The Biggest Problems With Online Degrees
Bryan Wong

Defined Tag: Successful Education.

In today's world, the number of graduates who are
earning online degrees is skyrocketing.  However,
there are many concerns related to online degrees.

One main concern is whether the online university
is actually certified, authorized, and/or accredited
to award degrees to students.  Some schools do not
meet these requirements.  There are also several
levels of fraud found in some educational programs
and "schools."  These can range from using the
student's work history as the "learning" period
that earned the degree to simply selling diplomas.
Degrees-R-Us is one such example, promising bachelor's,
master's, or doctoral degrees in about 10 days, and
are willing to show one graduated with honors for a
higher "tuition fee."

Some states like Oregon, Iowa, and South Dakota are
starting to crack down on these types of schools
within their borders.

To protect yourself, you should check to see what
kind of accreditation the school you are considering
enrolling in has, or claims to have.  Being "licensed
by the state" isn't an accreditation and may not
mean anything at all.  Some violators claim to be
accredited by agencies that either don't exist, have
been created by the school itself, or are legitimate
agencies, but have no record of accreditation for
the school.  Those who have earned degrees from these
unaccredited schools are really out-of-luck when it
comes to their hard-earned dollars and time because
potential employers likely will reject these job
applicants and the credits earned from these
unaccredited schools cannot be transferred to other
universities.  In essence, those students have to
start all over once again.

Therefore, you should contact the appropriate State
Department of Higher Education to see if these schools
are accredited or not.  If you want to remain on the
safe side, take online courses only from schools that
have an offline campus presence, as that school's
reputation will be at stake, so the quality of the
online program should match the offline program.  However,
there are strictly online campuses that are accredited and
provide a quality education as well, like the University
of Phoenix.

Another main concern with online degrees is what type
of accreditation is best.  The two main types of
accreditation are regional accreditation and national
accreditation. 

While transfer credits from schools that are regionaly
accredited are generally accepted at both regionally and
nationally accredited universities, the same is NOT true
for transfer credits that are earned at nationally
accredited universities - regionally accredited universities
will normally not accept them, meaning you have to earn
those course credits again if you decide to continue your
pursuit of a bachelor's degree at a later date at a
regionally accredited school after starting your bachelor's
degree at a nationall accredited school.

Also, while some employers don't understand the difference
between the two types of accreditation, some employers prefer
prospective applicants to have earned a degree from a locally
recognized university, rather than one in another part of the
country.  Therefore, if you plan on working in a certain part
of the country, it may be advantageous to check out those
universities near that area and enroll for their online courses
as this could give you an edge in future job interviews.

The third main concern with online degrees is whether an online
degree from an accredited college or university is seen by
potential employers as a lesser degree than one that is earned
in the traditional classroom. 

Information technology fields tend to value online
degrees more highly because of the nature of the work
itself. 

However, Vault.com, a career network website, did a
survey of 239 human resources professionals and found
that they tend to put more value on degrees from
established universities like Duke or Stanford than
from virtual universities like the University of
Phoenix. 

Their study also revealed that 26% believed that
online bachelor's degrees were as credible as
traditionally earned bachelor's degrees, while
37% believed that online graduate degrees were
as credible as traditionally earned graduate
degrees.  The reason behind this is believed to
be that people seeking graduate degrees are doing
it online because it's their best or only option
due to current job demands.  These people may be
seen as more driven and self-motivated.

The biggest drawbacks regarding online education
cited by those surveyed were the lack of social
interaction with peers (61%,) lack of data about
the effectiveness or quality of the education (53%,)
and loss of real-time teacher/student exchange (39%.)

The industries most likely to embrace online degrees
were the following -

Internet/New Media (70%)
Technology (46%)
High Tech (44%)
Media & Marketing (29%)
Telecommunications (29%)
Consulting (22%)

The industries least likely to embrace online degrees
were the following -

Medicine (68%)
Law (56%)
Health Care/Bio Tech (52%)
Academia (44%)
Government (22%)
Finance (18%)

The following was recommended by respondents to help
online degree holders land a position even when the
interviewer has doubts about the value of the degree:

- Tell employers and potential employers that your
degree was earned online.
- Bring along transcripts, course study examples, and
letters of recommendation or authenticity about the
program and its accreditation.
- Have industry experience to back the degree.
- For those with limited work history, having taken
courses like public speaking, debate, public forum,
and group dynamics could help show that you have people
skills, which could help ease the hesitation over
the lack of social interaction with your peers when
taking online courses.

As more and more online degree holders get interviewed
and hired, the number of companies that will be more open
to hiring people with online degrees will increase.

Being aware of the problems with online degrees will
enable you to take steps to avoid and/or minimize these
problems so that your online degree will help you
gain that good-earning position you've worked so hard
to achieve.