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Fortune - Online Degrees: Separating the Solid From the Flimsy
About GetEducated  >  Online Education Expert
 

CNN Money - Fortune, Oct. 26, 2012

Fortune interview with GetEducated CEO Vicky Phillips

 

Online Degrees: Separating the Solid from the Flimsy

Fortune Magazine contributor Anne Fisher -- "Ask Annie" -- interviews online education expert and GetEducated.com founder Vicky Phillips to learn how consumers can use the free tools on the Get Educated site to separate real online degree programs from bogus options and to separate low quality online degree programs from their better designed cousins.


Fortune Magazine career columnist Annie Fischer interviews Vicky Phillips, founder of GetEducated.com, about the marketing tactics used by for-profit online universities that have created a "buyer beware" marketplace for consumers seeking credible online degrees.

Says Fisher, "Phillips has been researching and comparing online degree programs for 20 years, which is about as long as they've existed. She runs a consumer-information web site called GetEducated.com that you might want to check out. The site includes a comparison tool that lets you evaluate and rank schools using 12 different filters. These include type of specialization in your major (business with a minor in finance, for instance); non-profit versus for-profit; secular versus religious (many Christian colleges now offer long-distance learning); and whether the school's programs are 100% online or "hybrids," meaning you'll have to show up in person several times per semester.

In the article, Phillips assuages concerns about how online degrees might be looked down upon by employers. She recommends the top things to look for in finding online degrees that are perceived as high in quality by online students and employers alike.

In general, Phillips believes online education has gained wide acceptance among employers. "People do worry that companies won't recognize an online degree as equal to the in-person kind," she says. "But our research shows that job interviewers have no problem with it -- as long as they see two things."

First is accreditation by a legitimate accrediting agency -- which can be tricky, since some for-profit schools claim to be accredited by phony agencies they've invented themselves.

Second, Phillips recommends consumers concentrate their search on distance degree programs offered by state universities or private brick-and-mortar schools which enjoy brad names that are familiar to local employers. Another strategy is to focus on online degree programs that come from universities which enjoy a particularly solid reputation in one's chosen industry. "Whatever reputation a school has will carry over to its online-degree programs," notes Phillips. "So a 'brand name' an employer recognizes and respects will matter a lot more than whether you earned the degree online or in person."