Can I attend an online college with kids?

Many consider college to be a young person’s game. College is something that you typically jump right into after high school or at most a year later after having taken a gap year. But a college degree can have a transformative effect on many people’s lives, and we must broaden the scope of the types of people that could potentially benefit from a college degree.

Adults, working professionals, and many other non-traditional students are just as poised to benefit from earning an online degree. But since the college discourse tends to leave these groups out, people in these groups tend to think that college just won’t work.

Parents are one such group. Many parents just don’t see how they could work to earn a college degree while raising children. Fortunately, online colleges are an excellent option for anyone who has a limited schedule. Below we’ll examine whether or not someone can attend an online college with kids.

Parenting and Online College

Being a parent, especially the parent of a young child, can be an incredibly demanding and time-consuming job. Young children can require near-constant supervision and stimulation. This does tend to ease some as children age, but parenting can still be quite the drain on someone’s schedule. Couple that with the possibility of having also maybe to have a job if you’re not co-parenting and the amount of available time for other activities quickly dwindles.

Fortunately for parents, online colleges are built for those with limited time in mind. Online colleges offer several benefits to parents and anyone else who may find themselves with limited amounts of time to pursue a college degree. Online colleges can be cheaper, less time-consuming, and far more flexible than a traditional on-campus degree. Below we’ll explore this more in-depth.

The Benefits of Online College for Parents

Online college offers many distinct benefits to parents. One of the biggest advantages that an online college has over a traditional college is the more significant flexibility students have over their own schedule. In a typical college degree program, students must attend class at a physical location at a particular time every week, sometimes even multiple times a week. And that’s just one course. Multiply that across various classes a semester, and suddenly many hours of your day are locked up attending class.

Online college gives students a great deal of control over their scheduling. They can move through the curriculum at a pace that best suits their needs. Many even offer their courses asynchronously, which means that students can attend their virtual classes whenever works best. This is a huge advantage.

Another distinct advantage of an online college is attending classes and studying wherever you are located. With an online college, parents won’t need to worry about visiting a college campus to attend classes. They’ll be able to go through their coursework in the comfort of their own home, allowing them to still be able to provide the attention and care they need to parent effectively.

Finally, online colleges are often far more inexpensive than a traditional college degree. Raising a child can be very costly, and so can attending college. Sometimes parents will shy away from earning a college degree because they just don’t think the economics will work out for them. Online colleges make the dream of earning a college degree far more attainable. Tuition rates at online colleges are much more competitive, leaving students with more money in their pockets, which is always good when raising children.

Concerns of Online College for Parents

There are some things to consider with an online college degree when parenting. One consideration is how your particular online college handles tests and exams. Many online colleges require students to attend testing centers where they can be proctored in a physical location. While this won’t happen too often throughout an online college course, it is something to consider.

Another consideration when enrolling in an online college is to figure out the best course load that will work for you. Many online colleges offer different enrollment levels, allowing students to drop down into part-time enrollment to lighten the amount of work they are required to do in a given semester.

Part-Time Enrollment at an Online College

Choosing to enroll in an online college part-time is an excellent move for parents. Part-time enrollment allows parents to complete an online college degree without having to take on a full course load. It is said that being a full-time parent is a full-time job, and it is also said that being a full-time student is a full-time job. As anyone who has ever had to juggle two full-time jobs knows, that’s not always an extraordinary situation.

Luckily, part-time enrollment allows parents to tailor their course load and course pacing to the amount of extra time they have in their schedule. Whether it’s working through one, two, or more courses at a time, parents can dial in the perfect level of commitment that they are willing to put towards a college degree.

One thing to note with part-time enrollment is that it can extend the amount of time it takes to complete a college degree. A typical undergraduate degree takes four years when enrolled full-time. Reducing that enrollment to part-time can extend that out to five, even six years. Master’s degrees can take anywhere from 1-2 years on a traditional schedule, so enrolling in part-time jobs tends to work reasonably well for students as the time extension isn’t too great.