An article I read this week talked about the increasing number of military veterans who are attending for profit online colleges. At first I was simply curious as to why veterans would be interested in an online degree...My impression has always been that a degree from such an institution was worth about as much as the piece of paper it is printed on.
The article, Online Colleges Target Veterans, goes on to say that the number of veterans attending these colleges is expected to double in the coming year because of a recent GI bill that was passed increasing the amount of money that the government will put up towards a veterans education.
I feel that if our tax dollars are going to be paying for veterans to obtain higher education then there should be stricter regualtions involved. For one, I believe that the funds should be limited to public institutions, and that private for profit institutions should not be able to recieve public funding. After all, why should I dump my tax dollars into someone elses pocket?
While I agree that most online colleges aren't nearly as valid as they claim to be I do think that they could be very valuable to veterans under certain circumstances. For instance a soldier stationed in Korea or Germany, could use their spare time to take online classes so that when their tour of duty is exhausted they will be more qualified to find a viable job. This has been a major problem that arises when wars end and the job market gets saturated with veterans that are underqualified because they served our country while many others earned higher education.
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