Why Online Courses are Better than College Education

Why Online Courses are Better than College Education

Why Online Courses are Better than College Education

Where college education costs tens of lacs of rupees, the same amount of information can be learned through online courses in just a few thousand rupees, and that too with a lot of extra benefits.

Why go to college then?

In fact, COVID-19 has introduced us to a whole new culture of education and work. Working professionals are working from homes and students are taking online classes. Could you have imagined a few years ago that the year 2020 will change so many things in our lives? Certainly not.

We think that online courses are better than a college education in many ways. We are talking about online courses though, not the online classes that most colleges are conducting.

Let’s explain, why?

Related: How to Choose the Best Online Courses

Why online courses are better than college

The only positive side that we see in college education is, they provide you with the “degree”. However today, a lot of big companies don’t even require a degree to hire, if you have the knowledge and skills.

Let’s take a look at how many ways online courses are better:

1. Flexibility

Whether it’s about the schedule, pace, or geographical flexibility, online courses are certainly more flexible than a college education.

  • Flexible schedule: As a student, you can find your own preferred time to learn, whenever you want. You don’t have to start waking up early or miss all the fun. Just open up your computer and start learning, you don’t have to follow a strict schedule.
  • Flexible pace: College education is designed by keeping in mind the learning speed of an average student. If you’re above or below average, it becomes frustrating. However, that’s not the case with online courses, you can always learn at your own pace — slow or fast. If you are able to finish the 4-months course in just 1 month, you can do that with online courses.
  • Geographical flexibility: Online courses offer no geographical boundaries. You can learn from the best regardless of which country or place the teacher belongs to. Even if you live in a remote location, you can still take a world-class online course on any topic.

2. Financial benefits

According to an article in Forbes, online courses can be as much as 90% cheaper than a college course.

Today, there are numerous high-quality online courses available from where you can get a university-level education without ever stepping a foot on the college campus. Here are some reasons why online courses are cheaper:

  • they don’t require the costs associated with commuting and relocating
  • they don’t require classroom usage or library fees as colleges do
  • the distribution infrastructure is easier and cheaper for online courses
  • an online course is only created once, so requires lesser time and effort than a college course
  • no physical items are required to be sent to students who join the course, etc.
Debt Free Student

3. Debt-free

In India, the total public loan for higher education was ₹300 crores in the year 2000, and it has crossed ₹72,000 crores in 2017, according to a report. Clearly, more and more students are taking heavy loans for their college education and they have a hard time repaying it.

That’s not the case with online courses, most students can afford to get an online course without taking a loan. And, they don’t have constant stress about repaying their loans.

4. Promotes self-discipline

While the timely exams, assignment submissions, and constant reminders from the teachers force you to study and be on time, it doesn’t necessarily teach you self-discipline.

In an online course, you have to take responsibility for your education because no one is going to do it for you. If you don’t study, the only person that suffers is yourself. Yes, this can be scary but also liberating because it forces you to figure out what learning methods work best for you and gives you the freedom of time to explore new ways of learning.

However, the students who find it difficult to self-motivate may have to struggle at first.

5. Promotes lifelong learning

The traditional education system gives a vibe that once you complete college and university, you can no longer learn. But that’s not true in the case of online courses.

No matter what you do, how old you are, or how busy you are in your life, you can always get yourself enrolled in an online course of your choice and learn new things while enjoying the comfort of your sofa.

VM Vaughn started to learn to code by taking various online courses at 56 years of age. Clearly, there is no age limit to learning.

NextStakcs offers high-quality job-friendly online programming courses for Python, Java, PHP, React, etc. Learn more

Disadvantages of online courses

We talked about the benefits, but there are a few disadvantages too. Let’s take a look:

1. Procrastination

The biggest disadvantage of online courses is, it’s easier to procrastinate.

The lessons are not delivered in real-time and also there’s no deadline or the teachers pushing students to submit assignments or there are no exams.

Procrastination is Problem with Online Courses

It’s just the student and the computer screen, and if the student wants, he/she could easily just procrastinate and not do it.

2. Less social interaction

One problem with online courses is that there is no or very less social interaction. You may get to know others through discussion forums or chat rooms, but it’s still not the same as getting together in person.

Less social interaction with people can develop a sense of being alone in students.

Final words

Online courses are a great alternative to a college education. They provide a flexible and easy way of learning that better suits an increasingly mobile population. The best part is that people from all over the world can now learn from the comfort of their homes.

Online courses are also quite cost-effective, especially when you consider how much time, money, and effort you can save by taking them rather than going to college.

Overall, online education has great potential and future implications.

Related: How to think like a programmer

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