Katie B-- the word you want is beaucoup (bo-coo) not bookus.. .bookus isn't even a word in either English or French. But "beaucoup" means "a lot" in French. Anyways. . .
When real universities that have real campuses offer online courses, it's a legitimate form of education. When places like Strayer, Troy, or U of Phoenix offer online degrees, it's much less legit. In fact, most grad schools and many employers won't accept a degree from these schools or schools like them. These places are an office building with no real classrooms. They offer no career counseling, no real advisement, no practicums or internships, and no chance to get know professors.
Additionally, classes are not the only benefit of going to college. Tay claims she didn't miss any of the college experience working full-time, taking classes at night, and living off campus because there was nothing interesting enough to keep her on campus. My response to that is that her schedule did not allow her to see exactly what the school had to offer.
The college experience is not all about taking courses and partying in dorms. If you get involved with student clubs or study abroad, you get to take trips to places you've never been. Most campuses are also central to the arts community in the area. College gives you the chance to see plays, a symphony orchestra, or even local, regional, or national performers at discount prices. Colleges often bring in major public figures or major scholars for lectures on their specialties. You might get to see a US president, senator, supreme court judge, or a major celebrity give a talk on social issues or thier journey to the big time. Colleges also offer opportunities to get involved with volunteer work and they can hook you up with practical job experience through work-study, internships, and job fairs. Online schools don't offer these things.
Online schools also do not provide you with real connections to real people. The networks you build on your own and the networks that professors can plug you into could help you get a job, a promotion, or into a great graduate program. Having lunch with a professor, tagging along with them to a conference. working in their lab, or going into the field with them gives you an academic experience that you wouldn't have over the course of an online degree. Some professors are cool enough to hang out with and you can get to know them (and they, you) as people through doing field research or lab research with them.
Furthermore, professors base the recommendations they give on much more than just grades. In addition to grades, professors consider the kind of person you are, how well you deal with stress and adversity, your work ethic, and your real desire to study what you want to go to grad school for or your real desire to work at a particular place. Professors can't know any of that if all you are is a face on a webcam or, worse, words on a screen in a chatroom. And most grad programs and potential employers weigh recommendations more than test scores or even grades.
And most private schools are no in danger of losing students to cheaper online education most private schools provide full tuition to most students-- particularly those who come from families making less than $100,000 a year. You can go to any Ivy and about 35 other private schools for the cost of room and board. The real losers in the online education game tends to be students who get degrees that mean nothing in the long run. How can you get a nursing degree online without practical experience? How can you get a social work or teaching degree online if you never get experience in the field or in the classroom? You can't even get a valid history or anthropology degree online because you need experience in archival research or in the field.
Online education only goes so far. It might be the way to go to get the general ed requirements out of the way before you go to a brick and mortar school for the degree. At the same time, those gen ed requirements won't transfer if the school doesn't have regional accreditation. In some states, credits may not transfer between brick and mortar schools within the same state university system, never mind from private brick and mortars. And online courses are given even stricter scrutiny because they simply are not as rigorous as classroom courses.
Basically, an online education is potentially bogus and at best sketchy unless it's coming through a real brick and mortar college or university in the first place. I'd avoid low-cost diploma mills at all costs because you will probably spend a lo of money for a worthless piece of paper.
