Prepare For A New Career With Your College Degrees!

They could be seen as turning lemons into lemonade. Adults in this sluggish economy with high unemployment rates are reportedly using the time to update their skills and train for new jobs.  They are finding that the university degrees they didn’t get right after high school are becoming a necessity, not a perk.

In April, a Rhode Island woman told the Providence Journal that the financial planning industry she was in had changed.  She went back to school to “retool” as she viewed the Internet and computers as the future.  And a man who reportedly held a dozen jobs since his 1996 high school graduation in 2008 ventured back to school to study Web design after being laid off from a payroll company where he worked, this same Providence Journal report noted.

People (by some estimates) change careers every 10 years, and Labor Department approximations suggest that 40 percent of the American population changes jobs each year, according to a “32 Trends Affecting Distance Education” report. The report also noted that the Information Age that we’re in is expected to cause a continuous cycle of retraining and retooling.

Online college classes and online degree programs can help adults who want to retrain and retool.  Distance college offerings can be flexible enough that students can better schedule studies between family and work responsibilities. Students enrolled in online college offerings can also save on time, fuel and costs needed for commuting while, at the same time, enhancing their technology skills simply by participating in coursework, skills that will never become obsolete. Online degree programs are available at the associate, bachelor, master’s and doctorate levels. Some online programs offer certificates instead.

Online college programs are offered by virtual institutions, as well as by colleges and universities with physical campuses. Some of these programs are provided entirely online; others combine distance learning with time campus-based elements. Online college enrollment and the number and variety of degree programs have seen substantial growth. Some degrees online can provide students with training for careers that themselves are expected to experience growth. Reports suggest that these areas include engineering and environmental sciences, health care, and technology.

A California woman with a bachelor degree and several teaching credentials experienced success after retraining in the area of the environment, according to an April San Diego News Network report. Unable to find a teaching job in 2008, this woman participated in a certificate program and has since landed a job in sales for a Pasadena company that provides composting services and education, the news network noted.

At least one school in the Atlanta area offers a hybrid doctorate program intended especially for those who want to change jobs, according to an April report in the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. This particular program is designed for executives who want to become professors. Among its students: a six-figure executive who was laid off, out of work for 10 months and laid off from yet another job not long afterward, the Journal-Constitution article noted.

Adults who are considering getting their online diploma via distance classes might consider advice from experts and select those that are offered by regionally accredited institutions. With accredited online institutions, students are more likely to be able to transfer credits and obtain financial aid, making your bachelor of science a valuable first step. If you would like more information about university distance learning degree, please check the internet.