(ThyBlackMan.com) Students have to make a lot of important decisions. Not only do they need to decide on the subject that is going to dominate the next years of their life, but they also need to choose the right university. Any student who is currently weighing up their options should give serious thought to enrolling in an online degree course. Here’s why online degrees are a great option in 2020.
Studying Online Offers Specific Benefits
Studying online is not just a viable alternative to enrolling in a traditional campus-based course, but there are specific advantages to studying online that are worth knowing about. While online degrees are a fantastic option for those who are unable to attend a regular university and study like a regular student, they have also really come into their own over the last decade or so and they are now worth considering even for students who have the option of attending university as normal.
Below are some of the key benefits of studying online, benefits that many students still continue to seriously underestimate. It is unfortunate that so many students are still under the impression that an online degree is either not a realistic alternative to a traditional degree, or that they are an option of last resort reserved for those who can’t go to university as normal.
- Lower costs: Going to university is depressingly expensive. The last time university tuition fees were raised, the decision was met with massive protests across the UK. While education provides enormous value both to students and to society at large, it still remains prohibitively expensive for many people. Unless you are very lucky in terms of your family finances, you will almost certainly need to take out a student loan in order to go to university in the UK. That means that once you graduate and start earning money, you will have to pay your student loan back. Leaving university and entering into the job market with debt hanging over your head is less than ideal, but it has become the norm for most British graduates.
The overall costs of studying an online degree are significantly lower than their campus equivalents, even within the same university. That’s not to say that an online degree is cheap, as it still represents a significant financial commitment. However, online courses aren’t just cheaper overall, they also tend to offer students the option of paying for their degree on a month-to-month basis. For many students, this is a much more realistic way of paying for their course than saving up the full lump sum required. Students can also turn to conventional student loans in order to fund their online studying.
- A more flexible timetable: One of the biggest advantages of online studying, and a significant motivating factor in the founding of The Open University, is that some people are simply unable to commit to attending a full-time university course. From single parents to carers who are responsible for looking after a family member, some people simply do not have enough hours in the day to be able to reliably attend and lectures for the duration of a university course.
The vast majority of universities that offer online degrees will offer students the option of studying them on a part-time basis. While this means that the course will take longer to complete, it also means a much gentler pace and a much more flexible timetable for those who need it.
- Study while you work: Lots of university students find that the student loans and grants do not provide them with enough funding for both their course, and their social life. As a result, there are many students who look for part-time employment while they study. Given that many students who enrol in an online course will opt to pay for it on a monthly basis, having a steady stream of income they can use is hugely beneficial. Because an online degree can be studied from anywhere – as long as you have an internet connection, you will be able to connect to the university – it is even easier for these students to hold down a job at the same time as completing their studies.
- Take control of your education: All university students have to learn how to manage their own time and take charge of their own academic commitments. This is a key part of being a university student and, irrespective of the type of degree that you are studying, equipping you with the skills that you need in order to be able to learn and study independently is one of the main functions of a university. But most students who are studying on a university campus will have regular contact with other students and university staff. This contact provides a great deal of guidance and reinforcement when it is needed.
Students who are studying online will still have a way to contact university staff and will be able to access some level of support from the university. However, the nature of online studying means that these students will also need to be much more independent than those who are studying offline. This might sound like a drawback to some people, but independent learners who excel when they are left to their own devices can benefit enormously from this setup. If you feel more comfortable being in command of your own academic progress, then it is well worth considering whether online studying might be a better solution for you.
You Won’t Be Restricted in Your Choices
The United Kingdom is lucky in that it has The Open University, a state-funded university that has provided distance learning to students since the 1960s. For a long time, The Open University was the only viable means of studying a distance learning course, which evolved into online studying with the advent of the internet.
However, today there is a whole range of online universities, and many of the most prestigious and well-respected universities in the UK now have an online branch. For example, Exeter University has an online arm, Exeter Online, which enables students to study at the university irrespective of where they are. This means that studying online doesn’t require you to downgrade or lower your standards with regards to where you choose to study; you have just as much choice as any other student.
Not only do online students have just as much choice as regular students in terms of where they study, but they also have the same range of subjects to choose from. Obviously, there are some types of degrees that require students to undertake placement work or to attend a university campus for a short period. However, even these courses can be studied mostly online today.
Nursing is a great example of this. In order to qualify as a nurse, students will need to undertake some actual work within a healthcare setting. But that doesn’t mean that they can’t submit their assignments to their university online. Studying online also means that students are not tied to the location of the university. For nursing students, and others who need to undertake placement work, this means that they can choose a placement located a long way from the educational institution they are enrolled with.
Your Degree Still Carries the Same Weight
There was a time when the notion of an online degree was more of a punchline than a serious proposition. Back then, online degrees were considered as little more than novelty items. Even when they began to carry some weight, it still took time to overcome the negative perceptions that had built up around them.
As you might have inferred from the fact that there are so many leading universities around the world that now offer online degrees, an online degree today carries just as much weight as its campus equivalent.
You Can Study from Anywhere
Over the last couple of years, there has been an explosion in the number of students who are choosing to travel while they study, or study while they travel depending on how you look at it. The point is that the flexibility of an online degree means that it is perfectly possible for students to log in and complete their assignments even when they are literally half a world away from their university.
That’s not to say that studying while travelling around the world is easy, on the contrary, it is adding one challenge on top of another. But the simple fact that online degrees are able to provide the kind of flexibility required to take on these challenges, should you choose to, is impressive.
For most people who are just turning 18 and are beginning to look at their options for university, online degrees don’t seem that remarkable. However, anyone who can remember the previous decades when the notion of being able to complete a bona fide university course over the internet seemed positively futuristic, knows that online degrees have come a long way in recent decades. In 2020, prospective students should consider online studying options alongside conventional choices.
Staff Writer; Calvin Moore