Benefits of Regionally Accredited Online Colleges
By: Peter Ndegwa
College education is an important part of a youngster’s life. It equips a person with the skills he or she requires to pursue a future career in his or her chosen field of study. But everyone is not necessarily lucky to study in a college or university and there are many youngsters who are forced to start working due to their circumstances. For such people regionally accredited online colleges are a great blessing.
There are generally six regional accreditation bodies in the USA. They look after the accreditation of the educational institutions within their specific geographical location. One has a choice of many courses that are offered by the regionally accredited colleges which encompass a number of fields of study that range from a bachelor’s degree to a PhD doctorate degree.
Regionally accredited online colleges are held in high esteem. In fact, these are the same regionally accredited traditional brick and mortar colleges that offer online degree programs in addition to on-campus education. Before gaining accreditation, colleges are investigated by the accrediting body so as to ensure that the college meets certain quality standards.
There is no difference between the online degrees you get from a regionally accredited online university with the on-campus degree from the same university. The internet classrooms and lecture halls are similar to those found in any college campus. Those students who desire to pursue a degree program in any regionally accredited online college have to fulfill certain pre-requisites while choosing their course of study. They can easily utilize chat rooms and message boards to communicate with their professors and also other fellow students.
Being regionally accredited educational institutions, these online colleges impart a high level of knowledge to their students whatever be their course of study. Once the students have successfully completed their course they are awarded an accredited degree. This degree from an accredited online college is at par with the degrees that are conferred by the regular colleges or universities. These degrees are recognized and accepted by their employers as also other academic institutions. Therefore it is very important for the student to be particular about attending courses only from a regionally accredited online college. If this is not done, the time, effort and money spent on getting a degree will be wasted.
Regionally accredited institutions are guided as well as controlled by the Accreditation Commission. They have to ensure that they meet the stringent high standards laid down by the commission as regards the coursework, the degrees offered, and the topics of study involved, quality of facilities offered to the students, the faculty as well as aspects like student funding. If the online colleges fail to meet the required standards then they stand to lose their accreditation.
In spite of being online colleges, these institutions insist that the students log in online at least thrice a week to ensure that they attend lectures and discussions as also participate in the threaded e-mail discussions on the subject that they are studying at the time. These colleges offer many advantages to their students.
The first advantage is that of convenience. The classes conducted by accredited online colleges are convenient and the student can log in at any time according to his or her routine. These colleges also offer a large variety of courses and the degrees range from bachelors, associate, masters as well as doctorate degrees. One has the freedom to choose the best suited program.
Students pursuing their education from regional online colleges are also eligible to apply for a federal loan to cover their educational expenses if they opt for an accredited institution. These colleges are generally non-profit colleges which are highly oriented academically. When a student enrolls in such a college he can be sure that the education he would receive and the degree that he earns would be of the highest standard.
About Author:
Peter Ndegwa is an expert in online education and the editor of Online-Degree-Programs-Guide.com, the complete resource guide to online learning. Here’s more information about Regionally Accredited Online Colleges.
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