The most genuine dilemma of the students is whether to skip college and lag behind in their career, or attend college and then graduate with crippling debt outstanding at the beginning of their career. But have anybody thought of the third option: online degree education.
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The Increasing Student-Loan Debt:
Currently, the Federal Reserve Bank of New York estimated the outstanding student-loan debt of around $1.13 trillion, which is quintuple of what it was in 2004. The Institute for College Access and Success estimated around 69 % of 2014 college graduates have an outstanding student-loan debt of $28,400, on an average.
What Did The Government Decide?
When there is a worldwide crisis among the students whether to chase for higher education, or take up a job not worth their degree, Obama announces the first two years of community college to be made “free”, to encourage more of students into the higher degree.
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It goes without saying that higher education mean better jobs, higher salaries, luxuries live and more satisfied employees. Meanwhile this idea of free community college has certainly become very popular. International Democrats like Hillary Clinton, Bernie Sanders and Martin O’Malley have supported this proposal and are ready to go an extra mile to make this proposal a reality. But the most important question that arises in front of the beaurocrates, how much will this be in reality?
The Power Of Online Education
According to a Babson Survey Research Group report, the percentage of students taking up online degree programmes is 33.5 % of the total collegians. This is an all-time record number of students taking up online education, i.e. one of every candidate going for higher education.
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It is a truth that what campus educational programmes offer, online courses can’t, but there is some extra advantage for which you cannot ignore distance learning. The idea of providing the students with world class quality education on a computer screen at their homes was the basic motto of online learning, and there is no doubt, the online learning programmes have been successful in doing that.
Advantage Of Online Tuition Cost:
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The greatest advantage of taking up online courses is to reduce the burden of course fees. The cost of a degree programme by studying online is almost negligible in front of a campus degree.
For example, Western Governors University, an online university in US charges about $6,000 a year for tuition, which is nearly 1/3rd less than the average tuition cost of a four-year public school.
If you dig in deep you will find, no hike had been made by the WGU, in terms of tuition cost since 2008. This means it supports an inferior educational support compared to the brick-and-mortar schools?
To answer this question let be site another example.
In 2014, U.S. News and World Report ranked WGU 1st against all other schools — online and traditional — for its teacher-preparation program, beating out schools such as the College of William & Mary (fourth, tuition: $21,000 out-of-state), Furman University (fifth, tuition: $44,000 out-of-state) and the University of California at Irvine (eighth, tuition: $37,000 out-of-state).
The Digital Era:
The advancement of digital communication tools doesn’t make attending lectures and collecting notes mandatory for the students. Lectures can be attended online sitting at your own comfort space or downloaded and watched later. Professors even offer one-on-one sessions with students via video chat. Social learning forums are also established for the students to interact and discuss their study courses. Digital libraries, chat sessions and other digital enhancements make online universities the favourite destinations for the students.
Earn Your Own Education Fees:
Since online degree courses offer flexible timings to your study, one can easily avail a part-time job for himself and utilise that salary to pay off the tuition cost. In this way, one can save a lot of his/her money when he/she actually takes up a job after the graduation.
The Verdict:
When it comes to accounting the demerit of online college, it definitely lags behind in providing a campus experience to their students. Every student from their high schools fascinate about their college campus life. To somehow lessen this effect, colleges have established social learning forums, so that students can interact with their peers.
Suggest some ways to enhance our online learning experience. Your thoughts are valuable to us.
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