How Do Online Degree Programs Compare to Traditional Colleges in Terms of Career Impact?

In the last few years, you may have heard about the burgeoning network of online degree programs. These programs are featured on television ads, and are targeted toward people with full-time careers, people serving overseas, and parents who cannot take too much time away from home to go to a campus everyday. But what you may not know is that online degree programs might just work for you too. Given the increased awareness of these programs, we at NSHSS decided to dive deep into these programs. In this article we want to help you determine how an online degree program compares to traditional colleges for your future career. 

Traditional Colleges

• Entering a four-year degree program, in-person, is a very tried and true way to enter adulthood and make your way into your career. By leaving home and getting your degree on a campus alongside other students, you are following a path that has been established by a large network of deans, professors, guidance counselors, and alumni alike. 

• The relationships you make with the people on a campus not only result in good friendships, but also crucial connections to your next career after graduation. 

• In-person campus settings offer plenty of extracurricular activities including sports, clubs, Greek life, and honors societies. This is a great way to find out more about your untapped potential in areas you would have never expected to explore otherwise. 

• By stepping outside your home life and attending college in-person, you are bolstering your self-esteem and gaining a whole new life experience that is catered specifically to you. 

Online Degrees

• Deciding to focus solely on getting your degree online is a great way to save time, money, and limit your resources to only what is required of your necessary courses. 

• Online degrees allow you to juggle what could be a much more difficult schedule, if you are somebody who cares for a loved-one, works a difficult job already, or is enlisted overseas in the military and cannot attend traditional college in the states. 

• Online degrees are also a fantastic way to begin your college education. Instead of paying for all four years of an in-person degree, you can get the required courses done first online, which typically run through the first two years, and then begin school when your major courses kick into high-gear. 

Your Future Career 

• Which path you choose will impact your career choices, but that doesn’t mean you won’t have options. 

• An online degree might limit who you meet on a college campus, but you will still show that you worked hard to get the right education in spite of otherwise limiting setbacks due to your financial or familial context. 

• It is more common these days than it used to be for people to get degrees online. These degrees can be more centered on a specific trade, which will speak volumes to those jobs where trades are required. 

• When deciding between these two options, consider what your future career might look like. If your job will require good connections with people in Greek life or a sports team, then a traditional college route might be the best option. But if you are interested in learning how to re-wire electrical equipment, build radio devices for military planes, or become an accountant for a local business, then an online degree might be the best option. 

At NSHSS, we want to support any student to achieve their goals and to go after what they most want out of life. If you are struggling financially, or just generally do not feel comfortable entering into a four-year degree program on a campus, that is okay. In fact, as we just mentioned, more and more people are routinely getting their degrees online, in a variety of fields. All we wish is that you think critically about what might work best for you, and we want to help guide you as best we can along the way!