It probably doesn't come as a big surprise to us anymore that more and more students are completing online graduate programs in the comfort of their own homes. Others who are more used to the education offered in the traditional campus setting would probably raise that all-familiar question: do online graduate programs and brick and mortar institution driven education have the same quality and level of credibility? Let's investigate.
With the popularity of the Internet and the busy lives that people lead today, online learning poses several advantages that they probably will not find anywhere else. There are no limitations to where you live; you can be in any region and complete a degree just by a click of the mouse. There are no scheduling conflicts as well. This means that you can keep your full-time job, bring your kids to school or attend to other responsibilities and still be able to submit your reports and be able to learn and graduate with an online degree.
Despite the benefits that online graduate programs have provided, seeing online credentials would still be a fairly new concept to employers. An online graduate can expect several questions from human resources about the decision to choose to study at home rather than take a traditional class in a reputable school. Others may even be more straightforward. They would call this education empty. In spite of all those, we have still seen an increase in employers believing that online degree holders can be used as valid credentials to their careers. In fact, we have seen an 85 percent increase of favoring employers compared to five years ago. Things may be looking up.
It might be worth looking into why some companies have turned a blind eye towards online colleges. One would realize that although one can really complete a bachelor degree, an MBA and a PhD online, there are still some so-called online universities that are just being used to create fake diplomas for a fee. Unfortunately, the perception still remains, which makes it understandable for an employer to question the integrity of the degree you took.
If you are considering an online graduate program, make sure that it is from an accredited institution to avoid the wrong perceptions about you. If you are unsure, you can always consult the US Department of Education or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation. As the debate continues, we should realize that at the end of the day, what matters is we took advantage of our right to education, and that's something that we just couldn't find anywhere else.
