Benefits of Going to School Online

The popularity of online schooling is increasing day by day. Whether it is business or hospitality or criminal justice, you name it and you will be able to study these subjects and get a degree online. Right from a diploma and certificate course to a bachelor and master's degree, you can get any of these through online schools. With so much avenues available in online schooling, should you go in for it or the traditional schooling, i.e., is a regular college more beneficial? Let's find out by looking at both pros and cons of online schooling...

Advantages

Easy Access
For studying through an online school, you do not need to relocate to some other city and live in a hostel, which is mostly the case with traditional college education. Online schooling can be done right in your own home and the only two things required are computer and an Internet connection.

Meets Individual Needs
There are certain people who learn more when they study on their own. There are also some people who find it extremely difficult to sit through lectures. Then there are students who imbibe more or prefer studying at night. These individual needs and study habits of certain students are easily met with online schooling.

Convenience and Freedom
One of the main benefits is that it offers full freedom to the student to study whenever he wants. So, if a student has a day job, he can pursue his education in the night and thus study and maintain his income simultaneously. If there are any familial obligations of a person, the same can be carried on along with studies through online schooling. So, for those who look for such a flexibility in one's study timings, online education is the key.

No Career Breaks Needed
The reason behind online college degrees on rise is that people who are working full-time, who want to pursue education to further their careers, have to take a break for a year or more to attend traditional college, but online schools have changed this. With online schooling, working professionals can now take up courses at their own pace, depending upon their work schedule. This means that they do not have to take a career break in between.

Time Saving
With online education, a person has the freedom of taking up courses whenever he wants. He can speed up the whole process if he has enough time on his hands. This means that people can complete their courses or degrees online in much lesser time if they want to!

Cost Saving
Compared to traditional schools, online schooling costs much less. Students do not have to spend money on staying in a hostel or on transportation for traveling to-and-fro to the college. They do not have to spend money on buying books as digital books are available. Moreover, students can take up part-time or full-time jobs and earn simultaneously. Additional income, lesser cost of education, lesser need to take a student loan - all this adds up to lesser financial burden for the students.

Disadvantages

While studying in a traditional college, a student gets to interact with fellow students as well as his teachers. It's not just the subjects that are discussed but various life issues are pondered over too. Meeting people from different backgrounds and countries, knowing about them, their culture, way of thinking, adds on to a person's growth. All this is not possible through a closed room online schooling.

Another disadvantage is that if a person lacks self motivation, if he needs someone else to constantly push him or give him feedback regarding his studies, then such a person cannot learn much through online schooling. Lastly, under most circumstances, traditional degrees are much more valued by employers than online degrees. Many of the online schools do not have a good reputation and a lot of fake schools have come up too in recent times. So, a student really needs to research about the online schools first, before taking up courses of the same.

If you ask me, one should look at one's priorities in life, one's mind set and then decide on what type of schooling suits them the best. For the students who have time on their hands and who want to give their education full attention before moving on to a job, traditional colleges are well suited. For students who want to earn while they learn and those who can motivate themselves, online schooling is the answer.
By Aastha Dogra
Read more at Buzzle: http://www.buzzle.com/articles/benefits-of-going-to-school-online.html