I’m 52 and after 20 years I stepped back in to taking college courses this spring. I took some community college night classes in the 80s and 90s while working and tallied up about 40 total units. I decided last Christmas it might be interesting to take a class online and I put down my Xbox controller for a bit. I always enjoyed school and learning and I thought it might set a good example to set for my 15-year-old son. I work full-time, own some businesses, and make a lot of money. The rest of my siblings, their spouses, my wife, my mom, and my daughter are all college graduates. I am definitely the outlier in my family.
Anyway, I checked with my local community college district and there were a number of online courses offerings. The selection was very robust with transferable classes. (I live in Sacramento, CA.) So I signed up for three classes, including one lab that I had to attend in person. After getting started I really enjoyed the classes and the material was engaging. I have less time for computer gaming or watching Netflix, but I still coach soccer and do all the other extracurricular things I’ve been handling as a grown-up husband and parent. And of course I work a lot of hours.
I ended up signing up for a eight week online class in history midway through the spring. So, I’ve now just finished four class for 10 units from my first semester and it was really rewarding. I’m signed up for a couple more courses this summer and then more in the fall. These are all online community college offerings, except a calculus class I will have to take in person. My plan is to get an AA for transfer and then transfer next year to a CSU online business degree program. There’s a new offering at San Diego State that looks like a good fit. This won’t have any impact on my career, but it is a rewarding effort.
Also, just a note on online courses. I find them very engaging. From speaking with the instructors, the performance of the students is very similar whether in class or online. Organized and engaged students do well and those that procrastinate or are disorganized do not do well - either in a virtual classroom or an actual classroom. I could not take these courses unless they were were given online. I simply can’t break out the time to drive to a class at a college while maintaining all the real life responsibilities I have. The technology allows the material to be presented in a challenging manner and I think I get a lot more from being able to take classes on my own schedule than I ever would in a classroom. Whatever I might give up by not being in the classroom with other students I gain by having the ability to take a test or write an essay at 5:00 in the morning or 10:00 at night.
It is very possible to have a job and go back to college online to complete a degree. This is a much better option than having families go into $50,000 in debt just to pay for a bachelors degree. I have many college graduates who work for me. I have more respect for the ones that put themselves through school than the ones that came out in a financial hole that they’ll be paying off for 10 or 15 years.