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While there is always a lot of debate as to whether an online college education is as good as a traditional college education, the answer is really very simple; there are good institutions that offer an online college education and there are bad establishments that offer an online college education. The same holds true for traditional college degree programs.

So, just as when you are looking for an offline course, you need to do the same kind of your research when you are looking for the best place to pursue an online college education.

Of course, you normally won’t care where the college is located unless part of the online program involves off-line meetings. Usually the physical location just doesn’t matter. However, a lot of the other points that you would consider before attending a traditional offline college or university should also be considered before you enroll with any organization offering an online college education.

The growth in the numbers of people pursuing an online college education has led to increased competition among institutions to attract students. The best way to assess the credibility of a site advertising that they have the best online college education is to ask about the accreditation of its courses. Accreditation means that some governing body for a particular field has endorsed the course. This can be extremely important in helping you to decide who to trust with your online college education. If a course is not accredited then you need to find out why.

There may be a number of courses that have not yet received accreditation from an appropriate association or governing body but still offer a good online college education. For example, the establishment may have applied for accreditation but not yet been assessed. In that case you can actually check with the particular accrediting agency to be certain that they actually are in the process of assessing the application for accreditation. Another reason may be that there is no appropriate accrediting body for a course. This is less likely but, nevertheless, could be a valid reason and doesn’t necessarily indicate that the course offered is not going to be worth taking to advance your online college education.

If, however, you find that the online college education institution has been refused accreditation, then they are likely to try to tell you that accreditation is not important. And that simply isn’t true. An online college education from a non-accredited institution is not going to be viewed as positively as one from an accredited establishment. Choose where you go to get your online college education with care to ensure that you are not wasting your time and money by having a nearly worthless qualification.

Another factor related to accreditation has to do with professions requiring some form of governmental license or certification. You need to be certain that any college degree or other course certification will be acceptable to whatever licensing body has authority over the profession in the location you live and work in. For example, a course which is accepted in one state, may not be accepted by the authorities in another state.

You need to think of the online college education arena as a marketplace. You are the consumer and as in any marketplace, you need to check the quality of the product and the ‘merchant’ according to the circumstances that apply to you and your area of study. While this may seem like a lot of work at times, it is your future, your time and your money that are involved. So take a little extra time and verify the value of any online college program (or any type of online learning) that you are considering.

Copyright 2005 Richard Keir

As a writer and educator, both online and offline, Richard strongly supports the value of quality online educational programs in increasing access to education in today’s hectic world. Learn more about online college programs: http://online-learning.blgz.info/ and online learning http://learning.werkz.org/ at these sites.

Tags: college degree, college degree online, college online, Online College Education, online educationcollege degree, college degree online, college online, Online College Education, online education

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Many scholarship-finding services will tell you that “millions of dollars in private scholarship money goes unused every year” and they can guarantee that you will get this money by using their service and most of time there is up front fee incur. BEWARE! It might be scholarship scam’s trap. In general, if you have to pay money to get money, it’s probably a scam.

Every year thousand of students and parents are defrauded by scholarship scams. And many of them even unaware that they had dropped into the trap of scholarship scams, the victims usually write off the money paid up front to the scams as thinking they just simply didn’t win the scholarship.

Let review some of common scholarship scams so that your will be alerted and precaution about the suspicious scholarship offers.

Common Scholarship Scams

According to the Federal Trade Commission’s Scholarship Scams, if you receive an offer that uses one of these tactics, be suspicious:

• The scholarship is guaranteed or your money back

  Beware of scholarship-finding services that guarantee you will win a scholarship or your money will be refunded. If it is a scam, you will find it extremely difficult to qualify for refund, because this refund guaranteed often have terms & condition attached. Get and review refund policies before you pay.

• Ask for your credit card or bank account to hold the winning scholarship for you

  If you receive phone call saying that you have won a scholarship and they need your credit card or bank account in order to hold the winning scholarship for you. Never! Never give out any credit card or bank account without getting information or confirmation in writing first. It might be a set-up for an unauthorized withdrawal from your account.

• A super low interest rate loan that need advance fee

  This scam will offer you an unusual low interest rate loan but they will ask you to pay for a fee during the loan application submission. And when you pay for it, the promised loan never materializes. Be aware, real education loan usually deduce the fees from the disbursement check. It never required you to pay for a fee when you submit an application. If the loan is not issued by a bank or other recognized lender, it is probably a scam. Check the offer with your local bank’s manager before you pay..

• You can’t get this scholarship information from anywhere else

  There are many scholarship lists available for public. A real scholarship is normally announced to public and you can get this information easily from college and the recognized financial aid agencies. Start your own researching from those locations before you pay for somebody to do the work for you.

• You won a scholarship prize!

  The scam will inform you that you have won a college scholarship worth a few thousands of dollars but you will be asked to pay for a “redemption” fee or taxes before they can release your prize. If you receive this good news but you don’t remember entering any scholarship contest, be suspicious. Even If you have entered the contest, check and get the winning confirmation letter first before any payment being made. There are scams use the real scholarship contest to cheat for money, they know many people are enrolled for the contest and by chance you are in the list.

Summary

The above are just some commons in scholarship scams. There are still many other scholarship scams around. Always be precaution in any scholarship offer to you and always check for confirmation before any money pay out. The basic guideline is “if you have to pay money to get money, it’s probably a scam”.

www.studykiosk.com - Listing the best Distance Learning Programs available to date, It explains the many ins and outs of attending a “Virtual Classroom” to help you succeed in realizing your educational goals from self-improvement, to certification, to earning an online degree. This site also profiled Universities & Colleges & consolidated financial aids information to ease the students who plan for getting financial aid in earning their degrees.

Tags: Education, financial aid, loan, online degree, online education, scam, scholarship, study abroadEducation, financial aid, loan, online degree, online education, scam, scholarship, study abroad

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Getting a college degree today is easier than ever before thanks to the number of institutions offering distance learning opportunities. Whether you are pursuing a undergraduate, graduate, or doctorate degree you can choose from scores of degree granting schools. 57 leading institutions are featured here.

1. Southern Christian University

2. University of Phoenix

3. Walden University

4. DeVry University

5. Kaplan University

6. Everglades University

7. Ellis College

8. American International University

9. Capella University

10. St. Louis University

11. Regent University

12. Utica College

13. The University of Scranton

14. University of Saint Mary

15. Touro University International

16. Stetson University Virtual School

17. Nova Southeastern University

18. South University

19. St. Joseph’s College of Maine

20. San Joaquin Valley College

21. Rasmussen College

22. Keiser College

23. Jacksonville University

24. Jones International University

25. LeTourneau University

26. Crown College

27. University of St. Augustine

28. Rosalind Franklin University of Medicine and Science

29. University of Northeastern Ohio

30. University of Southern Indiana

31. Florida Metropolitan University

32. Champlain College

33. Bellevue University

34. Pitt Community College

35. Stephens College

36. The College of St. Scholastica

37. Vincennes University

38. North Arizona University

39. St. Petersburg College

40. Barton County Community College

41. Simon Fraser University

42. Simmons College

43. A.T. Still University

44. Medical College of Georgia

45. ECPI College of Technology

46. Westwood College

47. Kettering University

48. Thomson Education Direct

49. South University

50. National American University

51. Columbia Southern University

52. Canadian Virtual University

53. Western Governors University

54. US Sports Academy

55. The Art Institute Online

56. Bryant and Stratton Online

57. ACCIS

Scores of additional schools also offer distance learning to their students including traditional “brick and mortar” universities. Drexel, Fairleigh Dickinson, East Carolina, and Iowa State, are some who fall into this category.

So, whether you are pursuing an art certificate, a B.A. in Psychology, an MBA, or a PhD consider doing your studies from a laptop and never set foot in a classroom again.

Matt Keegan is The Article Writer who writes on a variety of topics from aviation to zoos. You can visit his site for samples of some of his work: http://www.thearticlewriter.com

Tags: bachelors degree, college, diploma, doctorate degree, masters degree, online education, universitybachelors degree, college, diploma, doctorate degree, masters degree, online education, university

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