Up until last year, it was not always practical to buy college textbooks online. Book lists for courses were not published well in advance and students who waited, ran the risk of not being able to find their books in time. Finding booksellers that carried required texts was difficult and using little-known and perhaps unreliable sellers entailed even more risk.

All this has changed thanks to a little-publicized provision in the 2008 Reauthorization of the Higher Education Act. It requires

1. textbook publishers to provide pricing information to professors
2. schools to provide book lists to students early

This has helped to improve the online textbook retail industry enormously. Now, if you buy college textbooks online, you know that not only do professors and students have this information, but so do the online retailers. They can stock the books that will be needed (and dump the ones that won’t be) and streamline their businesses to provide increased benefits to their customers (like fast or free shipping). You don’t have to stick with Amazon anymore, either. Secure payouts, sophisticated search functions and 247 customer support is the rule among online textbook retailers.

The irony is that the colleges who figure out your cost of attendance are stuck with the book estimates they get by using prices on books from their college bookstores. They can’t do these estimates using the online discount textbooks, so their figures will always be higher than they need to be.

The risks are mostly gone now; all you have to do to save a bundle on your college texts is to find out what books you need for your next semester’s courses. No more waiting in line at the college bookstore the day before classes start. No more fighting over the last used, discounted textbook for a course. (Online retailers have plenty of these as most also have a book buyback program.) And best of all, you can get a jump on your next semester’s reading assignments, because you will have all your books early if you buy college textbooks online.

What is online degree?

The degree awarded by an accredited online university to students in various fields is called an online degree. The basic difference between an online degree and traditional degree is the mode of teaching. In an online university everything goes online. You can attend classes, ask questions to professors, work on a project and appear in examinations online in an online university.

Students can enroll for an online degree by filling online admission form. Online universities give enroll students in various online degree courses round the year. Each online university has its separate fees structure for various online degree courses. Students search for that online university, which offers most cost effective online degree courses. Above all, online universities offer much more degree courses than a traditional university. You can find out thousand of online degree courses to choose between in an online university whereas a traditional university offers only selective degree courses.

Benefits of online degree course

Chalking out a sharp difference between an online degree course and traditional degree course is the best way to find out the benefits of an online degree course.

• Working people can easily get promotions, increments or switch over to another job by sharpening their skills with online degree course.
• Students of an online degree course can attend classes on the weekend or whenever they feel free. In a traditional university, you are supposed to attend classes in a fix time frame.
• There is no limitation to seats in an online university. Any number of students can get enrolled for an online degree course.
• Students need not to have good GPA or certificates to get enrolled in an online degree course. This is not the case with traditional universities. They adopt strict criteria in enrolling students due to limited number of seats.
• Online degree programs offer financial aid to the needy students just like the traditional colleges do. Online universities also give placements to their students.
• You can study at your own pace only in an online university.
• Online universities are much less expensive than the traditional universities. You can easily get scholarships and student loans for an online degree course.

The benefits of online degree course do not end here. More and more high school graduates are enrolling in online degree courses because of the liberal admission and coaching style of online universities. It is easier to search an online university on internet. You can use your favorite search engine or sites such as DegreeAuthority.com and onlinedegreescholarships.com.

In my next article I would be focusing at how you can get bachelor degree online at half the time from traditional universities.

1. A Little Information Goes a Little Way

I was not well prepared for selecting a college. My parents did not properly instill in me the need for selectivity and criteria, though they might be surprised to hear that now. All of my peers had dreams of a particular school, or a particular academic reputation, or they aimed for a certain city. I had distances.

The minimum distance was 500 miles from my mother and 500 miles from my father. In order to meet these criteria, the school needed to be somewhere in Nevada, or somewhere in the Pacific Ocean. For the record, the vector did eventually land me at University of Nevada, Las Vegas.

But looking back now, I realize that I did very little in the way of research then. I did not know the right questions to ask, much less whom to ask them to. You already have the resources, but you have to do the legwork. Parents are a good start. Assess their expectations, particularly how much they expect to pay. Then set that information aside and start researching specific schools. You should use your guidance counselor as a resource, but do not forget the internet. And pay the campus a visit during the school year.

The only time it does not pay to do the research is when you already know exactly where you want to go, whether it is your only choice, or your parent’s alma mater, or you are going locally. If you do not know, it is always a good idea to arm yourself with as much information as you can. Otherwise you might end up at a university in the Pacific Ocean.

2. Rankings Are Relative

Any college guide would have you believe that their publication, and only theirs, really has the definitive information on a wide swath of criteria to pick a college. Do not believe it. There are two things at stake here to keep in mind. Every college guide has a bias. And college rankings are dependent on that bias.

Take the Harvard University of college guides, U.S. News and World Report as an example. What’s the bias? U.S. News wants to be an elite college guide, the cream of the crop. That means their ranking formula has to be the most complicated, has to utilize the most criteria and they have to devote a whole lot of space to the country’s elite universities. Which is great if you plan on choosing a school based on reputation. But there are other factors to consider.

It is appropriate, a great idea even, to pick up a college guide and review the entry on some of your school choices. Better yet, do it online. Most guides have an online component, and so what if you have to register to view it. You are going to spread your name around liberally during the application process anyway.

3. It is not the size of the school but the number of kids that live there that counts

Let me tell you a little trick when you examine your school’s size. Look strictly at its percentage of students that live on campus. Particularly when you are starting out as a first-year student, you spend a whole lot of time on campus, and most schools require you to live there at least through your first year. The number of students that live on campus has a lot to do with the kind of experience you will have.

I went to UNLV which only had an on-campus population of a little over 1,000 students. That is a relatively small population of students to live among. I looked at the overall campus population, over 20,000 students, and assumed I would be interacting with a diverse group. But the truth was, my social and educational circles were usually limited to the 1,000. Whichever population size you prefer, just remember that commuters are usually significantly less engaged in campus activities; clubs, intramural sports, and social nights.

4. Cost is a hill, not a mountain

If you want to go to college, prepare to take out loans to pay for it. If your parents can afford it and are willing to pay, you are lucky. For everyone else, once you know the school you want to go to, just go. The cost of education is exorbitant and steadily rising. There is no way around it.

Parents look at debt warily, and their opinion is to be respected. But when it comes to picking a college, cost should not be the determining factor. Think of your education loans as an investment in your future. Whatever you invest now compounds in your skill set, your experience and the assets that you develop for furthering your future earning potential.

Picking a college is a process, but it should not be an overwhelming one. Make a list of criteria that are important to you and take that with you on your search. It is indisputably a big deal to choose a college for yourself, but the process has never been easier. Do not let anyone tell you otherwise.