Continuing Your Education – Online

I was recently reading about a lot of moms that I visit with daily in a forum who are starting school this week – some starting for the first time, some continuing a program they have already started. I would like to continue and work on a master’s degree, but I don’t know where I’d find the time, the money, or the energy.

I tell myself each year when school starts, “maybe next year.”  I have come to realize that I need to find an online program as I don’t know how I’d ever find the time to go to classes each week.

Thanks to my membership with Mom Central, I’ve recently been given the chance to learn about American Public University.

What I learned:

• The classes are offered on a monthly basis.  This means you are not tied to the traditional school calendar if you know there’s a time in your life that you are too busy for courses.
• All classes are all 100% online. This I like.  Extreme flexibility for such a busy life.
• APU attempts to make an education as affordable as possible. An undergraduate degree is $750 a course, a master’s degree about $10,000 ($950 a course), no technology or application fees, books are provided with each course (My daughter is starting college this year and that’s a BIG help), and they offer federal student aid and military tuition assistance.
• There are a lot of degrees offered too. I looked around and was pleasantly surprised at how many different programs APU offers.  I was disappointed to not find a master’s in Technology that I was interested, but there were 2 or 3 education ones I’d be interested in if I was to pursue a master’s degree.

American Public University is also focusing on Mom’s (and Dad’s too).  They are setting up chats right now for parents to talk to each other and APU Representatives. Chats currently scheduled are:

Tuesday, Aug 24 at 8 p.m. ET – Chat will be include Helenjene Curtis: Bachelor of Arts in Psychology, Marie Raffay: Master of Science in Environmental Management, and Rebecca Roch: Master of Public Administration

Thursday, Aug 26 at 12:00 p.m. ET – Chat will include Jenn Deater, Bachelor of Arts in Hospitality Management

To sign up or for more info, check out the Parent Page at APU.

Why should you consider going to school? I’ll conclude with these facts about APU and college educations provided with the promotional material I received:

The typical expected lifetime earnings of four-year college graduates add up to $800,000 more than those of high school graduates. If college graduates earning higher degrees are included, the lifetime earnings premium is over $1,000,000.

The typical bachelor’s degree recipient can expect to earn about 61 percent more over a 40-year working life than the typical high school graduate earns over the same period.

In 2009, APUS received the Sloan Consortium’s Ralph E. Gomory award for quality online education and is also a two-time winner of Sloan’s Effective Practice Award.

In 2008, the National Survey of Student Engagement found that 97% of seniors enrolled at APUS had an extremely favorable view of the online learning system and would overwhelmingly attend again if they could start their college career over.

I wrote this review while participating in a blog campaign by Mom Central on behalf of American Public University. Mom Central sent me a gift card to thank me for taking the time to participate.

Other posts you may enjoy:

1. Continuing Your Education
2. Online Learning
3. Continuing to Budget Shop
4. An Online Site for Our Kids
5. Review: Onlineschoolsolutions.com