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Financial Aid at Online Universities

Since the 2005 Higher Education Reconciliation Act passed, federal aid was made obtainable to students who were enrolled in accredited online degree programs. Prior to the act, online degree education was broadly considered a suspect method of earning a degree– that meant students who were enrolled online were denied accessibility to major aid sources like scholarships for college. Today, however, those college degree online programs earned the financial support and recognition that every legitimate post-secondary operation is entitled to.

But, despite this win, misinformation concerning online degree education continuously circulates. Plus, as you may expect, potential students equating college degree online programs without any financial aid entirely rule out online universities.

Qualifying for Financial Aid

Where will the confusion that surrounds college degree online aid derive from? The culprits that most admissions officers and educators initially point to are specific kinds of for-profit online universities that are dubbed “diploma mills.” Those substandard online universities preyed upon misinformed individuals who were eager to earn their degrees cheaply and quickly. These mills were so prevalent, they became synonymous with Internet education in its entirety, a stigma which has proven difficult to shake.

Nearly every diploma mill lacked (and still lacks) accreditation ― a stamp of approval from a reputable and independent educational board. Schools without academic oversight ended up awarding students degrees that, within the eyes of most employers and the academic community, were efficiently worthless. It was motivation enough for our federal government to seriously limit online students’ accessibility to scholarships for college; the fear being that individual could be overcharged for inadequate degrees then left with a pile of debt.

However, as legitimate schools increasingly launched excellent programs online, there was an adequate enough aboveboard activity on the Internet for the federal government to feel as it could lift restrictions on aid. Plus, the most concise method for the government to make sure that just deserving schools obtained aid? Accreditation.

The fundamental concept behind accreditation is that the United States Department of Education will turn to private accrediting organizations it recognized as “reliable authorities upon the quality of training or education offered by the organizations of higher education” to check the academic merits of any given college and its programs. As these institutions awarded schools a title of accreditation, they’re added to the database of the Department of Education. Inclusion upon this database efficiently means the educational institution and its students are eligible to apply for federal aid, to repeat, with Internet programs included.

18 Comments
  1. Your scholarship is of paramount importance please help I\’m an undergraduate doing LLB and I have no money to pursue my dreams

  2. salaam..
    greetings of peace.
    i am a graduate of Bachelor in Elementary Education, also finished by masters in Education major in School administration and Supervision and currently i am taking my doctorate degree in Education major in educational management.
    my question is how can i get a scholarship to study further abroad or in international schools? or pursue my studies in Ph.D? with the help of scholarships and grants?

  3. hello.I am a undergraduate civil engineer. i want to continue my study but i have no money so i am waiting you if you can help me anything

  4. please have processed for admission two times here in Nigeria but financial problems let me down
    please help me with scholarship ,so I can achieve my goals in life
    please help please
    always in bad mood about this

  5. I am a twenty two year old hardworking lady, breadwinner of the entire family. the job i do does not allow me to save for school. I would love to go to campus so that i have a better life than what i have. PLEASE I BEG YOU HELP ME. PLEASE.

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