Question: How Do I Find an Online Graduate Program?
A reader asks, "Because of health issues, I can only study by distance learning. How do I find an online graduate program?"
Answer:
Distance education, or online learning, has substantially increased in popularity and legitimacy. Once upon a time distance education degrees had a subtle stigma as many employers, especially in academia, viewed them as the result of degree mills, institutions that were not reputable and provided a poor education at best. Fortunately things have changed. Many well-known and high quality institutions - traditional brick-and-mortar and online - offer undergraduate and graduate degrees entirely online.
If you are unable to enroll in a traditional graduate degree program because of illness, geographic limitations, unpredictable work and family responsibilities and schedules, an online degree may be for you.
Locating the institution that is right for you may be challenging because there are lots of choices. Some institutions, like Capella University or University of Phoenix, are entirely online (with some residency requirements of several weekends or other short periods of time over the course of your degree). Other online degrees are offered by traditional brick and mortar institutions, like Penn State.
There are lots of opportunities, all you have to do is search - thoroughly.
US News and World Report maintains a searchable database of online graduate programs, as does
Peterson's. The most complete resource on online learning, with links to programs and info on whether online learning is right for you and how to succeed once you've enrolled in an online program, is About Distance Learning.
