Hi, I am a 47 year old female. I worked since I was in high school. My last employer I was with for almost 9 years, before that I worked for an insurance company for 13 years. I recently became a dislocated worker, after working for this company for almost 9 years they just one day let me go. So I figured it was time to make a change. I wanted to take a program for pharmacy technician. There is so much out there, I would like to take the course online and I really can’t afford to pay for the course myself. I am looking for some ideas on where I can find a grant or something that will help with the cost of the program. Does anyone have any suggestions?
Thanks!!!
According to me Online degree is fully wastage of time & money…If you want to degree in masters then join any local institutes near your home…It’s best for you according to me…
I’ve taken online courses at three different places; two were public state universities, and one was a community college. I completed my Master’s degree totally online. I also worked for another college (public state) for an online Master’s program (did not attend, but helped to upload, maintain, and service the online course shells).
In my experience, the school has a lot more to do with the quality of the online degree program than the way you take the course (whether in-person, online or hybrid). Overall, online courses that I took at a large public state university were the best. The courses were well designed and enhanced with video and audio lectures. We had support and instruction in how to perform research online and how to utilize the library as a distance learning student (it turned out to be invaluable when I was working on a paper at 10pm on a Friday night).
The online courses at the community college were the worst overall. I had a couple of courses where the instructor basically just had us read the book and then come in for proctored tests! My experiences were so bad, I just opted to go to campus and take night classes. Better experience…but still not as good as what the larger schools can offer.
From having worked at a college I can tell you that successful online courses take sufficient investment into course development and planning. Unfortunately it can be difficult to gauge this as a student. A good clue however is to see if the school has an office dedicated to either distance learning or online studies (at my school, it was called “extended learning”). See if they can show you a demonstration course. Try to find out about the advising and registration process for online students. If their answers suggest that they don’t have dedicated staff or systems for online students, I would say that is a red flag. My Master’s program was online and the school did not have these systems in place. Registration, buying books, and advisement was always a nightmare…although the education itself was ok. However, you could tell that my school had not updated their learning management system (the system that hosts the online courses) in a while.
In a nutshell, I would not classify all online degrees as equal. Just like I would not classify all on-campus degrees as equal. I would shoot for the best college that you can gain admission to. Focus on that first and foremost, and most likely the online classes will be great.