I live in Washington State, and have 2 young children and a hubby. Moving to a top University wouldn't be practical. With my gpa I could get into any University I wanted. Are there any online programs offered at these top Universities? I'm really hoping for Psychology.
I have my AA transfer degree :confused:

I live in Washington State, and have 2 young children and a hubby. Moving to a top University wouldn't be practical. With my gpa I could get into any University I wanted. Are there any online programs offered at these top Universities? I'm really hoping for Psychology.
I have my AA transfer degree :confused:

I don't know what your criteria are for "top" universities, but you can look at this page (http://www.onlinelearning.washington.edu/ol/degrees/) that describes what the University of Washington offers, and look at the distance learning web pages of other schools for similar information.

Well, interesting question. Things are changing a bit, where more "brick and mortar" schools are offering online degrees. There is a such a huge market they are missing, they figured they better get in on the fun.

Here are some questions to ponder:

1. First and foremost, please don't let the availability of an online degree overshadow the need to have some strategy and planning. Make sure your employers will respect that online degree. As you indicated psychology, it should be one that is reputable to most doctoral programs, or you will find yourself retaking a lot of classes.

2. Find out if the degree is marked any differently than your traditional classroom degree.

3. Find out if the same instructors teach the classroom settings vs. the online program. For example, I took some Industrial Engineering classes that the class was videotaped. Same everything; I just did not sit in the classroom.

4. Be true to yourself. It takes an unusually high amount of self-discipline to complete those online programs, and it's easy to get behind. There is something about 'having' to go to the class and sitting through the material. Depending on the class and your learning style, the ability to interact, discuss, ask questions, etc. is vastly superior in the classroom than on-line.

5. Again, depending on #1, one of the values of going to school is in the networking program. You want to make contacts, not only professional ones, but academic ones for PhD/post doctoral activities.

Just do your homework:D. Make sure the program is right for you, and will help you achieve your goal.

What do you consider a top university? Call them and ask if they have an on-line/distance learning program in your area of study.

Excellent info from Jim and great advice from Brad.

Sadly, most of the top tier schools which offer on-line courses leading to a degree have TWO stumbling blocks to be aware of:

the cost is comparable to hourly course fees (saving is in transportation and on-site living expense)
many (not all) still have some sort of residential requirement (attending on-site in brick & mortar classroom) to qualify for the actual degree.Often, folks determine they may be better suited to one on-line school than another. This is why it is important to check and confirm accreditation and transferability of courses to another school's program.

:topic:Folks taking on-line courses REALLY need self-discipline to keep up with the coursework. There is a current thread over in the ASQ Forum started by some poor jomoke who is seeking someone to write an essay for his on-line course because "he doesn't have time with his work schedule." ASQ Forum writers are kinder and gentler than a lot of public forums, but even there, the guy is being excoriated for seeking a ghostwriter or (worse) to plagiarize an essay to complete his course.

My plea is to REALLY evaluate your intestinal fortitude to follow through once you begin so you don't waste money on a course you can't or won't complete.

You can't hardly beat the University of Phoenix........


Check this out though...

http://www.classesusa.com/msnelearning/featuredschools/fos/index.html

My MBA is from California Coast University, which only has a virtual campus, is fully accredited and has never been questioned. Try www.calcoast.edu

There are some under graduit out there and more comming on line as universities begin to see the market available in more mature students.
Online does require disipline and the online group projects can make your work enviroment seem like a breeze. I recomend starting with a single class to get back in the mode of school and time management. Undergraduate are tough to come by and can not say that I have seen any for psychology. Do an internet search and see what shows up. If none are out there I would recomend looking at other degrees for under graduate such as
http://scs.indiana.edu/undergraddegrees/undergraddegrees.html
http://ideal.bgsu.edu/ONLINE/degrees.php
Plus there are others but as mentioned you have to ask and make sure that the classes and degree transfer.
You can then use these as a spring board to the masters programs which are much more widly available.
:2cents:

My MBA is from California Coast University, which only has a virtual campus, is fully accredited and has never been questioned. Try www.calcoast.edu (http://www.calcoast.edu)

I'm not sure whether you're saying CCU has never been question, or your degree hasn't. The school itself has been accredited since January of 2005, and before that had what may be charitably be described as a questionable reputation.

From this Seattle Times article (http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002484649_pennington10m.html):


In testimony before Congress last year, investigators for the General Accounting Office identified California Coast as a diploma mill.
The investigators were looking into California Coast and two other unaccredited schools that got $169,000 in taxpayer money to pay the tuition of 463 federal employees who enrolled as students.
That investigation did not involve Pennington, who received his degree before his FEMA appointment and paid for it himself. But GAO special agent Paul DeSaulniers told The Seattle Times this week that his investigation showed that California Coast University sold degrees for a flat fee.
California Coast obtained its federally recognized accreditation from the Distance Education and Training Council only this past January, according to council Assistant Director Sally Welch.
"It was a pretty questionable school for a lot of years," she said. "They had to make a lot of changes."

The Government Accounting Office report (referenced in the Seattle Times article) on federal employees with degrees from diploma mills may be rad here (http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/0514042gao1.html).

There are quite a few people teaching with degrees granted and I got mine after 2005 anyway. Before 2005 it was a "State licensed" institution. All I can say is that the "Name" Universities I have contacted about a Doctorate will accept what I have.


Looking at the level of education that many pro athletes seem to display I would suspect the institutions they went to are also "Diploma Mills" for athletes.

I live in Washington State, and have 2 young children and a hubby. Moving to a top University wouldn't be practical. With my gpa I could get into any University I wanted. Are there any online programs offered at these top Universities? I'm really hoping for Psychology.
I have my AA transfer degree :confused:
Look into Empire State College online. It is part of the State University of New York system and is accredited. I noticed that they offer coursework in Human Development.

I am about to complete a Bachelor of Science degree in Business Administration there. Since I travel for work, I have had the opportunity to take part in course discussions and submit assignments in several locations on three continents.

The price is reasonable, but not cheap. It is just enough of an investment to give a student incentive to complete the work. As was pointed out above, that's the toughest part of online study.