What Are The Fastest Online Degree Completion Programs?

Key Infor­ma­tion:

• West Texas A&M Uni­ver­si­ty has an accel­er­at­ed degree track that con­dens­es a 16-week semes­ter down to just six weeks.
• Fast online degree pro­grams are designed for adults who have start­ed their edu­ca­tion and need to bal­ance stud­ies with work or oth­er responsibilities.
• Pro­grams enable stu­dents to com­plete their degrees quick­ly, some­times in just six weeks, due to their accel­er­at­ed format.

It is wide­ly accept­ed that a bach­e­lor’s degree is a four-year degree but the truth is that only rough­ly 33% of stu­dents com­plete them on time. The aver­age time it takes a stu­dent to com­plete a bach­e­lor’s degree is 5.2 aca­d­e­m­ic years. This is a huge under­tak­ing for stu­dents, and some­times life gets in the way. That’s why com­ple­tion pro­grams are so impor­tant. An online degree com­ple­tion pro­gram allows stu­dents with an asso­ciate degree to take back the reins and fin­ish what they start­ed in a more man­age­able way. Some of the fastest options can have stu­dents fin­ish­ing their degree in just six weeks, even the longer vari­ety of these pro­grams is 18 to 24 months, still less than half the typ­i­cal timeframe.

Col­leges and uni­ver­si­ties know that stu­dents need options to fin­ish their degree faster because they’re ready to enter the pro­fes­sion­al world. They don’t have the time invest­ment to make for some­thing longer term, or per­haps tra­di­tion­al school was just too slow for them. In order to accom­mo­date the needs of those stu­dents, they have imple­ment­ed some fast-track online degrees to fin­ish things up. 

What is a Degree Completion Program and How Does It Work?

A degree com­ple­tion pro­gram is an accel­er­at­ed learn­ing pro­gram that allows online stu­dents to con­tin­ue their edu­ca­tion and obtain a degree in a short­er peri­od of time. This type of pro­gram is designed to help adult learn­ers who may have had to take a break from their stud­ies due to work or fam­i­ly com­mit­ments. The goal of these pro­grams is to pro­vide stu­dents with the oppor­tu­ni­ty to com­plete their degrees quick­ly and effi­cient­ly, while still pro­vid­ing them with the same qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion as tra­di­tion­al programs.

The degree com­ple­tion pro­gram typ­i­cal­ly con­sists of an inten­sive course load that can be com­plet­ed in less than two years. These cours­es are often offered online, allow­ing adult learn­ers the flex­i­bil­i­ty and con­ve­nience they need in order to com­plete their stud­ies on their own schedule.

Addi­tion­al­ly, some degree com­ple­tion pro­grams offer accel­er­at­ed cours­es so that stu­dents can fin­ish faster than tra­di­tion­al four-year degree programs.

Degree com­ple­tion pro­grams pro­vide stu­dents with the oppor­tu­ni­ty to gain valu­able knowl­edge and expe­ri­ence in a frac­tion of the time it would usu­al­ly take for them to earn a full bach­e­lor’s or mas­ter’s degree.

How Degree Completion Programs Benefit Working Professionals

For work­ing pro­fes­sion­als, com­plet­ing a degree is often seen as an unat­tain­able goal due to the demands of their job. How­ev­er, degree com­ple­tion pro­grams pro­vide an oppor­tu­ni­ty for work­ing pro­fes­sion­als to advance in their career and fin­ish their edu­ca­tion with­out hav­ing to put their cur­rent job on hold.

These accel­er­at­ed col­lege pro­grams offer flex­i­ble sched­ules that allow stu­dents to fit col­lege cours­es into their exist­ing work sched­ule, allow­ing them to pur­sue high­er edu­ca­tion while still work­ing full-time.

Fur­ther­more, these pro­grams also offer career advance­ment oppor­tu­ni­ties that can help stu­dents move up the lad­der in their cur­rent job or even switch careers alto­geth­er. If a stu­dent takes a posi­tion with­in the indus­try, they can make great strides in their career.

Stu­dents and recent grad­u­ates can apply for fund­ing to help cov­er the cost of tuition through these pro­grams. Grad­u­ates of these pro­grams in the past have been able to find fel­low­ships that cov­er the cost of tuition, books, and liv­ing expenses.

The Pros & Cons of a Degree Completion Program

Com­plet­ing a degree can be a great way to advance your career and open up new oppor­tu­ni­ties. But for those who have already start­ed col­lege and find them­selves unable to fin­ish, a degree com­ple­tion pro­gram may be the answer. Degree com­ple­tion pro­grams offer adults the chance to go back and fin­ish their degrees online, often with more flex­i­ble sched­ules and course options than tra­di­tion­al col­lege programs. 

But like any edu­ca­tion­al option, there are pros and cons to join­ing a degree com­ple­tion pro­gram that should be con­sid­ered before mak­ing the deci­sion. In this arti­cle, we will explore the pros and cons of join­ing a degree com­ple­tion pro­gram so that you can make an informed deci­sion about your future.

Pros of a Degree Completion Program

There are sev­er­al ben­e­fits that may come with join­ing a degree com­ple­tion pro­gram. Here are some of the most common:

1. A degree com­ple­tion pro­gram may reduce the amount of time you spend study­ing by allow­ing you to take class­es at your own pace and arrange your sched­ule based on your per­son­al pref­er­ence. Accel­er­at­ed degree pro­grams are just as good as tra­di­tion­al and online programs. 

2. Some degree com­ple­tion pro­grams offer aca­d­e­m­ic sup­port pro­grams that help stu­dents suc­ceed while in school, such as tutor­ing ses­sions or a per­son­al aca­d­e­m­ic coach.

3. Some degree com­ple­tion pro­grams allow com­mu­ni­ty col­lege grad­u­ates to more eas­i­ly trans­fer cred­its from oth­er insti­tu­tions, cer­tifi­cate pro­grams, and online cours­es. This can be espe­cial­ly impor­tant for inter­na­tion­al stu­dents who might not have received the same qual­i­ty edu­ca­tion back home as they would in Amer­i­ca. The fastest online degree pro­grams often build on your asso­ci­ate’s degree.

4. Com­plet­ing an online bach­e­lor’s degree with a degree com­ple­tion pro­gram may be less expen­sive than pur­su­ing a tra­di­tion­al under­grad­u­ate degree, with added fees for park­ing, meals, extracur­ric­u­lars, and more. An online pro­gram requires less than on cam­pus students.

Cons of a Degree Completion Program

Degree com­ple­tion pro­grams are a great way for adults to fin­ish their col­lege degrees. How­ev­er, there are some draw­backs to con­sid­er when decid­ing whether or not this type of pro­gram is right for you.

1. Accel­er­at­ed learn­ing pro­grams can be expen­sive, and the cours­es may not pro­vide the same depth of knowl­edge as a tra­di­tion­al degree program. 

2. Fast track degree pro­grams don’t always pro­vide the same lev­el of sup­port and men­tor­ship as tra­di­tion­al col­lege courses.

3. An adult con­tin­u­ing edu­ca­tion online bach­e­lor may not offer the same net­work­ing oppor­tu­ni­ties as a tra­di­tion­al col­lege expe­ri­ence. The stu­dent body of an accel­er­at­ed bach­e­lor’s pro­gram is like­ly to be oth­er work­ing adults, but they will be at the same pro­fes­sion­al lev­el and not real­ly help­ful for recommendations. 

What to Consider Before Choosing Online Bachelor’s Programs

Degree com­ple­tion pro­grams online are becom­ing increas­ing­ly pop­u­lar as adults real­ize the impor­tance of hav­ing a bach­e­lor’s degree online to get ahead in their careers. For those look­ing for accel­er­at­ed online bach­e­lor’s degree pro­grams to get their col­lege degree, there are some impor­tant things to con­sid­er before mak­ing a final decision.

The ben­e­fits of an accel­er­at­ed degree pro­gram should be weighed against the best online col­lege cours­es for adults. It is impor­tant to research dif­fer­ent online degree pro­grams and com­pare their offer­ings, such as course options, cost, and time commitment.

Addi­tion­al­ly, it is impor­tant to con­sid­er how the pro­gram’s cur­ricu­lum will fit into your lifestyle and career goals. For exam­ple, a degree in busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion or busi­ness man­age­ment may be of spe­cif­ic inter­est to you, but if the pro­gram is not afford­able or does not pro­vide a suf­fi­cient learn­ing expe­ri­ence, it might be best to look for a degree that will bet­ter pre­pare you for your cho­sen career. 

On the oth­er hand, a major in sci­ence may seem like an appeal­ing option because its prin­ci­ples are uni­ver­sal and can be applied to many fields. How­ev­er, those who choose this path often strug­gle with find­ing employ­ment because only STEM-relat­ed jobs are typ­i­cal­ly available. 

In gen­er­al, a fast online bach­e­lor’s degree in a mar­ketable pro­fes­sion, like com­put­er sci­ence, is a bet­ter choice than some­thing like lib­er­al arts or polit­i­cal sci­ence. An accel­er­at­ed online pro­gram in a pro­fes­sion­al area builds on your pro­fes­sion­al train­ing and online class­es. You may also take a pri­or learn­ing assess­ment to place out of cer­tain class­es in your bach­e­lor’s pro­gram. Fast track pro­grams in health care admin­is­tra­tion are very mar­ketable. Under­grad­u­ate pro­grams in inter­dis­ci­pli­nary stud­ies may also allow you to tai­lor your col­lege edu­ca­tion to your spe­cif­ic career. 

It’s also cru­cial to know that the accel­er­at­ed bach­e­lor’s degree pro­grams you’re con­sid­er­ing are accred­it­ed by the Col­leges and Schools Com­mis­sion. Unac­cred­it­ed accel­er­at­ed pro­grams aren’t worth the trou­ble. Your accel­er­at­ed bach­e­lor’s degree pro­gram should be accred­it­ed by a region­al body like the South­ern Asso­ci­a­tion of Col­leges and Schools. If you want a bach­e­lor’s in busi­ness admin­is­tra­tion, it should be accred­it­ed by a busi­ness accred­it­ing agency like the AACSB. A com­put­er infor­ma­tion sys­tems degree from an ABET accred­it­ed school is bet­ter than one with­out accred­i­ta­tion. Not all bach­e­lor’s degrees are the same! 

There are no easy online degree pro­grams, but by tak­ing all of these fac­tors into con­sid­er­a­tion before choos­ing a degree com­ple­tion pro­gram, you can ensure that you make the right deci­sion for your future.

What are the Fastest Degree Completion Programs? 

The fastest online degree com­ple­tion pro­grams have cours­es that only take six weeks; this is pos­si­ble because of the con­densed for­mat of the cours­es and can also help speed things up because the trans­fer poli­cies are incred­i­bly gen­er­ous, tak­ing in some­times up to 100 cred­its. Each of these has an excel­lent degree com­ple­tion pro­gram that offers online bach­e­lor’s degrees. Some also offer mas­ter’s degree pro­grams that can be com­plet­ed online. 

The school with the fastest accel­er­at­ed degree pro­gram is West Texas A&M Uni­ver­si­ty, which has a degree track that con­dens­es a 16-week semes­ter down to just six weeks.

West Texas A&M University

West Texas A&M Uni­ver­si­ty offers com­ple­tion options for 10 dif­fer­ent pro­grams in pop­u­lar fields like Eco­nom­ics, Crim­i­nal Jus­tice, and Health Sci­ences. Each course accounts for three cred­it hours and costs stu­dents $699 per course. That breaks down to just $233 per cred­it hour, which is less than half of the nation­al aver­age cost, mak­ing this an afford­able and flex­i­ble oppor­tu­ni­ty. Dif­fer­ent insti­tu­tions offer a broad range of dif­fer­ent paces and price points, though. 

Arizona State University

Ari­zona State Uni­ver­si­ty sees stu­dents pay­ing from $510 up to $718 per cred­it depend­ing on the cours­es that they’re pur­su­ing. ASU’s accel­er­at­ed options span 71 dif­fer­ent degrees with mul­ti­ple start dates through­out the year to tru­ly help stu­dents grad­u­ate on their own time. Accel­er­at­ed cours­es through this col­lege are just 7.5 weeks, and the pro­grams allow for up to 90 trans­fer cred­its. There are hun­dreds of schools in the coun­try that have adapt­ed their course for­mats to fit the needs of their stu­dents, and more pro­grams are being cre­at­ed all the time. 

Siena Heights University

Siena Heights Uni­ver­si­ty, which breaks things down into just eight-week terms, has 18 degree pro­grams and cred­it for pri­or learning. 

UMass Amherst

UMass, the Uni­ver­si­ty With­out Walls serves almost 2,000 stu­dents afford­ably and flex­i­bly. Class­es are pre­sent­ed in six-week long online ses­sions. At UMass, stu­dents can bring in up to 100 cred­its. Uni­ver­si­ty of Mass­a­chu­setts — Amherst has more than 40 online programs. 

Oth­er top pro­grams include West­ern Gov­er­nors Uni­ver­si­ty, South­ern New Hamp­shire Uni­ver­si­ty, Saint Louis Uni­ver­si­ty, and Indi­ana Wes­leyan University. 

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