Why More Expensive Distance Education is Well Worth the Cost

Have you ever heard the term Ӏyou get what you pay for?Ԁ When it comes to distance education programs and courses, this theory certainly applies.

ThereҀs a plethora of courses and programs available online through distance education from various educational institutions and some are better than others. Although it may be tempting to shop solely by price, but itҀs important to remember that shopping for your education is not like shopping for the best deals on groceries!

Distance education courses and programs can vary in cost from just a few hundred dollars for courses to nearly $100,000 for premium graduate level courses at top universities throughout the world.  One thing is certain though; What you spend on your education does matter as itҀs unlikely the that the lowest cost courses and programs wonҀt offer the career growth options that more expensive courses will.

Accredited

The reason that there are literally hundreds or thousands of courses available online through distance education is because not every course offered through every course provider or school is accredited. 

This means that although the course may have some merit and you may learn something, it may not be recognized by a body that verifies that a course or program meets certain criteria.  In Canada one of these organizations is called the Association of Community Colleges of Canada.  Look for a course provider that is accredited and expect to pay more for it.

Technology

A good quality online course will have invested money into their platform to make it easy for you to study online through distance education. A sure sign of a poor quality course is an amateur-looking website and online learning platform.  A good course provider will also offer technical support to make sure you can get connected and use the technology that the school is offering.

Instructor Access

Good quality distance education courses will allow you to have access to an instructor or professor that will help you answer any questions. 

While the courses may be offered solely through video and online learning platforms, a good course will give you access to instructors to answer your questions.  This will usually happen through Skype, email, chat or even telephone in some cases.  However itҀs done; make sure you have access to an instructor so that you are able to ask questions.

One good example of a course that offers all of these elements is the Electromechanical Course available at www.emcourse.com.  Offered through George Brown College, which is an established and reputable community college, this course can be completed in approximately 34 weeks.  Although the cost for this program is over $1700, there are payment options that allow you to put down just $345 and then pay $60 for each module.

The Electromechanical Technician Certificate program offered through George Brown College is used by a number of large multi-national companies like General Motors and Boeing as a means of training their staff.  While the course isnҀt the least expensive around, it certainly has a reputation that makes the extra cost well worth it.

When thinking of distance education, just how important is cost to you?

About the Author: Edwin is an avid learning enthusiast. He currently writes on behalf of emcourse.com. Edwin has a passion for ongoing learning and helping others acquire new skills easily.