Let’s begin with an exercise in imagination. You are thirty-two years old. You have an associate’s degree, or at least most of one. For the last eight years, your primary focus has been on raising your children. Now, all of your kids are school-aged, and you are interested in beginning a career as a social worker.
You have always wanted to help your community, and what better way to do it? The problem is that you live in rural Montana. The nearest accredited social work program is one hundred and eighty miles away. Fifteen years ago, your options would have been to relocate for your education or develop a new dream closer to home.
Online education has changed everything. Through remote learning, students all over the world can gain relevant education and enter much-needed justice and social services careers.
In this article, we take a look at how online education is expanding access to critical career paths in communities all over the country.
Breaking Down Financial Barriers
One of the biggest barriers to education is the cost. The average student graduates with tens of thousands of dollars in student loans. To make matters worse, social service jobs often produce relatively modest pay, making it difficult for someone to borrow heavily only to earn a mid-five-figure salary.
Online learning can cost up to sixty percent less than a traditional education. That does not even take into account the money saved by avoiding overpriced campus housing.
Online formats also make it easier for students to work while they learn.
In turn, the flexibility of this arrangement makes going to school a more accessible option for people who want to become social workers but cannot financially manage the credential requirements in a traditional format.
Time Flexibility: Perfect for Adults
It is often people in their mid-twenties, thirties, and forties who require the most flexibility when pursuing a degree.
At this stage in life, you likely already have a distinct set of responsibilities. Some may be personal, such as family or a partner, while others may be professional. Perhaps you already went to college and are now interested in pivoting to a new career path. Whatever your situation, flexibility is essential.
If you need flexibility in your pursuit of a degree, you probably will not find it in a traditional college format. Online learning opportunities, on the other hand, often use an asynchronous approach.
This means that rather than having set meeting times and hard deadlines, you can work through lectures and complete assignments on a more flexible timeline. You might be given a set of work to complete over four weeks. As long as you meet the ultimate deadline, it does not matter when or where you work.
You are often also able to work on as much or as little as you want. This gives you significantly more autonomy over your degree completion timeline.
If you are a working parent or someone balancing multiple responsibilities, a typical eighteen hours a week of coursework may not suit your lifestyle.
Certification-Specific Programs
Many online learning products are built specifically around certain career objectives. For example, if you are interested in education, there may be accelerated routes for people who already have a college degree and are now trying to acquire a state-approved teaching license.
If you are interested in nursing, you might find programs that bundle BSN and MSN coursework into a relatively compact format.
In the case of social work or justice-oriented career paths, you will find similarly optimized educational pathways built specifically around your goals.
Social workers, in particular, are generally required to obtain a graduate degree to advance in their field. Many online learning opportunities provide accelerated MSW programs, allowing you to earn this credential in less than a year and begin your career at the highest possible level.
Geographic Accessibility
We described in the introduction the hypothetical situation of a student in rural Montana, limited geographically by her options but able to access coursework from all over the world thanks to online learning.
You do not need to be that remote to experience the pain points of proximity-related education options. Even in a city like St. Louis, Missouri, you may only have three or four university options available, none of which are necessarily your preference.
“Do I want to borrow one hundred thousand dollars to pursue a criminal justice degree from Washington University?” asks the hypothetical St. Louis student. Probably not. But with online learning, you do not have to. Not only do you save money thanks to the online format, but your options expand almost infinitely.
Certain criteria will still need to be met, such as regional certification requirements. Your state may recognize only a limited set of programs. Even in this case, your options are not necessarily limited only to programs accepted by your state.
You may be able to find a nationally accredited program not recognized by your region, complete the coursework, and then apply for an out-of-state license. This is a less direct and often friction-filled route, but it is possible.
Here is the bottom line: you will find more options online than you will within driving distance of your home, almost regardless of where you live. If you are at a stage in life where relocating for school is not an option, online learning is what will make education achievable for you.
Online Learning Might Not Be for Everyone
If you’re trying to find the right social work specialties in an educational landscape that lacks traditional options, online learning is most likely the most straightforward option for you.
Here’s the thing. The most important consideration is how you best learn. It doesn’t matter how flexible, affordable, or user-friendly a program is. If it’s not well-suited to your learning style, there’s always the risk that you won’t be able to complete it.
So, put yourself in a position to succeed, be it online or in a traditional classroom. The most important thing is following your dreams. The world needs more social workers. Be the change you want to see in your community.
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