Have you heard good - or bad - things about an online college? Share which online universities you feel are the best in a reputation review.
"Anybody who's thinking of enrolling in an online degree ... take a good look at GetEducated.com . Go ... get a free download of a detailed guide ."
Searching for an Online MBA?: "Several websites can help .. first, GetEducated.com offers free rankings of distance-learning MBA programs."
"Beware diploma mills... Go to GetEducated.com and ask the Diploma Mill Police."
"For a distance MBA you can pay from $6,000 to $120,000. To get the most bang for your buck ... check out GetEducated.com"
GetEducated.com – "a great source for weeding out phonies" (among online colleges).
"Thanks much for your wonderful site! I've recommended it to my students and entered a program I found at GetEducated.com." --Charles Balch, MBA, Ph.D. --Professor, Arizona Western College
Vicky Phillips -- Founder of GetEducated.com ... "for 20 years the leading consumer advocate for online college students" ... Different Paths to a College Degree, Sept. 2009
Vicky Phillips ... founder of GetEducated.com ... "one of the nation’s leading experts on educational fraud" ... . ~Joyce Lain Kennedy~ (Nov, 2009), LA Times
"Kiplinger Personal Finance" partners with Get Educated - Top 15 Picks Prestigious Online Masters Degrees
Get Educated helps LATimes Consumer Reporter David Lazarus in "Getting an Education Learning Over the Internet" -- Nov. 10, 2010
Get Educated's beloved mascot, Chester Ludlow, dog with online MBA, helps Neely Tucker, Washington Post reporter, expose murderous minister with degree mill pedigree - Dec. 2010
Getting an online psychology bachelor's? Join the club: psychology is the most popular liberal arts degree major, whether you’re attending school online or on campus.
It’s also one of the lowest-paying majors for entry-level workers.
Let's consider the numbers. What does an online psychology bachelor's cost?
The average cost of an online psychology undergraduate degree is about $44,174, according to research undertaken by Get Educated in spring 2011. Prices range from a low of about $18,000 for a four-year bachelor's in sociology at Colorado State University-Pueblo to a high of about $113,000 for a online psychology bachelor’s at Drexel University.
These costs include tuition and fees, but not books or wages lost while you take time off to earn your degree.
Online Psychology Bachelors: Average Salaries
According to the National Association of Colleges and Employers (NACE), new psychology bachelor's degree recipients received job offers averaging $32,358 in 2010. Moreover, psychology salaries are down 5.6 percent from 2009, says NACE.
Psychology majors make below the national average for liberal arts students ($34,747)—and well below economics majors (about $50,000) and computer science grads ($61,112).
Careers That Pay for Online Psychology Degrees
Finding a good job in counseling or psychology with only a bachelor's degree may also be a challenge.
Since most jobs in the psychology field—being a therapist, for example—require at least a master's degree, it can be difficult to find psychology-related employment if you only hold an online psychology bachelor's.
The Bureau of Labor Statistics found in 2008 that 172,000 people were employed in a psychology profession. Almost all—164,000—held advanced degrees: either master's or doctorates. Only 6,000 held bachelor's.
Within the psychology profession, says Jessica Kohout, director of the Center for Workforce Studies at the American Psychological Association, the bachelor's degree isn't considered an entry-level credential: a master's is “barely” a qualifier. Instead, says Kohout, a doctorate is required for many jobs.
Those with only a bachelor’s in psychology, says Kohout, often find jobs unrelated to the degree. “What you’re finding is that they end up in retail or in sales—in the service industry, not psychology,” she says.
Thomas Bailey, PhD, director of the online undergraduate psychology degree program at the University of Maryland-University College, says psychology bachelor’s degrees provide skills that translate into a variety of career paths.
Learning psychology, says Bailey, prepares people for “any field that requires interaction with individuals, people skills, the ability to listen.”
Grads may go into human resources, editorial jobs or social and human services (such as being case managers), says Bailey.
Double Major Popular for Students Earning Online Psychology Bachelors
Troy Behrends, director of the career center at Southern Methodist University, advises psychology students to take double majors in an effort to make themselves more marketable.
Behrends says he has noticed in the last few years “a significant increase in the number of double and triple majors,” which usually include psychology paired with another field. He advises students to add business or foreign language courses to their degree plan.
Kimberley Jaw, 35, started out double majoring in psychology and marketing at University of Maryland-University College. The single mom of two preferred psychology, but added marketing as a way to stand out in the job market.
However, Jaw grew to love psychology so much that she decided she didn't want a career in business. She dropped the marketing major, graduated with just a bachelor's degree in psychology in 2008, and landed an education job counseling emotionally disturbed schoolchildren.
“My psychology undergraduate degree absolutely helped me get the job,” she says. “It was a major selling point.”
Today, Jaw is earning her online master's degree in special education through the University of Phoenix. She is considering a psychology doctorate after that, and wants to eventually open a clinic for autistic children.
Jaw's online bachelor’s degree in psychology opened the doors to a different career path than she initially foresaw, but it will also, she says, allow her to “come full circle back to psychology.”
