Here’s an intersting study by PayScale, a career website. It compares the earnings right after graduation and mid-career earnings of graduates from various state universities.

Methodology Annual pay for Bachelors graduates without higher degrees. Typical starting graduates have 3 years of experience; mid-career have 15.5 years. See full methodology for more.

My one question about the validity of this is: did the California schools do so well because they’re in a state with lots of high-paying jobs, and their grads tend to stay there after finishing school? The next tier of schools on the list are almost all in affluent northeastern states. Anyway, it’s a good tool for comparison, as it compares specific branches of state schools against each other. To see the complete list a visit PayScale

We came across this list from a little earlier this year of one Economist writer’s view of the ten best distance learning MBA’s. Given that The Economist is a European publication, it should come as little surprise that several of the schools listed here are European institutions you may never have heard of. The only two American schools to make the list are the Thunderbird School of Global Management and the Warrington College of Business of the University of Florida, neither of which are exactly household names here in the U.S. There are several pages linked to this article explaining the method of this survey, though I’m afraid I was left a bit confused by them. Nonetheless, it’s an unusual list worth checking out for any prospective online MBA student. See the list here

Usually I’m not big on linking to press releases, but I found this one about the Massachusetts State Troopers’ use of online learning to be interesting. The fact that the force has been using online learning applications to educate officers for more than six years underscores previous stories we’ve seen about the growth of online learning in law enforcement.
Read about state troopers learning online
My own article about online law enforcement classes

The Computer Research Association reports that the number of students taking degree programs in computer science has plummeted in recent years. According to CRA’s new “Taublee Survey,” about 7,900 undergraduate students are studying computer science right now. That’s only half the number that where going for degrees in this specialty in 2000. Experts point to two key reasons for the falloff: First, there has been so much “offshoring” of technology jobs that IT is no longer an attractive career path in the U.S. Secondly, some educators say that American colleges have not kept their computer science programs in step with the rapidly changing landscape of business technology. Some, for instance, still teach programming languages that are no longer used in the corporate world. On the other hand, Inside Higher Ed reports that the falloff has stabilized, because large tech companies like Microsoft are now hungry for graduates with advanced computer training.
Read more about the rebound on computer science student enrollments.
More on computer science and other tech degrees.

Whether you’re looking to get a degree online or at a traditional school, it’s a sure bet you’re doing it to get into a better career. But does real satisfaction lie there waiting for you in the career you are now training for? Here’s a list of jobs that don’t seem to be as wonderful as people expect them to be. Police officer, teacher and chef are just a few of America’s most overrated careers.

Here’s a sobering video from CNN about a woman who bought into a series of bogus real estate courses that promised fast riches by purchasing foreclosed properties a no money down. She spent a bundle, earning nothing after working long days for months to try and make deals, and is now suing the company that used high pressure sales tactics to bilk her of more than $10,000. It’s an extreme example (and this one wasn’t an online course), but since real estate training is very popular online, we’ll pose it as one more example of how you need to be careful about studying the credentials of the school you are going to before you write any tuition checks. See the CNN video here.

I always felt like going to law school meant you could be just one thing: a lawyer. Well, that’s a bit of an oversimplification, but I think an MBA in marketing is definately a more exciting path to take. It’s got applications in every business from the corner store to a Fortune 500 company. Read More…

Maybe the thought of having my entire family over for Thanksgiving has me in a marital arts kind of mood. No…I just couldn’t overlook this rather offbeat example of where people are stretching the limits on distance learning. Check out this very passionate blogger who argues that martial arts can definitely be taught effectively online. He argues that some traditional martial arts schools are “black belt mills,” and that a person can indeed use distance learning to reach the highest ranks in this area, “without spilling blod on the dojo floor.” It sounds like there are some pretty tough characters out there in those dojos.
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It will only be of real interest to you if you mean to take the bar exam in California, but Kaplan University now has a law school – the former Concord Law School. Because of Kaplan’s status, this will open up far more opportunities for government financial aid to students at the new “Concord Law School of Kaplan University.” Its law students will qualify only for the bar exam in California. Kaplan, by the way, is owned by the Washington Post Company.
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Update
I didn’t realize how very limited online law degrees were until I saw this post from a very knowledgeable blogger. Check out his more subtle explanation of how the Concord/Kaplan story plays out against a background of the American Bar Association’s contining resistance to online legal education.
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Here’s a absolutely classic illustration of how hard it is, even for a college professor, to choose an online degree program that fits their career objectives. The Beaumont Enterprise recently reported that a tenured professor at Lamar University in Texas is in hot water because of a psychology Ph.D. she got online from California Coast University. That school, unfortunately, is on a list of colleges the Texas Higher Education Coordinating Board says gives out degrees that are “fraudulent” or “substandard.” The professor says her course of study at CCU cost her thousands of dollars and involved a great deal of hard work. Fortunately, she won’t lose her job because she was originally hired on the strength of another degree she got from UCLA. She’s lucky — she could have been charged with a misdemeanor if Lamar had hired her on the basis of the California Coast University degree. It all goes to show that, with professional training in particular, you need to make sure the degree you’re getting online matches your employer’s requirements exactly.
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Also, here a good source of info on which colleges and universities are accredited in Texas