Getting a degree online sounds like the ideal way for those who cannot, for whatever reason, attend a brick-and-mortar school, but the online degree programs do have some drawbacks. Before you sign up for any online degree program, you will need to do some serious research. Those who skip this step can find themselves paying money for an education that is essentially worthless because they got it at a school that was not offering accredited programs. It is common for people to look at an online degree program and think that it sounds easy, but a real degree program of any type will involve a great deal of work. Remember, if it sounds too good to be true, it probably is.

Self-Initiated Study Rates can be an Issue for some People

One of the main pitfalls of online education comes after you have found your program and signed up. There you are, all starry-eyed and eager to get started on living your dream – you have your computer set up in a good place for working, you have all the educational aids you could possibly need neatly stored in your desk, you have a nice cup of tea and a burning desire to succeed. And then you open your laptop, and decide to just quickly check your social media feeds – you know, just to see what’s going on in the world. Four hours later, it’s time for bed, you haven’t even logged on to your educational website, and you’ve lost a day’s study. But that’s ok, you say to yourself. You will do better tomorrow. Only tomorrow you have evening plans and can’t devote more than a half hour, tops, to your courses, which seems like too little to do any good so you go on social media again and you’ve now lost two days. This can go on forever, and it is not at all uncommon for people to pay for educations that they never get because they have simply not completed the course work. This problem can be compounded by the fact that many online universities do not follow any type of semester system, so there are no actual deadlines for when you need to reach milestones, or to have assignments completed.

Set a Schedule

If I was to give only one piece of advice to someone starting an online education, it is to force yourself to set and maintain a schedule that requires you to accomplish a certain amount of work every week. Deadlines can be hard to meet, and self-discipline is hard to maintain, but if you are serious about getting your education, you will make the effort.