Rachael FlynnUnless you’ve been living under a rock for the past 20 years, you’ll have probably noticed that more and more people are going to university.
Most end up studying at traditional higher education institutions, the kind that requires regular visits to the classroom and face-to-face contact with lecturers and professors.
But for many people, it’s simply not possible to drop everything for three years in pursuit of a degree. And that can be incredibly frustrating, especially for those who want a step change.
Fortunately, there is a solution – and it’s called a distance learning degree.
Distance learning degrees allow students to work from home, with tutorial support provided over the telephone, by email, or via an online learning portal. Isn’t it useful? As a student, you can write your college term papers and send them from home, you don’t need to waste your time on the road to college every day and you have more control over your education process.
Not only is this mode of learning more flexible and convenient than a full-time degree, it’s often cheaper, making it an ideal option for those who find themselves constrained by financial or family obligations.
A number of high profile universities offer distance learning degrees, and most subjects, from Business to Physics, are covered.
But with more than 270,000 undergraduate students and 108,000 postgraduate students studying for a degree through distance learning, the question is, why should you join them?
Jumpstart Your Career
There’s nothing worse than working hard and becoming an expert at your job only to be passed over for promotion again and again in favour of some young whippersnapper fresh out of university.
You can, however, beat them at their own game without having to press the reset button. A distance learning degree might mean a heavier workload and longer nights, but it also has the potential to improve your skillset and industry knowledge, while marking you out as someone who’s willing to invest time, effort and money to get ahead.
This is exactly the kind of can-do attitude that employers are looking for, and it will stand you in good stead in a competitive work environment. Some employers might even be open to partially or fully funding your distance learning degree.
Change Careers
Being stuck in a career that bores you or doesn’t reward your talents can be pretty dispiriting.
And that’s the beauty of a distance learning degree: your boring, tight-fisted employer can deposit your wage every Friday, and you can use some of it to study something that actually interests you and will make you a lot more money in the future.
There’s also the possibility of scaling down your hours or getting a part-time job while you study.
Again, there’ll be nights when you find yourself burning the candle at both ends, but if you put in 100% it’ll end up being worth it.
Get a New Perspective
The ancient Greek philosopher Socrates famously suggested that “the unexamined life is not worth living”, and he had a point.
A distance learning degree doesn’t have to be a means to an end—like all forms of knowledge, it can be an end in itself.
Maybe you want to study History or Philosophy, the point is that a university education teaches us how to think, and that can make a person more interesting, intelligent, and empathetic—all qualities that can improve an individual’s life, not to mention the lives of those around them.
Just ask Nelson Mandela and Steven Spielberg.
Both studied for a bachelor’s degree via distance learning, so you’ll be in great company.