Earn A Higher College Degree Online

While jobs are few and the candidates for them plentiful, students working to advance their credentials have contributed to an increase in master’s degree enrollments, according to Inside Higher Education.

And these days, they’re likely to find a wide variety of online and on campus degree programs to help them achieve their goal of an advanced university degree. New and expanded master’s degree programs were being created at the time of the publication’s last year report.

The popularity of master’s degrees has apparently been growing since the 1990's. More than 600,000 master’s degrees awarded in 2006-2007 represented an increase of as much as 44 percent over those awarded a decade prior, according to the National Center for Education Statistics. Most master’s degree recipients in 2006-2007 were women, and the number of minority graduate students is reportedly on the rise.

Online degree programs might make it easier for students pursuing master’s degrees to schedule their studies. Online degree programs overall are reportedly growing fast, and students can study for a master’s online between work and family responsibilities and from wherever they have Internet access. Students might also find accelerated online master’s degree programs where they can accomplish their goals in less time than they otherwise would. Earning a master’s degree online can also be easier with the help of tuition assistance.

There might especially be incentives for students pursuing online master’s degrees in STEM (science, technology, engineering and math) subjects. As a January 2009 article in an educational magazine known as Converge tells it, the Obama administration as well as business groups and state governments have been working to enhance STEM study incentives and programs.

Master’s degree programs train highly skilled science professionals who significantly contribute to the country’s economic competitiveness, according to a quote from Council for Graduate Studies President Debra W. Stewart in a news release.

STEM majors might enter careers in nanotechnology that’s involved with manufacturing products such as the iPod. They might also contribute to developments in wind and solar power that are intended to help the natural environment.

Students pursuing online master’s degrees in the STEM subjects have a great variety of programs from which to choose. Professional science, environmental engineering, cybersecurity and bioethics are a few of the online master’s degree programs currently available. And industries in the STEM subject areas are looking for qualified applicants, the Converge article reported.

Still, a low percentage of American college students opt for STEM studies as compared with students in other countries, according to the National Conference of State Legislatures. A National Center for Education Statistics report suggests that master’s degree recipients here during the 2006-2007 academic year majored most often in education, business and health science degrees.

The fewest master’s degrees that year were awarded in mathematics and statistics, the report shows. And while master’s degrees in the field of security and protective services enjoyed the largest percent increase between 1996-1997 and 2006-2007, master’s degrees in physical sciences and science technologies saw the smallest percent increase, the National Center for Education Statistics reported.

Tuition costs for students interested in pursuing online master’s degrees can be offset by scholarships and fellowships that colleges, universities, organizations and non-profit foundations provide. Students can find fellowships available in the areas of teaching, the humanities, theology, western civilization and more. Some scholarships and fellowships are intended specifically for women and minorities.

Students pursuing degrees in the STEM subjects might look toward groups such as NASA, the National Science Foundation, the Environmental Protection Agency, the American Society for Microbiology and the U.S. Departments of Energy, Defense and Homeland Security for master’s level fellowships.

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