Are online masters degrees worth it?

More and more employers are becoming more accepting of online degrees. However, if you attend an online program at a state university, your employer will never know you obtained the degree online unless you tell them. Usually, online degrees from state universities are no different than the degrees conferred to students who were on campus.

Validity of an online degree depends upon where you get one. The first thing you need to learn about when searching for a school where you can get a degree online is accreditation. There are three levels of accreditation in the U.S. for an entire institution.

1. Regional accreditation - this is accreditation by one of six regional accrediting agencies recognized by the U.S. Department of Education. Best generalized accreditation a school can get.

2. "National" accreditation - it is not really national, but is called that because the agencies granting these accreditations are regionalized. DETC and ACICS are two examples of "national" accreditors.

3. Unaccredited - completely unacceptable, avoid at all costs.

There are additional accreditations that an institution can get. These are program accreditations. For example, the business program (or school) at an institution can achieve AACSB accreditation. Psychology programs can be accredited by the APA. ABET accredits engineering and technology programs, etc. A school that has a program accreditation for the program in which you are interested is the best accreditation possible.

Minimum accreditation a school you choose should have is regional. It is better if the program you want is also accredited. You can check on the accreditation of any school at two websites. The first is the CHEA (Council for Higher Education Accreditation) http://www.chea.org/search/search.asp

The second is the USDE Office of Postsecondary Education at http://www.ope.ed.gov/accreditation/search.asp

Now that you know something about accreditation, you can start searching for a school. When searching for a school, look at the cost of tuition first. How much does the school charge per credit hour. Then check to see if the school is on the quarter or semester hour system. To change tuition rates from quarter hour to semester hour, divide by 0.67. For example, one school charges $310 per quarter credit hour which is equal to $462.68 per semester credit hour.

If you are looking to get an MBA, one of the best and least expensive online MBA programs in the country is at Mississippi State University. http://www.distance.msstate.edu/mba/ It is AACSB accredited and is $444 per semester credit hour.

For additional information, here are some articles on online education.

http://owli.org/home/node/793

http://owli.org/home/node/509

http://owli.org/home/node/10

http://owli.org/home/node/783

http://owli.org/home/node/647

http://owli.org/home/node/1498

http://owli.org/home/node/1230

http://owli.org/home/node/249

Good luck

Are Online Degrees Worth It

Dear,

in answer to this question, Are online masters degrees worth it?, I can tell you that you might get some help from http://onlinedegreesfaqs.net/

As you asked; "I am about to graduate with a BS in Engineering Management, Information Systems and a BS in Mathematics. I am really interested in entrepreneurship and want to eventually go to graduate school. However, considering this day and age, I'd really like to customize my schedule and possibly take online classes to complete an online masters degree, but I'm not sure if its worth it. I am afraid that it will be looked down upon by future employers. Is this true? Help!" it may help you.

Good Luck :)

Hello! Online degrees are being accepted more and more by employers. Some employers may tell you they prefer that you choose an online program from a school that is AACSB and other employers may tell you they accept online degrees as long as the school is accredited.

I have an online MBA from UOP. My employer paid for this degree so they thought an online degree from just an accredited institution was fine. In my situation, I am 45 years old and pretty much established in my field. My reason for obtaining the MBA was for job advancement at my current employer. My undergard is Chemistry (Univ. of Mich) and I do not foresee branching off into the finance or business world.

In your case, it seems like you want to pursue a position in the business world. This is just an opinion - but I would go for an online MBA that is AACSB accredited. The business world looks for and respects degrees that are from institutions that are AACSB accredited.

Hope this helps and good luck!

If you really want to get something out of your education, I think you should go to class. I think it depends on what type of learning style fits you best, although you learn better with many different methods using different parts of your brain. For example, you use a different part of your brain for reading than you do for listening, speaking, and doing. My point being, if you go to class instead of online courses, you may get more out of it as opposed to just doing assignments and then turning them in.

But to answer your question, it would be a lot easier (and probably more time efficient) to take online courses. I am not sure if that would be looked down upon though. I guess it depends where you get the degree.

It depends on what field you want to go into. Some fields are okay with it, others aren't. The more traditional the field (law, medicine) the less they like online degrees... but that's not true across the board.

If you want to start your own business, it will be great- you will be the one hiring you, and you'll get the info you need.

Just make sure that whatever college you go to is REGIONALLY accredited, not institutionally accredited. Institutional accreditation isn't respected anywhere.

Totally not worth it. Online degrees hold no weight. As a matter a fact, the online colleges that give you the degree arent even a legit college at all. Most of the time (this is a true anecdote), it is some teacher selling you textbooks that he has bought and a syllabus, in which you have to learn on your own. You turn in your assignments and he or she just checks it with the answer key they are given. They dont even have to know what they are teaching, as long as they have the answers. And put it this way, you and another person are fighting to go to the same grad school. you both have the same credentials but he hass a degree from a legit university. who do you think they are most likely going to acccept?

Hey!! To answer you honestly, companies look at how smart and efficient you can prove to be. Most points go towards that. Degrees matter only for low self-confident people. If you want to do online degree as a learning journey then it's fine but if you want to reply solely on the degree to get a job, then it's sheer worthless thing to do.

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Hey Buddy,

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Best Regards