Should You Just Get An Online Degree?
The Internet is the place to go to learn about pretty much anything you can think of or discover what you didn’t know you want to know about. I’m 29, so I place in between the no internet age and the internet age. This sounds like it could be a generation or two between anyone growing up before the beginning of the 80’s, but it’s really not. Sure, you can be 50 and experience the new tech age and grow through the decades of the tech boom, but it’s quite different when you are going through your early years with a constant boom of new tech like there has been from the late 80’s to the present.
When I was in elementary school, my computer room had those shitty green and black computers from Apple that printed on paper where you had to rip the ends off. My parents had a PC where my brother and I had to figure out MS-DOS just to play games on a floppy disk. With zero training and parents who equally didn’t know how it worked, we had to teach ourselves. Teaching ourselves the ways of the world wasn’t the first thing we had to deal with when it comes to tech.
Fast forward to my high school graduation. Did I learn anything besides the basics in high school? Not really. Did I learn about history that wasn’t blatantly wrong? Nope. Did I learn about mathematics without each teacher only caring about whether I showed my work? NOPE! How about whether I learned proper English? Well, this example is true: I had one teacher in high school that actually cared about it. My English teacher gave me the book ‘On The Road’ by Jack Kerouac. The book changed my life. I wanted to be a writer, and I wanted to write how I wanted to write. I started reading everything I could. I started reading screenplays from famous movies and books that challenged me. Each writing style was different. Each was different from what I was taught. Everyone has a distinctive writing style that doesn’t exactly go by what is taught in books. I think Kurt Vonnegut illustrates my point:
“Here is a lesson in creative writing. First rule: Do not use semicolons. They are transvestite hermaphrodites representing absolutely nothing. All they do is show you’ve been to college.”
Even knowing about semi-colons is useless when you write on the internet. It feels as if the semi-colon was hijacked by the em dash when writing on the internet. I never learned how to use the em dash in school because pretty much all the teachers and authors I learned from never used it. I just heard that it was a trashy way of writing. So, as I began my career writing, I noticed all the websites using em dashes. Did I learn how to use it in any school? No, but that is why the internet is there. An em dash is basically a break in thought during a sentence. I use it now, but sparsely because it looks unprofessional, but because of the Internet, I know about it.
This brings me full-circle: Past early schooling, does the internet replace the need for additional schooling? Yes.
Why is this sounding like an insane idea? Costs. If you’re my age, you probably have heard the speech from a parent about how they could work at a burger place and pay their tuition with their paycheck:
That’s just not possible. Even community colleges are still pretty expensive. My local community college is $91.50 a credit hour. So if I take 4 classes that are 4 credit hours each, that would be $1,464. Then, you add in the potential book costs and it will likely be around 2 grand twice a year.
Let’s turn our attention back to education. All kids and young adults have laptops/tablets/smartphones now. Learning about anything at this point would be easy. The problem with teachers and the majority of the American education system is that the teachers don’t care. I’m not saying all teachers don’t care, but many don’t. When I finished my degree, my classes were supposed to be 4 hours long, but it typically ended in an hour after the “professor” reading a PowerPoint that lasted for an hour. The professor actually told us to be quiet so she wouldn’t get in trouble. Student debt? Worth it for that superb education? I paid for 4 hours of class time. I want that 4 hours even if I want to leave.
I graduated in 2003 and knew just about as much as I knew from going to the library and reading independently. I got an Associate’s degree and then Bachelor’s degree which felt hollow. If you major in medicine or any skill that is necessary, then it’s worth it… but is it worth this?
Universities have passed most of their rising costs on to students. Fees in private non-profit universities in America rose by 28% in real terms in the decade to 2012, and have continued to edge up. Public universities increased their fees by 27% in the five years to 2012. Their average fees are now almost $8,400 for students studying in-state, and more than $19,000 for the rest. At private colleges average tuition is more than $30,000 (two-thirds of students benefit from bursaries of one sort or another). American student debt adds up to $1.2 trillion, with more than 7m people in default.
For a long time the debt seemed worth it. For most students the “graduate premium” of better-paid jobs still repays the cost of getting a degree. But not all courses pay for themselves, and flatter graduate salaries mean it takes students longer to start earning good money. Student enrollments in America, which rose from 15.2m in 1999 to 20.4m in 2011, have slowed, falling by 2% in 2012. (Via The Economist)
The cost to go to college is now a fully functioning Catch-22. You need a job that college gives you to pay for the college debt that got you the job. You graduate and you’re expected to have a full-time job within 6 months, so you can pay your college debt. It seems like a pyramid scheme when you see how little most professors care, how little is taught for the real world, and how much textbooks cost with little to no information in them.
I owe over $20,000 (2 years of taking classes and retaking classes that won’t transfer) in student loans and I can’t remember much learning during it. I made friends, but never really learned anything for the price. I recall my internship and the guy telling me things I need to do. Did I fall back into my experience at college and what they taught me? No. I Googled or watched YouTube tutorials on how to do most of the stuff that I had to do. I learned online about the stuff that my teachers could barely teach.
That’s the real problem with college: The costs keep going up and the efforts of the teachers keep going down. You aren’t teaching people stuff they can retain for a long period of time when you read your entire class off a poorly put together PowerPoint presentation. You can’t teach people when you don’t care about your job. It’s the reason I only remember a few teachers from my schooling. It’s the reason you shouldn’t be a teacher if you don’t care about what you are supposed to love. The more this keeps happening, the more people are going to keep taking online courses.
There are obvious problems with online degrees. Sitting at home and writing answers into class forums takes a lot of motivation. Think about it: When you’re in class with real people, you tend to pay more attention because you have to, but depending on the level of teacher and length, you can drift off. When you’re sitting at home reading and answering questions, you tend to do it at your own pace. You’re reading at your leisure and answering questions at length without being put on spot in front of strangers.
Let’s take a look at the Pro’s and Con’s in comparison:
FLEXIBILITY
- Online education: A benefit to taking online courses is that they offer flexibility to the student. This is a great option for those who already have a time commitment with family and work. Online classes will mold with your schedule—log in to your online course at a time that works best for you as opposed to having to attend a lecture at a specific time.
- Traditional education: This option is best for those who have a little more time in their schedule. Even if you’re hoping for a little flexibility, on-campus courses typically offer day and evening schedules so you can coordinate with your daily commitments. One thing you’ll need to remember to factor in is where you live and work in proximity to the campus.
DISCIPLINE
- Online education: Being an online student will work well for those who have the ability to self-motivate. Without a plan or some type of organization, your work will suffer in the online classroom, but if you set deadlines and prioritize your school schedule, you should see success.
- Traditional education: A traditional on-campus setting is probably best for you, if you know you need discipline to get work completed. This method will give you the support and will to complete assignments and tasks on a daily basis.
SOCIAL INTERACTION
- Online education: Interactions with instructors and peers will still happen as an online student. It just happens to be through online video instead. Learning through online video can help you to focus more on independently learning and your classes may even go quicker without some of the distractions of a traditional classroom education.
- Traditional education: Traditional education is better for those who need face-to-face communication. When you don’t have direct interactions with your instructors, you may tend to do not as well with the work you already have. If this is the case for you, success will come with a traditional education setting.
The problem with online degrees is that it still has that stigmata attached to it. Employers can simply look at your resumes and see your degree from an online course or a free online college and think bad of it. It’s almost like college degrees are clothing companies. Both apparel can be similar in make, but the name can put you over the top. Let’s compare Harvard vs. Community College:
- Harvard Credit Hour – $4,861
- Community College Credit Hour – $91.50
Difference? (*Carry the 2*) $4,769.50. Are the professors that much better at teaching from the same books as the professors from a community college? If you’re literate, why can’t you just read the books online for free and get the same education by yourself? It’s a difficult conundrum to comprehend.
Is an online degree the wave of the future? It could be, but universities are squeezing kids into a debt cycle that will keep them in debt until they feel free enough to get a mortgage for a new house. Another bill to add to the pile.
Just like traditional colleges, the cost of online colleges can vary greatly based on many factors. Thus, it is impossible to give one figure for the yearly tuition of online school, versus yearly tuition at a traditional college. For example, a year of tuition at a private online college like Western Governors University is $5,780, while a year of tuition at a private online college like Capella University costs $22,912.
Other financial issues related to attending online school aren’t always obvious in the tuition comparison. Keep in mind that online students often save money on gas and housing, as they don’t need to relocate or commute. If you decide to keep your day job, you will also have the benefit of bringing in a salary while you attend college. (Via Guide To Online Schools)
All of this is based on money. Non-for-profit and for-profit is still money coming out of your pocket. What about classes that are free and you still get the best educational experience from the best schools in the world through online learning? Coursera gives you free online learning from the best institutions for free:
Classes from these colleges? Free, but how long will it take for employers to recognize intelligence over cost? They can see that you got an A at Duke, but also see that it was a free class. Does that mean the teacher is sub-par? Is the grading process easier? Does attaching a free class to a prestigious college make the college or the student look worse or better?
The fact that these colleges are part of a free college experience either makes the high cost of college null and void, or it shows that college education is subjective. If anyone can get the same information online vs. on campus… what’s the difference?
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Jeff Sorensen is an author, writer and occasional comedian living in Detroit, Michigan. You can look for more of his work on The Huffington Post, UPROXX, BGR and by just looking up his name.