by Dawn Papandrea

Wish you could make close to a million dollars instantly? Consider this: A bachelor's degree is worth more than $2.1 million over 40 years, compared to $1.2 million for high school graduates. With more than 45 million adults over the age of 25 having begun their undergraduate studies, but never completed them, that's a lot of people losing out on a lot of money.

Don't be one of them.

OK, so getting a bachelor's degree doesn't happen instantly, but you know that your educational investment is worth the effort. And, with the availability of online degree programs, which offer flexibility and convenience to round out your recommitment to that lifelong goal, saying you don't have the time isn't a viable excuse. Complete your bachelor's degree, and get ready to cash in like these individuals.

London Calling
For Kevin Watson, a Chicago native now living and working in London, completing his bachelor's degree would have been nearly impossible had it not been for online learning.

"I always knew I would have to finish my degree in order to move my career forward, but I wasn't quite sure how," says the project manager for IT Lab, an IT outsourcing company in London.

Watson is on to something when you consider that in 2002, average earnings for those with a bachelor's degree was $51,194, compared to $27,280 for high school graduates. Still, it was finances that delayed his original college degree quest at the University of Iowa.

From his junior year on, says Watson, despite working full time, the cost of his education was more than he could handle. After moving to London to pursue a job opportunity, he remained hopeless that he'd ever complete his degree work. "I had been in London for three years and was getting more and more impatient about finishing my degree. I felt stuck. I was in a great job and gaining amazing career experience, but at the same time I didn't have any way to finish my degree," says Watson. "It would have cost me over $30,000 a year to attend a college in the U.K., and I would have lost out on a lot of the work I had done already."

Luckily, during a visit home to Chicago, he found the answer to his educational dilemma - DePaul University's School for New Learning (SNL) and its online bachelor's degree completion program in business management and marketing. "It allowed me to study with DePaul even though I'm in the U.K."

The program also appealed to Watson because of its flexibility with his location. "Everybody has been very helpful and accommodating in terms of the time difference. It's also been fun adding an international perspective to class discussions."

He'll keep plugging ahead on a part-time basis, and he hopes to finish his degree this November. "It feels good because I know that I'm finally moving forward again," he says. "My social life has definitely taken a hit, but it's worth it." Besides, Watson says he's able to fill some of the socializing void with the virtual friendships he's made through his classes.

"It's a perfect solution for people like me who want to finish their degree but can't commit to specific times due to travel or location issues."

Career Investigation
Beyond finances, many adults don't complete their bachelor's degree simply because they feel they don't really need it. However, when you consider that in 2003, the percentage of adults age 25 and over with a college degree reached an all-time high (27 percent), it's hard to make the argument that you'll never need a bachelor's.

Such was the realization that 28-year-old Blake Gurley, a police sergeant and criminal investigator for the Mount Vernon, TX Police Department, had. "I thought I was happy to be a patrol officer for the rest of my life," explains Gurley. And, he was, until a promotion to sergeant opened his eyes to numerous career possibilities.

"I enjoyed my new job and realized that I'd need an educational background to go along with my experience if I ever wanted to advance," he explains. A smart move, since in 2003, 68 percent of people in professional and related occupations had completed a bachelor's degree, according to the U.S. Census.

Having achieved 60 credit hours at Northeast Texas Community College (Mount Pleasant, TX) - just enough to graduate the Police Academy - Gurley knew his degree pursuit would be an undertaking that required time. And free time was something this father of three young children knew he didn't have much of, especially if he had to add a long commute back and forth to a college to his day.

Knowing a traditional degree program wouldn't meet his needs,he researched accredited online programs until he settled on Walden University in the fall of 2002.

Since his enrollment in the school's bachelor's of business administration degree completion program, a typical day for Gurley begins at six a.m. when he gets his four-year-old ready for school. After a long day of criminal investigations, he signs into his online class to read and respond on the message boards for at least two hours a night, even though, he admits, that's going above and beyond class requirements.

"I like being thorough in my work and responding to all of the class discussions," he explains. "It's kind of tough at first to manage your time and to be able to fit everything in, but it all works out."

With just three classes left to complete, Gurley is looking forward to being just the second person in his family to complete college; his brother recently accomplished that feat. "It will be a real milestone for me," he says. And, the convenience of online learning has Gurley hooked. "I'm 99 percent certain I'll be going for my master's degree next."