Online Degree: Coordinating Study Time with Family Time

Many prospective online degree program students are under the impression that the time commitments of an online degree program are lower than their traditional-on-campus equivalents. Even though commuting time is eliminated, my experience has been online degree programs are actually more time intensive than traditional ones. This is especially true during the first couple courses, when the online student is acclimating him/herself with the course web interface. The main reason an online degree is more time intensive is because learning concepts independently takes longer than receiving more exam specific course instruction from a professor. The extra benefit of learning concepts independently is that overall subject matter knowledge is retained--not just that required to pass an exam.

Because family members and prospective students may not realize the large time commitments an online degree program requires, students and family members may not realize the huge sacrifices everyone will have to make in order for the students to be successful in their online academic endeavor. In order to prevent unrealistic expectations and future disappointments, I recommend the following steps be taken before embarking on your online educational journey:

1. Speak to family members and explain to them in detail why you want to obtain a degree via an online program. Tell them about your hopes, dreams, and how the education will enrich your life overall after completion. Tell family members how large of a time commitment undertaking an online degree may require (to get a good estimate of this, you can email professors and ask them how much time their current students are putting in).
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3. Negotiate a schedule with family members that will dictate when you will normally study. Keep in mind that this schedule is not set in stone, as periodically more time will be required for completion of assignments and exams.
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5. Open a forum to let family members voice any potential concerns they have about you enrolling in an online program.

Even after these steps are taken, there will, unfortunately, be painful moments when family and school time conflict. There will be times when you're studying on a Saturday afternoon and your daughter wants to play with you. There will be times when your wife asks you if you want to go do something fun and you have an exam to do. There will be times when other friends and family bemoan the fact that they haven't heard much from you lately. Deal with all of these potential situations in stride. And sometimes, on that Saturday afternoon, go play with your daughter and go back to studying after she goes to bed!