DegreeGo Blog

Most students go to college to get a degree that will lead to a decently-paid job. While this sometimes happens, there are other times when the job isn’t paying so decent; thankfully, Income-Based Repayment lets these low-paid graduates at least keep their heads above water, and at the very least, they get to participate in a career that is set in a field that have expertise–and hopefully enjoyment–in. Right?

For the most part, yes, except for those unfortunate graduates that the economy somehow stuck in McDonalds jobs.

Who are these students? Other than motivated adults and high school graduates, what makes up the populace of students that are going to college in search of that “bigger and better” career?

The Post 9/11 GI Bill has had a shaky first semester, to say the least. Stories from military personnel like the Army of Dude are not at all uncommon and active duty, reserve, and veterans alike scramble to find some kind of sanity in the middle of the financial aid delirium. First semesters for programs usually have hiccups in them, and once these issues are ironed out, the new GI Bill will have a long-term positive result on higher education.

Some of the long-term positive effects include: more military members in high-level, corporate jobs; increased enrollment and diversity in military-friendly online schools, like American Sentinel University; and more military recruitment and retention as prospective students and families continue to pursue financial benefits from military service.

TIME released an article about the creativity of colleges that have to face a staggering 20%+ cut to funding due to the financial crisis sweeping over our educational system. While private colleges such as Saint Leo University and American Sentinel University are still thriving in the current fiscal struggles of our nation due to being in charge of their own funding, state-run colleges are facing dire cuts that could mean degrees taking longer than four years for new college students to finish.

Here are a couple of the creative ways public colleges have been handling the thin budget.

Heated debates are rampant across the Internet for trying to get a Kindle into the hands of every student–or some other e-book alternative. The discussion about e-books being offered at the college level has also come up. Whether it is at the K-12 public school level, at primary education private schools, or at the higher education level, e-books are taking the educational system by storm and slowly evolving into the new “must have” for the students of this generation.

This isn’t new. Digital books have been taking over the publishing industry for quite some time, causing debates whether books should be published immediately in e-book format on hardback release date or not (which can lead to a probable decline in hardcover sales for the book stores.) E-books are simply education getting on the electronic book bandwagon.

Some schools, like American Sentinel University, were offering free Kindles to students that enrolled before the end of last August. Not surprising, considering the same colleges are going through an e-book reform so that they may offer course material to their students without the back-breaking weight on their shoulders or the extraneous costs of printed reading.

Most schools are coeducation, meaning male and female students. Single-sex education, however, is still an option available. What are the advantages and disadvantages of attending a single-sex school?

In a different generation, colleges were mostly men, and young girls and boys went to separate boarding schools. It took a tail dive when the movement against sexism peaked and now it is common for there to be a balance of female and male students. The clear disadvantage to single-sex education that caused it to lower to begin with is gender inequality.

For many, coeducation means equality, the chance for everyone to learn the same things. It also gives an additional environment for different gender friendships and relationships. Schools that offer single-sex environments no longer operate under the assumption that genders are not equal, however; it is rather a personal choice, a decision to study in a particular environmental.

The DegreeGo Blog partners with Discover Online Learning to bring prospective and current college students the resources needed to research online degrees in the healthcare and business industries, as well as in hot degree subjects like Information Technologies and Criminal Justice. Discover Online Learning brings several blogs together in one, comprehensive source for the prospective college student.