Regardless of our intentions for any particular project, life often asks that we reinvent our plans or even drop them altogether. Take earning a college degree, for instance. When students decide to return to school, flexibility is key to long-term success while fitting credits in with an otherwise busy schedule of balancing a family and a career.
Pick Up Where You Left Off
Southeastern Oklahoma State University (SOSU) recognizes that earning a living or starting a family can interrupt the completion of a bachelor’s degree. With SOSU’s online Bachelor of Science in Liberal and Applied Studies program, students can use previously earned credits to complete their education at their own pace, guided by campus faculty and advisors dedicated to helping them succeed.
Forbes contributor Laurie Quinn states, “While going back to school later in life isn’t the right choice for everyone, it’s becoming an increasingly attractive option, [and] as more adults choose to delay retirement, the workforce becomes even more competitive and career shifts become more common. Quinn adds, “Going back to school is often a way to create new challenges for yourself, learn new things and provide an opportunity for personal development.”
Online Flexibility Suits Busy Schedules
Working parents will find the online format ideal for their schedules and the limited time they have available. Study when you want, where you want. Students can go at their own pace, taking fewer classes when life gets busy and more when they have the time. And there’s never a need to make arrangements to go to campus, because online students aren’t required to go to campus at any given time — or ever.
A Wide Range of Course for a Wide Range of Careers
SOSU’s online BS degree program complements general knowledge with courses focused on areas like fine arts or applied sciences. The program strengthens communication skills that benefit all students returning to school, either in the jobs they have now or toward a career goal they once thought impossible.
With each passing year, the job market becomes more competitive, and working professionals may postpone retirement for financial reasons. Earning a well-rounded college degree enables them to gain the knowledge base and the critical-thinking and communication skills that make their careers more viable and their long-term goals achievable.
Economist Sandy Baum highlights the impact of college completion on one’s personal development, professional capacity and earning potential: “… going to college changes you in ways that change the way you behave, the choices that you make. And you become, as a result of that college education, a more productive and better-paid member of the labor force.”
Completing a bachelor’s degree opens the door to better professional and financial benefits and greater opportunity. More importantly, for some degree seekers, it offers the satisfaction of fulfilling a life-long dream.
Learn more about SOSU’s online Bachelor of Science in Liberal & Applied Studies program.
Sources:
Forbes: Going Back to College After 50: The New Normal?
American Radio Works: The Value of a College Degree