Having a higher-level degree on your resume, especially for the Business sector hiring markets can be a huge difference in your chances of landing that dream job. In our modern age, traditional schooling is not the only available option for us to receive proper and credited education. Advancements in digital technology have made learning possible everywhere with an internet connection available.
Student debt has been on the rise through the years, so students have been looking for other ways to pursue and achieve their degrees. Online courses have been more and more widely popular and used by most nations worldwide. In this article, we will discuss how taking online business courses or online courses as a whole will save you thousands and how to find the right business courses that bring the best bang for the buck.
Reasons Why Online Courses Will Save You Money
Pursuing a business degree can leave a big hole in your wallet. Taking online business courses is a great alternative to pursuing a business degree while saving a lot of money and financial headaches. Here are some ways online courses may alleviate your financial stresses:
1. Save on Rent Costs
Apartments near university campuses or in campus dorm fees can be very high and is one of the biggest expenses for university students as a whole. A lot of students plan to live near the campus to save on transportation costs and parking fees. However, these apartments or houses located conveniently close the campus can come with a very high cost.
According to the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), the estimated average expenses of full-time public university students for room and board is around $10,000 every year in 2014-2015. Even more so for private university students at around $11,250. Enrolling in an online course can cut off these rent expenses as you can learn from anywhere, giving you more flexibility regardless of where you live compared to traditional universities.
2. Save on Commuting Costs
University students that live off-campus will have to pay commuting costs every day to attend classes on time and go back home. Driving to and from the university can cost you about $600 in gas costs alone; this estimate assumes that your commute is only about ten-miles one way. This cost can double if your commute is 20 miles, needing more gas
.
On top of those costs, university parking fees can be ridiculously high ranging from around $100 a year to a whopping $850 a year. We also need to consider any repair and maintenance of your vehicle if you are driving one. With online courses, the only commute you’re going to take is from your bed to your computer. All of these expensive costs and hassle will be cut to zero when enrolling in an online class.
3. Save on Time
Some online colleges today offer accelerated degree programs. These programs allow you to earn your degree a lot quicker compared to the normal online course or traditional universities. Focusing on completing all your degree requirements as fast as possible can save you a lot of money from having to enrol in extra semesters. According to the College Board, the average annual costs of tuition fees is around $9,140 for public colleges and $32,410 for private colleges.
One tip to accelerate your graduation is to take an additional online class for every semester. For example, if your program requires 120 credit hours to graduate and you take 15 credit hours every semester, it will take 8 semesters or 4 years to graduate and earn your degree. Adding one extra online class every semester can cut your class time by one semester and earn your degree in 3 and a half years instead of the full four years.
On top of the additional online class each semester, you can also attend credited online classes during summer semesters. Some colleges even offer reduced tuition fee rates for both online and summer courses, saving you both precious time and money.
4. Other Small Ways You Can Save
There are multiple small ways you can cut costs of pursuing a degree by enrolling in an online course, even though they are small, these things can accumulate and add up. Here are some of those:
Printer Costs – taking an online course can save you money from having to buy paper and ink cartridges to print multiple essays. In online courses, you only have to submit your written materials through email or other internet submission methods. You’ll never run out of ink and paper.
‘’Wakeup’’ Costs
You will have to wake up on time to attend class personally and physically, and sometimes waking up on time needs some little extra efforts like buying coffee, tea, energy drink, etc that can add up the living cost. It might even become your routine habit during the period when you attend a college or institute. Attending an online course may not even need you to wake up at a specific time so you can get more sleep and may not need all those coffees and drinks to stay awake anymore.
Flexible Schedule
studying at a traditional university while working may be a big hassle. You will have to adjust your work schedule around your studies. With online courses, you can be flexible with your study schedule and can adjust around your work time. This can lead to no lost income while maximizing your studies.
Cut down on Lab Fees
In traditional schooling, you’re going to need to pay for lab supplies and equipment to perform experiments in Science-based classes. In online classes, you mostly have to only watch other people perform the experiments and read articles or books online about methods and results on different experiments. This may not give you the best view of how these scientific experiments work but that is the price to pay for cutting down costs on lab fees.
School Supply Costs
there is no need for plenty of notebooks, books, pens, paper, etc. when attending online classes. This is great news for those people who are advocates of environmental-friendly practices as this will cut down on paper use and disposal. Numerous online classes offer downloadable reading material instead of using traditional textbooks, these can cut down on your costs by a huge margin as physical books are one of the costliest items traditional university students face.
Things You Can Do to Further Save on Your Business Courses
Now that we’ve outlined how enrolling in an online business course can save you money, we’ll discuss some tips and ways you can save money even further.
Get the most out of Google Search
There are numerous free and high-quality articles on any given topic on Google, but these can be a challenge to find. You can use this simple trick to search for very specific information that you may need.
Simply pick a topic and website and go to Google and search using this format:
TOPIC SITE: SITE URL
Example: Business Marketing SITE:reddit.com
In less than a second you will be presented will all the website’s articles and pages on that specific topic. It’s as easy as that.
Email the People You Look up to
Shooting an email to a business expert or influencer you deeply respect asking for advice or important questions you need answers for can be a great way to learn directly from the greats themselves. Do note that this may not work every time but it is always worth a shot. A great way to increase your chance of getting a response is to ask very specific questions regarding how they work their magic instead of broad questions about their professions.
Buy discounted Training
Multiple discounted or even free eBooks exist out on the internet, platforms such as Udemy offers discounts on their training quite regularly, keep an eye out for these money-saving opportunities.
The Impact of Online Courses on Your Resume
Some of you may be having second thoughts in enrolling in online courses, you may be worried about the potential effect on your resume in the future. But the good news is that you don’t have to worry about it too much as utilizing online classes to achieve your goal of graduation won’t diminish the quality of your degree in any way.
Most if not all employers like it when you have a degree to show in your resume but they don’t particularly mind where you went to college rather they are more interested in what you did while you were in college. The skills and qualifications you acquired will help you more than where you got your degree.
Conclusion
To conclude, an online business course or online courses, in general, can help save you money that can be invested elsewhere to boost your quality of life and still receive high-quality and credited education. From cutting down commuting costs to zero to providing a flexible schedule, online courses will make studying a lot more convenient and fulfilling. But do note that you don’t have to spend a lot of money on online courses, there are multiple discounts and scholarships offered too. We hope that this article made you more informed and piqued your interest in online courses as they definitely are the future of business education and more.
Author Bio:-
“Author Bio: Saurabh Pandey CEO and Founder of Brandveda– your digital marketing institute. He started his entrepreneurial journey instead of working in the corporate sector. His niche lies in lead Gen., PPC, Social Media marketing and is inclined towards All Things Digital.”
Also Read:-
29 Online business ideas with no or less initial costs.
Image Courtesy: Pixabay
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