Pitfalls in Online College Degrees for Bachelor's and Master's

An online degree is a college degree (master's/bachelor's/doctor's and sometimes, high school diplomas and non-degree certification programs) that can entirely be earned with the help of an Internet-connected computer, rather than from a traditional college campus. Technical improvements and increasing number of Internet connections worldwide have led to a proliferated number of online college degrees.

According to the US Department of Education, the educational accreditation is to ensure the quality levels of online degree programs provided by higher education institutions. However, there are many pitfalls to grabbing an online degree. Have you ever heard about diploma mills that offer fake degrees for a price? Students are not accredited by any specialized accreditation authority in the national or regional space. Such degrees are of no value for the students. Online institutions with full accreditation have wide recognition from university of accreditation form one of six regional boards of accreditation.

Six of the geographic regions of the United States have non-governmental, regional agencies that oversee and accredit institutions for online degrees. The boards are these:

• Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities
• Middle States Association of Colleges and Schools
• North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
• New England Association of Schools and Colleges
• Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
• Western Association of Schools and Colleges

Quality Standard of Online Degrees

The quality standards of online degrees are very different from the traditional ones. Most of them are regionally accredited, and the public perception of their quality is in dispute. Some people suggest that certain fields are better accepted online than offline, while certain others, offline.

A survey, however, by Distance Education and Training Council found that all of the employers felt that distance education program students performed better after gaining their online degrees. And the employee with online education compared very well with any other student.

However, The Chronicle of Higher Education reported in 2007 that about 55 per cent of the employers prefer traditional degrees to online degrees. This is understandable and very much more than expected, as there are many different traditional entrepreneurs and businesses, which would rather have traditional degrees. Forty-one per cent of the people would give equal consideration to online and offline degree holders.

Future of Online Education

NCES (the National Center for Education Statistics) conducted a study on distance education in 2001-2002. The study reported that 56 per cent of all institutions surveyed, offered distance education courses. It also found out that public institutions are more likely to provide distance education than private institutions.

The Sloan Consortium, after collecting data from over 2,200 colleges and universities, reported that about 3.2 million students took at least one online course in 2005 (which is a significant increase from 2004's 2.3 million). And it also reported that about 2/3 of the largest institutions have online degree programs.

Financial Aid for Students

The rule that the students for online education won't be eligible for federal student aid unless at least half of their education was in campus has changed recently. In 2006 February, this rule was annulled and any student enrolled for an accredited (Title IV eligible institutions) degree online can avail federal grants, loans, and can go for work-study.

Pitfalls in Online Degree Arena

Janet Killen spent about 5,500 dollars and four years in earning a master's degree from Canyon College, an online school based in Idaho, as recently reported by Fox.

But on learning that her degree had no value on submitting it to Lane Community College in Eugene, Oregon in 2007, she was traumatized. Furthermore, she came to know that passing the degree off as legitimate can bring civil and criminal charges for her. A victim of online education fraud.

"I felt really violated," said she. "I worked very hard for this degree."

This is no exception. According to Oregon's Office of Degree Authorization, about 4,000 students have been victims of the Canyon College alone. And there are thousands of other schools offering fake online degrees.

According to the law of Idaho, Canyon College has no authority to grant college degrees to students. They are not accredited by any agency mentioned above to grant college degrees to students. Such institutions fool you by telling that they are accredited by some institution no one has ever heard of. If you don't take your life into your hands, you are sure to be doomed by such double-crossing institutions.

This is a huge problem not only in the United States but in various other countries. Bogus institutions and bogus accreditation agencies rake in millions of dollars of profit from unsuspecting students who are awarded worthless degrees. In fact, they are even victimized by the law as in Killen's case. When does law understand that they are not villains, but victims?

Conclusion

Don't go for any online master's or bachelor's degree with slightest doubt about your institution. Make sure you enquire fully about the institution at the agency whichever accredited it before you pursue with your education.