Can you get an ivy Education Online!

John Marker will get his MBA in July from the University of Maryland University College, part of a dual master's degree he is pursuing. He has never met a professor, has never sat in a classroom and has checked out the Adelphi campus only once, long after he had enrolled. In fact, until recently, the 28-year-old graduate student had been studying from Brussels.

John is among an extraordinarily fast-growing number of students nationwide and worldwide who are turning to online degree programs to complete or advance their educations while they work, decisions that are driven by economics as well as by a society that is increasingly mobile.

Online learning makes education accessible to virtually everyone, at any stage, on the path to achievement. Students are not bound by physical disabilities, learning disabilities, poor life choices, geographic limitations, or socioeconomic status. Online learning makes the playing field about as level as it can get. A student who is determined enough can and will succeed.

More and more schools are offering courses online. Some schools offer the opportunity for students to obtain a certificate or a degree wholly online. Faculty and institutions are recognizing that not all students fit into the 18-22 year old demographic. The Socratic method, with one teacher standing in front of a blackboard facing dozens of students, is now just one way classes are taught. Not the only way. There are mature students with life experience who have different needs and objectives. Colleges and universities are tailoring the education experience they provide to these non-traditional students.

There are as many reasons to return to school as there are for leaving. Some people voluntarily interrupt their education. They decide that upon high school graduation they are not ready for college. Others defer education out of necessity in order to join the military, raise a family, or care for a family member. Then there are those who want to take time to find out their interests, work their way up from an entry-level job, or just get life experience. Later they find that what interests them requires a degree; or that they can't be promoted to more responsibility without a degree, or that their lifestyle demands a career change and more money. All at once they have to be competitive in the job market--and in many industries that means having a degree.