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If you have a bachelor degree, you might consider advancing your credentials while jobs are few and candidates abundant. That’s what many others have apparently been doing.  As a result, these students are contributing to an increase in master’s degree enrollments, according to Inside Higher Education. New and expanded master’s degree programs were being created at the time of the publication’s last year report. And online master’s degree programs might make it easier for many to obtain a graduate university degree.

Earning a master’s degree could put you in solid company, since rising numbers of adults since the 1990’s have reportedly been obtaining them. In 2006-2007, more than 600,000 master’s degrees were awarded, up 44 percent over those awarded in 1996-1997, National Center for Education Statistics show.  The majority of those who received master’s degrees in 2006-2007 were women, and the number of minority graduate students is said to be increasing.

Online degree programs might make it easier for students pursuing master’s degrees to schedule their studies. Online degree programs overall are reportedly growing fast, and students can study for a master’s online between work and family responsibilities and from wherever they have Internet access. Students might also find accelerated online master’s degree programs where they can accomplish their goals in less time than they otherwise would. Earning a master’s degree online can also be easier with the help of tuition assistance.

Students considering pursuing this type of degree online might look particularly toward STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects. The Obama administration, along with business groups and state governments, have been working to enhance incentives and programs in these subject areas particularly, according to a January 2009 article in an educational magazine known as Converge.

Master’s degree programs train highly skilled science professionals who significantly contribute to the country’s economic competitiveness, according to a quote from Council for Graduate Studies President Debra W. Stewart in a news release. STEM majors might enter careers in nanotechnology that’s involved with manufacturing products such as the iPod. They might also contribute to developments in wind and solar power that are intended to help the natural environment.

Online master’s degree programs in the STEM subjects include everything from professional science and environmental engineering to cybersecurity and bioethics. And industries in the STEM subject areas are looking for qualified applicants, the Converge article noted.

Still, a low percentage of American college students opt for STEM studies as compared with students in other countries, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. A National Center for Education Statistics report suggests that master’s degree recipients here during the 2006-2007 academic year majored most often in education, business and health science degrees. The fewest master’s degrees that year were awarded in mathematics and statistics, the report shows. And while master’s degrees in the field of security and protective services enjoyed the largest percent increase between 1996-1997 and 2006-2007, master’s degrees in physical sciences and science technologies saw the smallest percent increase, the National Center for Education Statistics reported.

Tuition costs for students interested in pursuing online master’s degrees can be offset by scholarships and fellowships that colleges, universities, organizations and non-profit foundations provide. Students can find fellowships available in the areas of teaching, the humanities, theology, western civilization and more. Some scholarships and fellowships are intended specifically for women and minorities. Students pursuing degrees in the STEM subjects might look toward groups such as NASA, the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the American Society for Microbiology and the U.S. Departments of Energy, Defense and Homeland Security for master’s level fellowships.

Grants, scholarships and fellowships are all aids that help the student in the pursuit of their distance degree.  With the encouragement being offered for students to enter STEM fields, starting with their associates degree and working your way up to their masters degree online.