No longer is a university degree only available by physically attending university lectures, seminars and tutorials. Now you can work for your degree 100% online, never setting foot into the hallowed halls of learning unless you choose to.
There are universities that offer Bachelors and Masters degrees online. You can even get a Doctorate 100% online. You have a very wide choice of subject, as wide as if you physically attended the institution.
The online degree has the advantage that you can work at it in between your parenting or other commitments. You can keep up the day job, while studying for your degree in the evenings or at weekends. This option is a really attractive one for adults looking to increase their long-term employment options.
You can get an Online degree from many traditional universities, including Harvard and Yale. There are other universities and colleges that only have online courses. Some of these universities are accredited universities, others are not.
If you apply to a non-accredited institution future employers are unlikely to look favorably on your qualification. This is because some of these non-accredited "universities" are nothing more than printing shops, churning out degrees as the cheques roll in. Everyone has seen the ads for these so-called degrees - "The Get your doctorate next week" type ads.
There have been cases of prominent scientists losing their posts because their degree was exposed to come from one of these non-accredited institutions that produce totally worthless degrees and doctorates.
There are "Life-Experience" degrees where you gain credit for what you have learned in your job over the years, including for experience gained by staying at home and looking after the kids. Treat these especially with extreme caution and don't shell out your money too easily. If it's that easy to get a degree then it really is not worth the paper it is printed on.
The author is an ex-teacher who now makes a living helping people to decide about their broad educational objectives. He has a website that has more details of some of the available options.
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