The popularity of the Internet has enabled leading colleges and universities to offer degree courses at all three levels (bachelor's, master's and doctorate) online. In addition, colleges and universities offer license and certificate courses online. To encourage learning, several schools also offer free online courses.
Free Course Offerings
Take advantage of free online course offered by top accredited schools like the University of California at Berkeley, Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), Stanford University, Yale, Notre Dame and Johns Hopkins. To locate additional free courses offered online, visit eLearners, College Degree and Earn My Degree, resources that list schools, financial aid information and courses offered at accredited schools.
Costs
Earning a degree online in the field of your choice may well be possible. Associate, bachelor's, master's and doctorate degrees are offered in various areas of focus such as arts and humanities, business, health, social science, education and computers. The cost of earning a college degree online varies from school to school and also by major. Stanford offers an undergraduate online Programming Abstractions course for $5,500 for members and $6,500 for nonmembers. The University of Tennessee at Martin offers an online instructor-led marketing course, Build a Powerful Branding Strategy, for $595. Bucks County Community College, a school based in Pennsylvania, offers online courses for the same price as their in-class courses. Clearly, it pays to shop around when looking for an online college course.
Many accredited colleges and universities that offer online courses accept transfer credits from other schools both on and offline. Vocational and career training courses are also available online. When looking into earning a degree online, research schools and courses offered to ensure you gain a degree from an accredited institution.
Requirements
Contact the college or university you want to take an online course from. Find out which tools you will need to complete the online course. For example, to complete a course, you might have to start and finish reading assignments, attend teleseminars, participate in discussion forums and complete written tests. Most courses can be completed with a computer and Internet access. Some courses may require software downloads so you can log into a podcast hosted by your professor. If you don't have an at-home computer, look for deals at your local computer store. You may be able to get a desktop for as little as $500 and a monitor for $130. You could also reserve a computer at your local library free of charge.
Financial Aid
Check with the college or university you want to enroll in. Financial aid packages are offered for online courses. Visit eLearners, College Degree and Earn My Degree for information on financial aid and scholarships for online courses. Check with your employer to see if the company will cover the cost of tuition for your online course, especially if the course is related to your current job. Veterans may also be eligible for additional tuition savings.
Benefits
Online college courses allow you to earn a degree from the comfort of your home. This may make the difference between a working parent going back to school and finishing her degree or not. Registration may also be open year-round. Beyond tuition cost savings for some courses, other cost savings found with an online degree are the elimination of parking fees and campus food costs. Because you would be attending school online, you might also be more compelled to search for and purchase your textbooks online, which can provide significant savings compared to the cost of purchasing texts at the campus bookstore.
