The website is a one-stop shop. It offers more than 130 online degrees, certificates, and licenses offered by the 16 UNC campuses.
 
It also offers special sections with information tailored for community college students and military personnel and their dependents based in North Carolina.
 
This collection of online degree programs is one of the largest in the United States.
 
More that 1,000 online courses will be available this fall to qualified students.
 
Initially, the website will offer more than 90 online degree programs, 35 bachelor’s degrees, 55 master’s, 2 doctoral, more than 40 online certificate and licensure programs.

UNC hopes to compete with big-name online universities such as the University of Phoenix. Students graduating from UNC’s online school will receive a diploma that is identical to that received by students graduating from one of their 16 traditional schools.

More often than not, employers are fine with online degrees from either for-profit or nonprofit schools, agrees Forrester Research analyst Claire Schooley.

“In most cases, they’re more concerned about being comfortable with the skill level of a person after they complete a degree online,” she said.

Schooley says a lot of how well a person’s academic background registers with employers depends on perspectives of human-resources directors. “If they’re familiar with an online degree program, then they’re more likely to be fairly receptive,” she added.
That’s why some analysts believe that unless you’re willing to pay top dollar for programs from schools like Duke University and Babson College, it’s smart to start your search locally or around the area you’ll be seeking a job.

Picking an online program with a brick-and-mortar presence nearby might also help, agree Schooley, Phillips and Cornell. For one, they say such a combination can offer a safety net in terms of making sure all of the learning tools you need are available when you need them.

The idea that online degrees are less respected than traditional degrees is a thing of the past. For the most part, employers look at the employee’s credentials and aptitude to fit in and succeed at the company, not where their degree came from.

References:

Jim Baker’s Online Learning -The One-Stop Site for all your Learning Needs

In order to avoid diploma mills, consider this advice from CNNMoney.com:

Experts and program administrators at some of the most well-known and largest online programs say you should check to make sure a school is properly accredited. That means credits can be transferred fairly easily between most major higher-education systems.

One way of double checking a college’s claim is by contacting a well-known university in your area to see if they accept credits from the online degree program in question, says Warren Ashley, a distance learning program director at California State University Dominguez Hills in Los Angeles.

Another red flag he warns about is a college offering to trade “life experience” for classroom credits. Although that’s a common practice for gaining acceptance into graduate schools, Ashley says such swaps aren’t generally counted as substitutes for credits at accredited universities.

“People need to make sure no expensive preconditions exist in the online program they’re considering,” Ashley added. “Some traditional schools just don’t believe in earning a degree completely online. They’ll require you to take at least a class or two on campus.”

Another good way of deciphering whether or not a school is reputable is simply to enter the name of the school in a search engine and see what other students (current and former) are saying in chat rooms and message boards. In general, if an institution is trying to simply sucker you out of money, people are going to do their best to warn others.

At a time of global economic uncertainty, MBAs from the best schools are the most attractive to employers. During a boom, almost any MBA is employable.

As for earnings, most full-time MBAs who pay their own way and attend a good school can reasonably expect to recover their fees, subsistence and lost salary from their enhanced earnings in under four years on a one-year full-time MBA, and an average of five or six years on a two-year program.

Three years after earning an MBA from a top school, graduates can earn three times their pre-MBA salary. Even an ‘average’ MBA will earn an immediate 40% extra.

In a recent report by Forbes Magazine, business professionals who had graduated from some of the nation’s top universities reported that their salaries had nearly tripled within five years of graduating from their MBA program. With results like the, the answer to the question of whether or not an MBA is a good investment is a resounding yes.

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About Online Degrees Today.com

Check out our entire selection of online accredited universities at Online Degrees Today including programs such as mba degrees, business degrees, accounting degrees, business management degrees and more.

1. Get a free checking and savings account. The bank will nickel and dime you on dumb stuff like too many ATM withdrawals, too many checks written, or a funds transfer. Shop the town for banks catering to students. Make sure you can access online banking, pay bills and manage your account without attached fees.
2. If you have to have a credit card, make sure you get one with the lowest interest rate possible; no annual fees and with only enough of a credit limit to get you by in an emergency. Don’t carry it with you, but instead keep it in a safe place known only to you.
3. Pay credit card bills on time. Companies charge late fees, sometimes as much as $50 per month. And do not go over your credit limit—that offers just one more way for your credit card company to get rich off your poor judgment.
4. If you can’t borrow, buy used college textbooks. On sites like Amazon.com used hardcover books are often cheapest. Soft cover are more valued for convenience, so if you’re willing to haul a couple extra ounces, then hardcover is the cost-saving choice. ISBN.nu allows you to easily compare book prices from major online book stores. The campus bookstore will sell a supply of used books, but they are limited; so check the online sources as well.

Students who are serious about saving money should first figure out exactly where there money is going. Save all of your receipts for a week, and, at the end of the week, add up where exactly most of your money is being spent. If you’re spending more than your weekly budget on eating out, then it may be a good time to learn how to cook.

With the continuing shortage of qualified professionals in the news, health care programs remain at the top of the list for students seeking an online education. The government estimates that medical careers will continue to mushroom in popularity for decades in order to fill a very real need.

Stan Banks, president of Virginia College Online, notes, “We offer two-year associate degrees in some of the most important medical careers. For instance, Healthcare Reimbursement can lead to a medical career with an HMO, insurance company, hospital or doctor’s office. Medical insurance paperwork has become more and more complex over the years, and specialists are always needed who understand the system. Health Services Management is a bachelor’s degree program for those who are already working in the field and who would like to move into management.”

Virginia College is only one of the many colleges that offer online healthcare degrees. For a comprehensive list of online colleges and their respective healthcare degrees, visit our healthcare degree page.

MBA Loans
There are a number of loan programs available to MBAs. Check to see if you are eligible for government-subsidized loans. Also, the GMAC has started the MBA LOANS program.

Scholarships
MBA programs have scholarship monies available for applicants fitting particular profiles.

Employers
Sometimes employers can be convinced to help support the costs of MBA programs. You may be required to work for a certain number of years for the employer after graduating in order to repay their assistance.

Savings
Many students fund part of their MBA education out of their personal savings.

Tax Breaks
Some of the money you spend on your education may qualify you for tax breaks.

Grants
A number of organizations provide grant money for students. There are a number of grant directories available in print and on the Internet.

Students who are interested in finding funding for their graduate education should start by contacting their school’s financial aid office. They should be able to give you some idea of where to start on your search for funding options.

Online credit hours at the University of Minnesota, Crookston are up 41 percent over summer semester 2006. The increase is being attributed to the U of M, Crookston accreditation by the Higher Learning Commission (HLC), along with two additional bachelor’s degrees available entirely online.

“As a working adult, I knew that the traditional on campus college degree was not an option for me,” said Tony Decembrini, an online manufacturing management student from California. “I needed and wanted something a little more flexible. As a transfer student I was searching for the right online degree and the University of Minnesota, Crookston was just what I was looking for.”

As more students seek degrees from online institutions, more employers hire employees who hold online degrees, and more colleges are getting in on the trend. The growing number of students seeking online degrees serves as just more evidence that online degrees are becoming more and more legitimate to people all over the world.

• Forensic Nursing
• Game Art and Design
• Holistic Health and Nutrition
• Natural Resource Management
• Digital and Graphic Design
• Criminal Justice
• IT Networking and System Management
• Homeland Security
• Information Technology Security
• Executive Coaching

Students interested in entering any of these fields should seriously consider training for them in an online environment. An online degree in these fields of study can earn you the technological abilities that you’ll need to score the job after graduation.

• Actuary
• Architect
• Audiologist
• Clergy
• Dentist
• Editor
• Engineer
• Fundraiser
• Higher Education Administrator
• Landscape Architect
• Librarian
• Management Consultant
• Medical Scientist
• Occupational Therapist
• Optometrist
• Pharmacist
• Physician
• Physician Assistant
• Politician
• Professor
• Registered Nurse
• School Psychologist
• Speech-Language Therapist
• Systems Analyst
• Urban Planner

Many things were considered to determine which professions to deem the best careers, including the rise of Internet use and the aging baby boomer generation. Each job was also ranked based on the median pay, the position’s attainability, the quality of life of a person in the profession, the job market outlook, and the degree required to get a job in the profession.