Do employers see distance learning/home study as good as if you had gone to higher education,university?

Question

It's the only way I can afford to study but I don;t want to be wasting my time or money if I'm not going to get the same chance as anyone else!

Answer 1

If the educational organisation associated with your home study programme has a good reputation and is recognised by professional bodies/learned societies (as is the case with awards from the UK's Open University), then you should have no problems with the quality and validity of your qualification.
If you wish to continue working see if it is possible (in your area), to gain an appropriate higher award (Cert; Diploma or Degree), via an evening school programme. Your employer might even pay all your fees... Good luck, anyway.

Answer 2

Depends where you are geographically and who the employer is. In general I think employers view these distance learning universities as a good effortm, but it will never compare to someone who did the 4-year college experience.
BUT, see who your competition is for the job you want. If the competition is generally high school grads with no other education, then a distance learning degree would make you stand out and work to your advantage.
Another option would be to take these distance learning classes from a real, accredited, university and maybe mix it up with in-person classes. Depending on your state there could be some good school that offer this (i.e. Penn State).
Good Luck! And remember that learning and getting a degree (regardless of where it is from) will never be a disadvantage!!

Answer 3

Honestly it depends on the program. Because those things are not certifications they are just diploma programs. I would definitely not recommend the distance education programs for a actual degree, just a diploma. Because other colleges won't even accept credits from the associates degree with the distance education programs, so why would employers. However I have known of people to actually be able to do something as far as a career with the Medical Transcription, and the Medical Billing courses...AND I would like to add, that this type of schooling is different from taking online courses at a university, with the work at home at your own pace programs you can't even get financial aid for it, but for online universities you can. Most of the distance education programs are accredited by the Distance Education Learning and Training Council and is Recognized by the US Department of Education, but from what I told you, I actually got a lot of the information from the "students" I used to actually speak with, and they were not too happy.

Answer 4

I would certainly think this would be the case. Employers like to see training on a resume. With pursuing further education, an applicant demonstrates bonafide interest in a specific field. Even if the school program is unrelated, attending classes (or completing home studies) still shows commitment and goal-setting capabilities (both excellent transferrable skills to take to the workplace).

Having taken some home study programs in the past, I must warn you that these require due diligence on your part. Yes, you can study whenever you like when at home (very handy if you are caring for kids, for example ...); however, it is very easy to get distracted by other things (eg: talking on the telephone, watching television, raiding the refrigerator for a snack and/or meeting a friend for coffee). Without direct contact with either the instructor or fellow students, I feel that home study is often more difficult than attending classes!

Hope it works out for you ..

Answer 5

I work for a company recruiting for IT specialists for lots of different companies. They definitley favour candidates that have been to an actual university rather than the open university method. However, at the same time they would also favour a candidate that had a qualification from the open university over someone that stopped their education at gcse/a-levels.

I think that you should go for it. it will definitley be a positive for your career and the good thing about doing it that way is that you can still work while you are studying and so can gain more experience at the same time. Plus you won't be in so much debt at the end of it all like i am! hehe.

Answer 6

Yes of course they do. It shows that you've got self discipline if you can study by yourself.

I don't know what career you plan to follow but one possible course of action if you want a degree and do not want the very great expense of going to university is to train to become a chartered accountant through the ACCA scheme.

Once part qualified you get the chance to write a long 5,000 word essay and then submit it to Oxford Brookes University. If its good enough this university will then award you a BSc in Accountancy. Given that your employer will pay for your ACCA study and exams in order to get part qualified, all the degree will cost you will be about £50 which is the cost of submitting the essay to Oxford Brookes.

Surely, this must be the cheapest way to obtain a degree in the country!

Answer 7

Most employers are more concerned about WHAT you know than how you learned it. My employer uses 'web based' classes for much to the training required by the company.