Being in the military is a profession that involves changing duty stations, and having to live in a variety of places during your career. There are opportunities to continue your college education that can be accessed either via mail order, or through the Internet. There are some specific things to watch for in finding the school for you.
One of the first things is to make sure that the college you are looking into has accreditation. There are six accreditation groups, regionally, in the United States. The Counsel of Higher Education Accreditation, and the US Department of Education license these groups. In addition, some careers such as engineering, or nursing require additional certification or accreditation. The single most important issue when taking distance-learning courses is to make sure that the degree, or the credits earned from courses, is transferable. If the courses are not transferable then you may literally just be wasting time and money.
There are a great number of universities and colleges that are worthless, literally referred to as “diploma mills.†You can recognize them in they usually advertise a diploma for a price, or to earn a diploma in a ridiculously short amount of time. There is no such thing as a free lunch, and the same goes for a college degree. The programs that are diploma mills have absolutely no academic credentials or curriculum at all. With the advent of quality color laser printers and the online sources on the Internet, the diploma mills have multiplied. Some things to remember in looking for a distance learning facility or institution:
Delivery Method is irrelevant: It used to be that when you talked about having a degree from distance learning institution the inevitable question would be asked: “Is this one of those online schools? This was often an attempt to discredit or ridicule the school in question. Strictly speaking, if your institution is accredited, then it’s NOT an online school. It is a regular college, university or institution whose METHOD of delivery may or may not be online. But the degree, and the transcripts exist in a real life bricks and mortar physical location. Accredited List of Schools: To make sure its not a diploma mill, the military maintains a list of genuine schools and universities, so if in doubt, inquire with your command. School Size: It doesn’t matter if your school has twenty thousand, or two hundred students, if its accredited and the courses transfer then its likely just fine. Size does not matter.
