- Posted by maedstudent on April 16, 2008
What to look for in an online university
It is important to ensure that the college you choose has credits that can be transferred to other colleges should you need them to. I attended a college which will remain nameless that had several programs that were only available at that schools online campus. Not only were the programs only online, but a majority of the credits did not transfer to any other school, or in some cases not even to the same colleges ground campus. Online classes can be used to take your time finishing classes, or to get back into the swing of classes for those that have not been to school in such a long time. When going for the whole degree solely online one needs to know that most Universities have a residency requirement in order to get your degree with them.
In most cases, one can’t expect to be 9 credits short in humanities and take those credits online only to think that he or she can then transfer those credits back and graduate, at the other college rarely does this happen. As a former counselor at a University I have seen this happen with the accounting major classes. I had a former student enroll in the accounting program and then in checking with his former college they advised him that he could in fact, take 3 classes and finish his degree from NAU. Needless to say, he quickly became a non-degree student instead of a degree seeking student.
Another thing about non-degree seeking students is that they seem to pay more for classes. At least at the university that I am talking about this is the case. Lastly, it is important to mention that the cost for the same class is less expensive if taken traditionally versus online and I think this is mainly because the online classes have so many more class dates and more instructors to pay therefore the over head is higher adn you pay the price.