Straight Talk: August 17, 2011

Straight Talk:  The StraighterLine e-Newsletter Issue #17, August 17, 2011
Edited by Jeffrey Lee Simons

In this issue…

StraighterLine Reports on Trends in Online Education: Going Back to School

More Americans are going back to school than ever before. Some to complete high school, some to complete college. Some have already graduated college, but want an additional degree to advance themselves in their current field or to embark on a new career path. Some are military personnel starting the next chapter in their lives. But one thing is certain: access to online college courses is changing the way America is going back to school. Get the facts from this free StraighterLine Report.

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Get a Perfect Fit with Our No-Risk Free Trial

Would you ever buy a new pair of jeans or sneakers without trying them on first? At StraighterLine, we want you to be sure we’re a perfect fit, too. That’s why we offer a risk-free trial of 6 StraighterLine courses. Try us on… you’ve got nothing to lose, and thousands of dollars to save.

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Intro to Business and 14 Other New Courses

Get started on your business and finance major now! Intro to Business is just one of the 15 new courses we’re launching for the 2011 Back-To-School season. These new courses will bring our total to 40, with even more planned for the future. Click here to be notified the instant they’re available:

  • Introduction to Business
  • Personal Finance
  • Introduction to Nutrition
  • Physical Education, Health & Wellness
  • United States History I
  • Western Civilization I
  • Pharmacology I
  • Pharmacology II
  • Physics I
  • General Physics I with Lab
  • Physics II
  • General Physics II with Lab
  • Introduction to Criminal Justice
  • Introduction to Sociology
  • Student Success

Best of The StraighterLine Blog

Are College Costs Driving American College Students to Prostitution?
Are 700,000 college women paying for college and college loans by entering into sexual relationships with wealthy older men in exchange for financial support? An investigative report on the Huffington Post alleges exactly that, and our blogger Barry Lenson takes a closer look. Read Full Post

Should You Use Online Learning to Start College while You Are in the Military?
According to this post, the answer is definitely yes. With the ability to study at any time of the day or night, from anywhere around the world, starting college online while still in the military opens up a world of future possibility for members of the armed forces. Read Full Post

Want to Earn a Top Salary? Here’s How to Pick Your College Major
Who earns a higher starting salary, a Computer Engineering Major or an Aerospace Engineering Major? (The answer may surprise you.) Which career starts out slow but more than doubles starting salary at mid-career? Data like this could be critical in choosing your major…Read Full Post

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Will you win an iPad2?

September 5th is right around the corner! That’s the last day to complete any courses you want considered for the Summer Slam Contest. Remember, we’re awarding iPad 2s for Best GPA and most courses started and completed during the contest, so get that coursework done in the next two weeks! Get the Special Summer Slam code and contest details here.

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Online Education in The News

Online Education's Net Worth: E-Learning is starting to take off at NYC universities, but are all the bugs worked out?
The Village Voice, Patrick Arden, 8/10/11

Although they’ve been reluctant to explore online college courses until recently, New York’s elite colleges like NYU and Columbia are beginning to change their tune, according to the Village Voice. This fall, NYU will offer “Intro to Sociology” and “American Literature 1” as hybrid online courses.

Other NYC schools are already offering programs: Pace University has nearly 600 online offerings, costing much less per credit hour than Pace's traditional degree programs, at $535 per credit (full time) as opposed to $937 per credit (part-time).

According to Christine Shakespeare, Pace’s Special Advisor for Strategic Initiatives, “The price is competitive with what the online institutions are offering,” Shakespeare says. “We have the resources and the history of a traditional nonprofit institution, so we'd like to attract the students who have been turning to the online schools with some dubious results.” Read Full Article

(Editor’s Note: StraighterLine’s courses are considerably lower priced than Pace’s, and according to a recent survey of StraighterLine students, 79% said our courses were equally or more academically rigorous than online courses offered by traditional universities.)

Online Education: A Word of Caution
The Huffington Post, Andrew K. Miller, 8/8/11

Reporting that, “Online education is becoming a legitimate and viable option for education systems around the country,” Huffington Post columnist Andrew K. Miller is also warning that “Online education is in danger of replicating a system that isn’t working.” Miller continues, “What's the biggest positive effect of online education? It is causing schools to reevaluate and seek to answer the question: “Why do students need and want to go our schools?” In addition, online education is focusing on the learning, not time…” Read Full Article

(Editor’s Note and another plug for our recent student survey: We know why students “need and want” to take self-paced online college courses from StraighterLine, and how many of our students plan on continuing on to a 4-year college our university. Find out for yourself.)

'eArmyU' outgrows mission, moving to 'GoArmyEd'
www.army.mil, Rob McIlvaine, 8/9/11

The U.S. Army News Service reports that the growth of online computer technology and the explosion of distance learning options have rendered eArmyU obsolete. eArmyU was founded in 2001 to become an entry point to higher education for Soldiers. The program will end on March 31, 2012, when GoArmyEd.com, where Soldiers currently take classes in 2,600 colleges across the US and around the world, will pick up the slack.

According to Ileen Rogers, director of Army Continuing Education, “Before 2001, distance learning was insignificant. Today, more than 72 percent of all our enrollments are in distance learning. The original concept was to expand access. We have.” Continues Rogers, “Instead of 45 schools, Soldiers now have more than 2,000 choices out there. So, their options for selecting a home college, transferability, degree completion has just expanded beyond the original concept of eArmyU,” she continued. Read Full Article

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Earn $75 Each When You Refer Your Friends!

We get it. For only $25, it might have made sense to keep StraighterLine to yourself. But for 2 weeks only, we’re offering an End-Of-The-Summer $75 Super Referral Fee (in the form of an Amazon Gift Card) when your friends sign up for a StraighterLine online college course. In fact, why stop at just your friends? There’s no limit to how many rewards you can earn, so tell everyone. Click on the following link to find out how to make sure you get the rewards you deserve: Get started now.

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 StraighterLine Welcomes New Partner Schools