Online learning is a relatively new phenomena delivered courtesy of the availability and pricing of the computer. This new trend in learning, however, is taking off at the speed of light. As more and more students realize the benefits of these courses, distance learning master degrees are becoming more common.

Distance learning master degrees still require all the key features of a degree earned in a classroom setting, but they give students the freedom to live (and earn) a little while they learn. These factors alone account for the biggest reasons why more and more people and more and more universities are seeing distance learning master degrees as viable options for advancing education. (more…)

Hannah Cross, a marketing major at the University of Arkansas at Fort Smith, hasn’t let anything derail her from her college degree — not having a baby, not having back surgery, not having to hold down a job.

The 22-year-old single mother plans to graduate on time this spring — because she can take classes online and fit her education around her life, instead of the other way around.

Cross says she often studies until midnight or 1 a.m. while her daughter sleeps.

“You have to do everything yourself because you don’t have anyone feeding it to you,” she says. But “I learn more this way. I have to read the book and do the work to understand it, because I don’t have a professor talking about it to me.” (more…)

Affordable college education is still possible in both online format and traditional campus based education. Tuition at an online degree education program is often similar to that of a traditional campus based college or university.

The average cost of tuition, fees, books and supplies at a public four-year college or university is $20,000. At a private school these cost can increase to $80,000.

Tuition for the same education through a four-year online program will be similar. However, at a traditional campus based college or university the additional cost of room and board, and transportation can push the costs of a four-year education at a public school to $50,000 and at a private school to $110,000!

It is easy to see the financial advantage of attending an online program vs a traditional campus based program. But are you getting what you are paying for? (more…)