There are so many things to consider before enrolling in any online school. I will do justice to the most important of them; are you cut out for online studies? These are things you should consider before making a choice.
- Accreditation; The most important criteria for your choice should be accreditation of the online course or school of choice. Some programs especially the ones that are offered free are hardly accredited, so one has to be cautious about the choice one makes. A school like WorldQuant University is yet to be fully accredited, while some others have full accreditation.
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- Affordable Tuition Fees; What is expensive to you might be cheap to another person, that is why I recommend personal research on the tuition fees as some schools don’t expose it unless you indicate interest in their program and contact them. Same program offered by different schools may vary in tuition fees.
- Flexibility; This criterion is of necessity because as a busy student, you may miss lectures if they are fixed at a particular time, but if it is self-paced, you can attend classes at your convenient time. Some schools that fix their classes can offer to send all recorded lectures to your mail incase you miss any of them.
- Program Ranking; Check for the ranking of your program especially in a particular country. Programs like MBA, are highly competitive in USA, you need to know which one ranks better and equally affordable.
- University Ranking; Another criterion is your school of choice ranking; personally, I think schools between 1-1000 wouldn’t be a bad idea, so far it does not exceed your budget.
- Program Type; There are two types of online programs; blended and 100% online programs. Your choice depends on what you want and how buoyant you are. If you choose blended program, you need to visit campus once in a while; but if it’s 100% online, you will start and finish without setting a foot in school.
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- Tuition Aid; Do you have a problem with tuition fees? Some schools offer easy tuition options unlike others. A school like UNICAF University offers up to 50% tuition-free discount. Some schools offer payment by instalment option.
- Scholarships; If you can’t afford the tuition fees, look out for 50-100% scholarships for online students. Common Wealth and Unicaf offer some online scholarships.
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- Location; Sometimes, your school of choice location is important; do you know why? Because some online programs are blended; especially science and medical programs. You will need to visit the school sometimes. If you need to ask about the program of choice or research on it.
- My Program, My Goal! Is your program choice purpose-driven or goal-oriented? A purpose-driven program is the best choice ever. Link your choice of program to your career goals; if there is a favourable correlation, it is a good investment. If you are anxious about safe job delivery, a safety course wouldn’t be out of place. If you are good with handling people, you will out-perform in any human relations field. I sincerely hope I was able lift one or two burdens from your heart, and you will be able to make an informed decision about your online education.
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