Thinking about attending Graduate School but don't know if you have enough time? A great option to look into is online Graduate School. It has a lot of the same attributes as a campus based school but with a few extra benefits.

One of the biggest and best benefits of online graduate school is the convenience and flexibility. Distance learning allows someone to learn at their own pace from the comfort of their own home. Although there are still deadlines, you never have to leave your computer to turn in assignments or get to class. It is great for a student who may have children and can not find or afford a babysitter to get to classes. Online classes allow the student to not worry about any of that, and still be able to "attend" class.

Online grad school is especially convenient for students with part-time or full-time jobs that might not have time to go to scheduled classes every week. Before, it may have not been possible for someone to make time to go to school as well, but distance learning makes this easy. In fact, many companies will reimburse you for taking the initiative to further your education, so that is another added bonus.

Just remember that a Graduate Degree can give you a competitive edge in the job market. Online Graduate School now makes it possible to keep a full time job and further your education at the same time. It makes it possible to spend time with your family and go to class without ever leaving your house. As of 2000, only 8.9% of Americans have earned a graduate degree, so consider online schooling and become apart of this prestigious group.

Lately on the news, it has been said that universities are going to push students to finish undergrad in four years. There are definitely pros and cons to this decision. This will help lower costs and financial issues, but a lot of students and parents are not happy about this. You can not always push students if they are not academically capable.

Pros:

The Expenses

College is a huge expense that many parents have to save up for over many years. In fact, the mean annual Total cost (full time post-secondary schooling costs, such as tuition and fees, books and supplies, room and board) is getting higher every year. It is hard for a lot of parents to find the money to send their children to school, so they definitely can not afford to send their child to school for them to waste time and money.

In 2001, the Total Costs are listed below:

College years 1 to 2: $9489 (per year)

College years 3 to 4: $11901 (per year)

Total, four year schooling: $42780

College years 5 or plus: $13669 (per year)

Vocational, technical, business or other: $7401 (per year)

Just one more year at a university than your parents originally planned for you can cause a huge issue financially. And that is just the costs that the college students family will spend. That is not even adding in all the extra money that the school will spend on giving you grants, more instructors for more students, etc.

Wasted Time

Another pro is that students won't be wasting time anymore. For the most part, college is made for students to go at their own pace and finish when they please. A lot of students waste so much time because they never want to leave and get into the real world. Pushing students to graduate in four years would eliminate all of the wasted, extra time that college students are trying to hold on to.

Cons:

In 2008, 36% of enrolled students graduated from college in four years. 57% completed their undergraduate requirements in six years, at the same college they first enrolled in. This statistic alone shows that clearly not everyone is able to complete college in four years. Some of the reasons students can not finish in four years are sometimes due to having extremely tough majors, health issues, or not being enrolled as a full-time student. You can not push someone to load up on extremely tough classes if they can not handle it. This will just cause more students to do poorly in classes and it will put a strain on the school and the students GPA. In the end, it will just end up hurting the students instead of helping them.

So as college students, college students to be, or parents of college students-What is your opinion on pushing students to finish undergraduate in four years?