Receive Your Online Degrees

It’s a tale that’s almost as old as time itself. Many rural neighborhoods lose their young because they simply can’t offer the same employment opportunities as city life. This trend took root after the Civil War with the Industrial Revolution, and it’s still being felt today. Unless they are lucky enough to have a career in agriculture, most country kids must leave the homestead to find jobs. Even the schools they need to attend to get post-secondary educations are located in urban settings. So they leave, causing what some experts call out-migration.

That was the 20th century, this is the 21st. There is now a solution: online education. Rural students are choosing to earn their degrees through online universities. This solution comes with a side benefit; graduates greatly improve their employment prospects while they stay in the comforts of their home environment.

There innumerable studies proving online degrees give any graduates a leg up in the employment world. A number of corporate recruiters will testify online graduates have a matching skill set for a profitable worker, including good time management abilities, strong self-motivation skills, and technological know how.

A part of the problem is that a lot of rural areas just don't have access to high speed Internet.  The essential communications infrastructure hasn’t moved beyond dial-up modems. Online education requires at least DSL, T-Line or similar to work effectively. Broadband also allows students to hookup from anywhere within district limits, whether it’s home, the library or a laundromat. Going broadband also allows students real-time communications with their teachers and fellow classmates. If that isn’t enough, many companies who need personnel in these areas want personnel who can stay in their district, but report through telecommuting.

There is another factor making virtual education attractive: cost. Virtual schools, on the average, cost much less than their on campus counterparts, even if advanced education is still expensive. This can be tough for rural areas, which are more likely to be economically challenged than their suburban and urban students. At the same time, there are other cost-saving factors such as not having to pay for a dormitory room, commuting back and forth from school and eating at home.

Here are some other options regarding the cost factor. Many rural students work and then go take their classes after hours. Further, they can talk to their school’s financial aid officers to see what kinds of grants, scholarships and even, thanks to Obama’s latest educational initiatives, tax credits are available to them.

This does leave one last challenge. A final obstacle for new users, especially rural ones, may not have the physical tools necessary for online education. Many rural kids are not accustomed to communicating with peers and teachers they aren’t within eyesight of. That picture is changing though. More and more kids are finding e-learning as a fact of life. Millions of kids between kindergarten and high school today are either fully online or taking blended online/in person classes.

So it looks like your distance learning programs or masters degree is a true alternative for rural students. It can even mean that going to the big city for your college degrees is a road that doesn't need be taken.