I knew in 2007, that I was going to need to further my education. The reason for this was that my wife was diagnosis in 2006 with multiple sclerosis. I knew from that point on that the household income was going to be coming from me working.
I decided in November of 2007 that I was going to go back to school, and study criminal justice. I decided that the college I would attend was had offer online courses. I went to ground classes for the first six weeks, and then decided to pursue my education strictly online.
I started off by taking three classes at first. I started to add more classes each quarter as I got closer to finishing my Associates Degree online. At one point I had taken 6 classes in one quarter. I was able to maintain A’s and B’s all the way through even with that heavy course load.
The benefit of online classes for me was that it allowed me to study at my pace. I was also able to enter my field of study working in a halfway house for convicted felons. I would spend the majority of my nights at work watching these criminal offenders.
I would log into my classes online after all the work was done for the night. I was able to finish my Associated Degree in October of 2009. I went right into my Bachelor’s Degree in October. I finished my Bachelor’s Degree online in January of 2012.
I would say that the biggest benefit that I received from getting an online education was the ability to work when I was needed. This allowed me to pull in overtime hours, and therefore make more money. The connivance of online education was another plus. I was able to log into my classes when I wanted to and did not have a strict schedule. This meant I was able to log in at one in the morning or at noon.
I would say that I professionally benefited and personally benefited by taking online classes. I was able to get promoted to a shift supervisor position with the company I worked for. I also was able to take my wife to her medical appointments. With my wife having multiple sclerosis she has a number of doctor’s appointments, and if I did not go to school online I would not have been able to take her.
I would recommend an online education to anybody that has the motivation to do the work without an instructor having to tell them to. It is a lot of hard work, but in the end it will pay off. It teaches you how to schedule your day, and how to work in teams. Teamwork is a good portion of your grade. I had a lot of team projects and interaction on discussion boards.
Always remember that education opens more doors for you.
