are pursuing is indeed accredited. There's nothing worse than putting your hard earned money, time and energy into something you will not get credit or recognition for.
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