Five questions to ask before you start an online degree

An online degree asks the same of you as a degree on campus: the reading, the deadlines, the thinking. What changes is where the structure comes from. On campus a timetable holds the week together. Online, you hold it together yourself — and that is a skill, not a personality trait. It can be learned, and it is worth being honest with yourself about before you start.

Here are the five questions we are asked most often, and the answers we give.

1. How many hours will this actually take?

Plan on six to nine hours a week for each course. Some weeks are lighter, and the weeks with an assignment due are heavier. The number that matters is not the total but whether those hours exist in your week at all — most people find them in early mornings, lunch breaks and one weekend block, rather than in one long evening.

2. Can I keep working full time?

Most of our students do. Two courses a term alongside a full-time job is the pace that works for the majority; three is possible for a term or two, and rarely sustainable for longer. You are not behind if you take the slower route — an accelerated program is built so that the pace is yours to set.

The students who finish are not the ones with the most free time. They are the ones who decided in advance which hours belonged to the degree.

3. Will I be learning on my own?

No. Courses run on a weekly rhythm with the same group of people, and there is a mix of discussion, group work and live sessions alongside the material you work through at your own time. Your instructors hold regular office hours, and the academic advising team is there for everything from course planning to a term that has gone sideways.

4. Do my previous studies count?

Often, yes. College credentials, previous university study and, in some cases, professional qualifications can be assessed for transfer credit, which can take a meaningful amount of time off the degree. This is assessed individually, so the only way to know is to ask — and it is worth asking before you apply, not after.

5. What happens if a term goes badly?

Life does not stop for a degree. Illness, a new job, a family that needs you — these are ordinary, and the program is built to absorb them. You can reduce your course load, defer a term or pick the degree back up later. Talk to an advisor early; almost everything is easier to solve in week three than in week eleven.

Still deciding?

If you are weighing this up, the most useful next step is a conversation rather than more reading. Tell us where you are and what you are hoping the degree will do for you, and we will tell you honestly whether this is the right fit.