Poll Shows Online Gaining Stature

Posted on July 2, 2007 by Jennifer Brady

A recent, admittedly rather thin, poll indicates that degrees from online institutions are becoming more esteemed. That's good news, of course. The problem with the survey is that we all know that not all online college options are equal. You can see a brief review of this poll here.

While it is good to know that from a general perspective more and more people are giving the online option the respect it in many cases deserves, a more finite analysis should be done by would-be applicants to an online program to make sure that the choice they make is among the best in the online arena. For example, just about everyone would agree that a traditional college education is valuable. But all of these same people would also agree that the college education obtained from Fly by Night U probably isn't on a par with a university with history, tradition, and reputation of excellence such as ours.

For online programs to continue gaining stature, accreditation must be a given component of the offering. The online faculty has to be world-class. In subsequent posts here in the coming days, I plan to provide a checklist of qualities to look for in an online college offering. If you look at it and use it to select your online source, I'm confident you'll earn credits and degrees that will be held to the same level of respect as any you might gain from any traditional or online institution.