A New Transparency For Online Bachelor's Degree Providers

Over the past year, the federal government of the United States has taken a new interest in the institutions offering online Bachelor's degree and online Master's degree programs with the intention of protecting the American people from predatory companies more interested in profiting from unwary students than providing a worthwhile academic experience. After the sudden eruption in popularity of the web based schools attracted a frenzy of attention from media outlets always searching out the newest trends, it was likely just a matter of time before our self imposed political guardians decided to investigate the innovative approach to remote learning. However, the relatively hostile perspective with which our elected official conveyed their substantial doubts about the process of getting a degree online seems entirely disproportionate to the actual level of consumer complaints, and, if the result of the first rounds of bureaucratic scrutiny are to be believed, the suspicions were thoroughly unwarranted. To a certain extent, as should be expected from any new format whose methodology flies in the face of staunchly defended past traditions, the initial crush of advertising may have indeed appeared rather garish and mercenary, but, frankly, the stranglehold placed upon higher education by the entrenched colleges and universities forced something demonstrably new to grab the notice of a different sort of clientele. Despite whatever may have been intimated through the various commercials and internet pop up ads, there quite obviously wouldn't be anything like a sudden guarantee of employment solely granted because of a diploma. Moreover, the Congressional committees demanding academic responsiveness from the online Bachelor's degree providers surely felt some pressure from the keening demands of the banking community given the well publicized failure of recent graduates to compensate their creditors. "If you ask me, the politicians have the right idea but the wrong suspects," said nationally syndicated political columnist Ronald Valerian. "As soon as the student loan default crisis hit the headlines, the government had to do something to deflect blame off of the Department of Education, but throwing stones at the students getting a degree online never made a lick of real sense. If anything, the feds should've been trying to nudge more and more people onto the internet route to try and halt the bleeding. The system just wasn't made to handle this many participants. Fifty years ago, we had less than twenty percent of high school grads going on to try for the sheepskin, but not everybody's gonna get the best jobs." As the institutions come to indulge a greater focus upon transparency -- and this will happen, regardless of any potential political pressure -- the ultimate benefit will come about through nothing more than the increased comfort with which students enter into shopping for online Bachelor's degree alternatives. Questions should be asked before anyone ever enrolls in a course of advanced learning, and, even if the men and women getting a degree online will necessarily have to worry that much less about expense, the time commitment should still rankle any prospects less than one hundred percent assured. "We've reached a point in the American economy where the average applicant's just going to be overqualified for the job (in terms of scholastic training, at least)," Valerian said, "but, if history has shown us anything, the work's bound to follow the education."