Find Scholarships for Online Degrees

Online learning is becoming an increasingly popular option for many students. Online study gives students the flexibility to work or care for a family while earning their degree and in today's job market, employers completely recognize the validity of online degrees. However, some online students still think that scholarships are not available to them since they are not a traditional student. Yet this could not be further from the truth.

Firstly, if you attend an accredited online institution you are eligible for all Title IV government aid and most normal scholarships. Government aid and private programs encompass a nearly endless amount of need and merit based grants and scholarships. This means that your chances of receiving any of this aid are equal to any traditional on-campus student.

Secondly, there are some scholarships targeted specifically to online learners. While a thorough search can turn up many options that fall into this category, your best bet is to first check with your online school. Online colleges and universities typically have the most promising scholarship opportunities for their online students.

For instance, Western Governors University (WGU) offers some excellent scholarships for online students studying special education. This university offers flexible, online degree programs in special education at both the Bachelor's and Master's level and is the only online university to be regionally accredited and accredited by the National Council for Accreditation of Teacher Education (NCATE), the leader in teacher education accreditation. The scholarships completely cover the online student's tuition bill. Many other online universities and colleges offer similar opportunities.

Article References

BNet: Business Network
http://findarticles.com/p/articles/mi_pwwi/is_200811/ai_n30966353

US Department of Education
http://www.ed.gov/index.jhtml

Distance Education and Training Council
http://www.detc.org/