Accounting Online Degree

Recent studies have shown more strongly than ever that getting an associate degree online is one of the smartest investments in the future a high school graduate can make. Traditionally many people have felt that an associate degree is just a stepping-stone to a bachelor degree, but this is quickly becoming the exception rather than the rule. Today’s students can get an associate degree online that puts them in the workforce sooner, costs less and is more targeted to their career choice.

No Typical Associate Degree Online Student

When you look for students who are pursuing an associate degree online, you won’t find one person who is “typical.” The range of students is astounding, with more diversity by far than you’ll find on a traditional college campus. Because of the financial savings and the flexibility of the schedule, there are more non-traditional students in an online program. In any given class, you might find:

Working parents who need to study at night or during work breaks and can’t attend classes on campus.

Military personnel and their spouses, who move around frequently and can’t commit to one campus location.

Students with disabilities who can work more comfortably and efficiently from home.

Those returning to get an associate degree online because they are older and might not feel comfortable in the classroom with students much younger than them.

Improving Your Life with an Associate Degree Online

The United States census, various educational and government agencies and even financial analysts have been taking a good, hard look at associate degree programs in recent years. When they compared information and statistics they discovered that the advantages of earning an associate degree online were overwhelming:

The average difference in salary between a high school graduate and an individual with an associate degree is in the six figures over a lifetime, with the typical difference over a lifetime of working being somewhere around $140,000.

Once an individual is granted an associate degree, he or she can typically begin earning about $130 more every week than his counterpart without a degree. For those with associate degrees in computers, engineering or accounting the difference is even greater.

Individuals with an associate’s degree are far less likely to be unemployed than those with only a high school education.

If you then figure in the money saved by pursuing an online degree instead of attending a traditional college, you’ll see just how valuable your degree can be. After all, attending an online college means you’ve:

Continued to make money by working while you attend classes.

Saved money on transportation (whether on gasoline and parking or public transportation).

Skipped the investment in activity fees, meals on campus and even additional clothing by studying at home.

Is it any wonder that one well-known financial analyst recently referred to the value of an associate degree as a “slam dunk” with massive payback for students? If you want to gain this payback for yourself, check out getting an associate degree online. It’s the best way to advance your career with the least financial outlay. You’ll see the return many times over.

With the ability to keep working, take care of a family, and receive a quality education without relocating, distance learning degrees have continued to increase in popularity. Unfortunately, the Internet also provides a venue for bogus diploma mills sprouting up to make money on the sale of fake degrees. In a report published in 2003, USA Today says 400 such businesses are currently in operation, and the numbers are increasing as these dubious businesses continue to make approximately $500 million annually.

However, despite all the unpleasant information going around about distance learning degrees, the fact is there are plenty of legitimate universities and colleges offering online degree programs. These colleges are legitimate and not involved in any way in offering dubious and fake diplomas. Instead, these colleges are going the extra mile to provide quality education online by taking advantage of all available instructional resources such as quality instructional design coupled with video lectures, online digital libraries and proctored exams to ensure their students get quality education and a valid, qualified diploma. Unfortunately, numerous employers have not yet been sold into this alternative way of acquiring education, thus they still regard such degrees as invalid or dubious.

To avert the confusion, 6 accrediting agencies were set up by the National Education Board of the U.S government with the role of providing accreditation to colleges and universities who meet a set educational standard. This ultimately differentiates the legitimate colleges from the fake ones. Students enrolling in these accredited colleges can rest assured they are receiving quality and qualified education. Distance Education and Training Council (DETC) is an additional accrediting body which solely exists for the purpose of providing accreditation to colleges that offer distance learning degrees. DETC is a legit body that falls under the umbrella of the US Department of Education and CHEA.

In addition, specific programs in specialized areas can obtain accreditation through the agencies associated with the subject matter.  For example, the American Health Information Management Association provides accreditation for qualifying health programs; accounting programs are assessed by the International Association for Management Education. However, it only counts if the agencies are endorsed by the Department of Education or the Council for Higher Education Accreditation.

Why does accreditation matter to a student?  A college accreditation agency evaluates the different aspects of colleges or universities against minimum standard criteria to determine if the particular institution meets set basic requirements that determine the quality of education it should offer.  College accreditation is important to ensure that the quality of education, facilities in a college and support given by that college meets certain standards while specialized accreditation checks the excellence of specific programs regardless of the institution offering that program. Likewise it means specialized accreditation check on course content and the curriculum of the program against pre-determined standards of the distance learning college or university.

Accreditation assures employers, parents and students that a respective college awarding degrees has undergone and passed a stringent test of excellence in offering quality education in the respective areas of training. On the other hand, diploma mills and fake colleges don’t meet the same standards of education imposed by the agencies since they don’t possess any legitimate accreditation. Thus courses taken by prospective employees that are accredited by the respective agencies would have met standards imposed on the respective specialized areas.

Nevertheless, in the end, it all comes down to the discretion of the employer.  He or she must decide whether potential employees have satisfactorily completed an online degree program.  Hopefully, with accreditation through a well recognized agency, the confusion can be eliminated, and a valid resume will make it to the short list of excellent candidates with their distance learning degrees as an impressive symbol of fortitude and dedication to personal achievement.

The Internet is more than a simple information source these days. It is a forum for nearly every language, worldview, and potential market on the planet. A place where people can buy groceries, watch the news, check their bank accounts, and talk with friends 4000 miles away. It is the ultimate medium and now, more than ever before, people are taking to the Internet to complete their educations with accredited online degree programs.

There is a newfound respect for accredited online degrees. They are more valuable now than they were even just five years ago. The range of degrees available is vaster, including programs in business administration, criminal justice, health services management, network management and private sector accounting, just to name a few.

High school students who are stricken with illness in their latter years of school are taking advantage of these resources as well, obtaining their high school degrees online and going on to colleges around the country that provide highly respected educations.

These degrees, which only a short while ago were an experimental foray into distance learning have proven so successful with hundreds of thousands of people having now obtained a degree online that major universities are instituting their own distance learning programs.

Because an online degree requires fewer resources and is a remotely accessible option, it saves these individuals money while not interfering with their lives. The essential problem with a traditional college education is that it requires a substantial investment, both from the student and the school. Online courses utilize fewer instructors, automated grading systems and require no classroom space. The cost-saving benefits are clear.

People are busy these days. Everyone has a job, or sometimes two jobs. They have families and crowded schedules. If an individual cannot afford to return to college and has been putting it off for years, these degree programs offer the chance to cheaply take classes at the student’s preferred pace.

Major universities have many rules about minimum credit requirements, frequency of enrollment, and attendance. Online programs are much more flexible, allowing students to decide when and how they learn.

When an individual acquires an accredited online degree, they are not limited by the job offers that they immediately receive. There are a wide variety of potential future career paths they can take that will result in further opportunities down the line.

Consider the possibility of taking a degree obtained online and putting it toward a graduate program in a large, well known college, when it is more affordable to do so. With good grades and the quality references an online degree provides, this situation is becoming much more common, in the same way that community colleges are now stepping stones to major universities.

You may already have a degree and feel that you did not learn as much as you would have liked or that your current career requires more schooling. Unfortunately, it is not financially or socially viable to quit your job and return to college. Luckily, online degree programs allow individuals the freedom needed to take extra classes at night after getting off work. This can increase the value of an employee at work, while allowing an individual to expand their horizons.

An accredited online degree could never have been so valuable in the 1990s, if only because it was such a new concept. It allowed certain people to take a chance and finish a degree or extend their learning while it has helped others get their foot in the door of booming job market.