In 2020, COVID-19 sent America home from school. While some colleges and universities already had distance-learning programs in place, many more had to adapt rapidly to tools and systems that enable quality education while protecting students, faculty and support staff.
Apart from the safety protocols of the pandemic and long after the need for them passes, there are many compelling reasons to study online. Keep these in mind as you consider how and where to pursue your degree.
You’ll save money
Studying online is an excellent way to earn top-level degrees while saving considerable amounts of money. Remote learning enables you to become a student at any university while living anywhere—with no need to incur the costs of relocating, establishing new housing, or even commuting. In addition to the cost-of-living savings, it provides another important financial benefit: You can earn your degree while keeping your full-time job, its income and your place in line for future advancement and opportunities. Rather than deferring your career, online education maintains and promotes it while you study.
Flexibility puts you in control
Are you a morning person who struggled through afternoon classes in high school? A night owl who could never make it to early lectures in college? Perfectly functional at any hour, as long as you have caffeine, protein or sugar nearby?
In the asynchronous components of an online graduate program, you’re in class on your schedule. You choose when to work on assignments. Your education fits into your home life, professional life and favorite times of day. You’re studying when you’re at your best.
You also have the option to do your work from anywhere that has an internet connection. Your classes, classmates and course materials are as close as your device. Rather than being tied to campus facilities, you’re free to move ahead in your program from home, the local library, your favorite café or anywhere else on the map.
In a larger context, by studying online, you earn your degree without disrupting your life. The master’s program that fits your goals is based in Ohio and you live in … Minneapolis? Boston? San Diego? No problem. You’re empowered to advance your education and career without uprooting your family or quitting your job.
Manageable course pacing helps you focus
The thought of keeping up with a full-time job, full-time class schedule, and a personal life—while getting enough sleep and staying healthy—is enough to make anyone’s head spin.
Fortunately, online education sustains a much more reasonable pace. You have the freedom to take one class at a time, with concentrated study in each. This gentler workload and in-depth approach help you maintain your focus and afford you time to balance school with work and life.
Your network grows and gains strength
Continuing your education from your current location not only maintains equilibrium in your home life, it also strengthens your network and nurtures your success through two fundamental realities:
In staying where you are, you stay close to your local sources of support. The relationships you’ve developed with friends, colleagues, mentors, childcare professionals and the rest of your community can continue without interruption. Graduate school will challenge you. Having those varied, established forms of support close by will ease your stress and enhance your emotional health.
Online graduate programs welcome students from all over the world. Just by meeting your new classmates, you’re expanding your network to include people with varied backgrounds and interests similar to your own. Their experiences and perspectives will enrich your graduate studies and spur your personal and professional growth.
Master engineering online.
Give yourself the best possible foundation for future success. Learn more about what becomes possible through online education in the Case School of Engineering. Explore our online Master of Engineering, Master of Science in Biomedical Engineering, Master of Science in Mechanical Engineering, and Master of Science in Systems and Control Engineering degrees today.