Pros and Cons of Online Schooling

Online schooling, which initially was thought of as an option for pursuing education for working professionals who wanted to earn while studying, and for people who are disabled or with familial obligations, is now fast catching up with regular students as well.

Today, various kinds of online courses and degrees are available in subjects as diverse as business, hospitality management, engineering, science, web designing, and law, amongst others, for all kinds of students. So, is online schooling meant for you? Read on to know its various advantages and disadvantages.

If you want to maintain a steady income while studying, then online schooling is a better option for you. With online courses, you can study anywhere and at any time of the day. It is you who will be deciding the pace of your courses.

You can finish a degree early or can delay it, depending upon your own convenience. Working professionals can especially benefit a lot, as they do not have to take a break in their career to pursue education. Freedom, flexibility, and convenience are its main benefits.

Moreover, if you take up a part-time job, you won't even need to take an educational loan. Thus, you get to save a lot of money and reduce your financial burden to a great extent.

As is true for most of the online school students, you would most probably be working along with pursuing education. This means that, whatever theoretical concepts are taught to you in the class, you get to apply them practically in a work situation.

One of the biggest disadvantages is that a student does not get to interact with other students and teachers. He studies in isolation, and may not be able to view a given subject or topic from various perspectives.

This means that his chances of learning or growth might actually be lesser as compared to students who attend full-time colleges and get to discuss various kinds of things and situations, as well as hang out with their fellow students. So, for a well-rounded personality and to grow as an individual, you should go in for regular full-time college education.

If you are someone who has always had a problem making and sticking to schedule, and if you need someone else to inspire and motivate you to do a task, then perhaps you should give up the whole idea of going to an online school.

You are expected to take up courses according to your own pace and decide your own study hours. So, for students who lack discipline or self-motivation, regular college courses are a better suited alternative.

Of course, these dynamics change if the online degree holder is a professional with years of experience. Nevertheless, mostly, students with a traditional degree are preferred over online degree holders by employers.

These days, with multiple school choices, online, students have a lot of difficulty in determining which ones are genuine and which are fake. So, if you do not research properly, you could end up in a fake school, whose course or degree will hold no value in your future professional life.

Looking at the various pros and cons, it can be said that online schooling might be good for some, while for others, a regular, traditional college degree would be a much better alternative. So, look at your individual situation, need and temperament, and then decide whether to enroll for an online or a full-time course.