Online Courses: A Good Option?

Many parents and students rightly are worried about the high cost of a college education, especially in the face of the current economic disaster.

Some pundits now describe a college degree as the high school diploma of the 21st century and recommend pushing ahead to a master's degree. That's easy to say and very difficult to afford.

Online courses and online degrees increasingly are being offered by reputable universities and colleges, as well as by scam schools.

Good online courses can be taken for credit and for prices well below the cost of attending on-campus classes. For example, Harvard University has an active online program of undergraduate and graduate courses, through its Extension School.

The University of Colorado-Denver and Ohio University are just two of many other campuses with online programs. Students all over the United States and world are now enrolled in online courses at many dozens of colleges and universities.

Some online classes follow a semester schedule, while others are self-paced. The University of Colorado at Boulder, for example, has some self-paced courses.

Careful research can help you find the best online programs and compare the prices of similar courses. Be sure to determine if the credits offered by a particular school can be transferred to other colleges or universities.

Online classes represent one good way to at least get started on a college education or to continue making progress, if full-time college attendance is economically out of the question right now.


--Si Dunn