Prepare For A New Career With Your College Degrees!

Adults throughout the country are updating their skills and training for new jobs at a time when unemployment rates are high and the economy sluggish.  Obtaining their university degrees online is one way they are changing lemons into lemonade.

Take, for instance, the case of a Rhode Island financial planner. She told the Providence Journal in April that the industry had changed, that she saw computers and the Internet as the future and that she had returned to school to “retool”.  A man who reportedly held a dozen jobs since his 1996 high school graduation and was laid off in 2008 from a payroll company where he worked returned to school to study Web design, according to this same Journal report.

People by some estimates change careers every 10 years, and Labor Department approximations suggest that 40 percent of the American population changes jobs annually, according to a “32 Trends Affecting Distance Education” report. What’s more, the report noted the Information Age that we’re in is expected to bring about a continuous cycle of retraining and retooling.

Adults who are interested in retraining and retooling might find online college classes and degree programs particularly appealing. Many of these programs better enable students to schedule studies between family and work responsibilities. Students enrolled in distance college offerings can also save on time, fuel and costs needed for commuting while, at the same time, enhancing their technology skills simply by participating in coursework. Adults interested in updating their skills or training for new careers can find online degree programs available at the associate, bachelor, master’s and doctorate levels. Online certificate programs also are available.

Online college programs are offered by virtual institutions, as well as by colleges and universities with physical campuses. Some of these programs are provided entirely online; others combine distance learning with time campus-based elements. Online college enrollment and the number and variety of degree programs have seen substantial growth. Some degrees online can provide students with training for careers that themselves are expected to experience growth. Reports suggest that these areas include engineering and environmental sciences, health care, and technology.

A California woman with a bachelor degree and several teaching credentials experienced success after retraining in the area of the environment, according to an April San Diego News Network report. Unable to find a teaching job in 2008, this woman participated in a certificate program and has since landed a job in sales for a Pasadena company that provides composting services and education, the news network noted.

At least one school in the Atlanta area offers a hybrid doctorate program intended especially for those who want to change jobs, according to an April report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. This particular program is designed for executives who want to become professors. Among its students: a six-figure executive who was laid off, out of work for 10 months and laid off from yet another job not long afterward, the Journal-Constitution article noted.

Experts recommend that students considering distance degree for university degrees select schools that are regionally accredited. When an online school is accredited, there’s a better chance students can transfer credits and obtain financial aid, the U.S. Department of Education suggests. Obtaining your masters degree is one step on the way to better job and financial prospects. If you would like more information about PhD degree, please check the internet.

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