Get Your Associates Degree Online While You Earn Your Living
Sometime life forces people straight out of high school and get a job. It could be family finances or similar circumstances, poor grades or some other unfortunate situation. The point is that the secondary school grad has gone on to a job slinging burgers, telemarketing or something else that seems like it will have no future. Note the word “seems,” please.
The truth is that maybe a little time working at a menial job will be the best thing to ever happen to that person. A year or two of maximum exploitation for minimum wage will make continuing education seem a lot more attractive. Also, fortunately, thanks to online colleges and a little careful planning, they can easily attain a degree like an Associates Degree in Business, and start their way up the career ladder.
An associates in business is sometimes called the most pragmatic or practical of college degrees. It is usually made up of approximately 60 hours (about two full years) of basic business classes, including basic accounting, finance, economics, statistics, marketing and business management. It is then rounded out with free electives – primarily in the humanities – such as literature, a language, history or some other similar courses.
As it happens, there is an incredible number of community and online colleges offering accredited AS, AA or ABA degrees in various business disciplines. They usually only require the student be a high school graduate with a 2.0 or better average. If the student has poor grades in either English or math, some remedial education might be needed. Otherwise, entry is fairly easy by most academic standards.
Another thing the potential student should look into is financial aid. Organizations such as McDonalds, Wal-Mart and Blockbuster have programs where they will help pay an employee’s advanced education. All the student has to do in return is work for these organizations for a certain amount of time before applying to the school. Then they still have to work a certain amount of hours a week to maintain the assistance.
That isn’t all the student should look for. They should sit down with a college career counselor about obtaining such basic grants as the Pell, ACG and SEOG, plus what their local state or even the college itself can offer. Plan properly, and a student can keep college loans to a minimum. Students will find that online colleges and universities offer the same financial assistance information from their specialized aid personnel.
Now it should be understood that having only an associates degree is just the first step. It won’t get you a corner office. It should get you out of being a stock clerk, cashier or similar position into entry level management. You should also see a pay increase, from the low into the high 20′s, if not the lower 30′s.
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