Online Education

The short answer is do your homework (and I don't mean from the course).

I just completed an at-home paralegal course and a private detective program. Both were decided upon after much research.

Having spent much time on www.ripoffreport.com, I have seen many, many reports of online (distance learning) schools that are only after the money!

Decide on what you want and why, and research from there. Good luck.

Thanks very much bermits. My main concern is putting my $ into a scam, so you've been very helpful.

Thanks for the link and the advice :-)

Congrats on completing your courses :-D

I did several courses with the Open Univeristy in London as well as with the German equivalent to that (FernUniversitaet Hagen).

The degrees they give are as value as those from "normal" universities.

Online education may be the new wave of the future. Many major Universites now offer MBAs online, with only a few of them actually requiring
limited on site classroom attendance.

Kaplan offers a program in which one may obtain a JD ( law ) completely online. While not accredited by the ABA, one may still sit for the Bar Exam in some States ( California is one of them ).

Moreover, one non-US medical school now offers the first two years of medical school education totally online. After this, the student must complete the last 2 years in clinical rotations ( mainly in the US ).

If you're a serious student, you should be able to do well in an online program. Be sure your computer and printer are in good order, before proceeding, however.

Good luck!

intresting topic...

Monatan...by school do you mean iniversity?

Here, and I have no doubt at all, in North America, very reputable universities offer distance education, largely online, and these give people recognized degrees.

Most I am aware of require some periods of in vivo contact, but not a lot.

I would simply check the websites of universities that apppeal to you, and see what they offer as distance degrees....and their entry requirements, of course.

Walter
That's awesome and I hope to do the same :-)

Miller
Just reading your post got me excited, as I feared that most of the on line education was a scam. I know there are some that are, so I'll need to do a lot of research first before I jump in.
Thanks very much for your advice :-D

Dlowan
Yes, you guys would call it university. I've been very interested in telecommuting for several years now, but 6 years ago when I was looking into it, it wasn't a huge thing yet. Now I'm seeing a lot more people who work from their offices at home and this is what I would truly like to do.
Most of the decent jobs in my area are a 45 minute drive from where I live and I'm just not willing to spend an hour and a half on the road every day just to get back and forth to work, along with paying the inflated gas prices and maintaining my car.
The winters can also be bad here and traveling to work is not always possible and often dangerous.

Now I just need to decide what I want to do. I've always been interested in accounting and business, so I may just start there. I actually found a free accounting education site that doesn't offer any certification, but at least it will help me decide if this is really what I want to do before I invest the $ for the real thing.

I'm tired of working my butt off for peanuts and now that my son is an adult, I can finally so something for myself.

There's one big problem, especially since I've studied (even different subjects) on regular, normal univerities as well: you don't have to the direct contact, neither to co-students nor to the teaching personal. (We had a tutor group here, at first free and officially - during undergraduate years - then privately paid.)

I mean, when leaving a course at university, you just can ask the prof "What do you think of ...." and she/he will give you somehow an answer.
Online, you have to email or to phone or drive there or ...


Having a drink after classes with other students, meeting and talking about this and that ... well, not easy online.

Ok, I can do not easy. I've been doing it all my life ;-)

Thanks for the warning, as I'm not big on unpleasant surprises.

Do you own a backup computer, in case your's burns out?

I do have another computer in the house that I gave my son recently.
if I needed another computer, I would get one.

The computer I have now is brand new and only a few months old. It's an XP and a pretty nice machine.
High speed internet just became available in my area recently and it's about time, I'd say.
I've been wanting to do this for several years now, but it was impossible with dial up.

You should be OK then.

Another thing, which is perhaps of minor importance but more from the practicabel point of view: a good (university) library not too far away would be excellent.

That would be in the city about 45 minutes away. I did some research on ebay and I could probebly get some books there for the price it would cost me in gas to go to the city.
if I do invest in some books, I can always re-sell them on ebay, but I would most likely keep them in case I may need them.

Lucky for you, most major univerisities today, allow computer access to their library stores, if you're a student enrolled in the College.

Oh, that's good to know and something I'll be looking for. Anything I can access by computer is a plus because I'll be working and you really have to travel to get these things in my little boonies.

bm

Congrats on going for improving your education, Montana. Thanks for starting the thread: good resource.

Thanks Flushd. It'll be a little bit before I'm ready to get started, but it looks like I'll need that time to do the research and get the funds sorted out.
I've heard from a few people here that they have grants here for people with low income. Since I'm single and only have one income, I should be able to qualify for that.
Lots and lots of research to do :-0

Some of the grants and loans will depend on your course load. Be sure you're registered for the right number of credits. Also, talk to the financial aid office in the College of yur choice, before you register.