by Emily Wengert
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1. Get Started.
Start classes over the summer to get a jump on fulfilling your educational goals. After all, with its looser schedule and warmer weather, summer can be a great time to get an early start on that degree you've been thinking about. That's exactly why Felicia Smith enrolled in a bachelor's degree program in criminal justice through the University of Phoenix Online.
Because her daughter was out of school, summertime was ideal for Felicia to begin coursework, she says. The fact that the program was available online made it even more alluring.
As a single mom, Felicia feels it's important to be available to help her daughter with homework during the school year. She was able to adjust to an online class schedule over the summer, and found that it helped her juggle responsibilities when her 9-year-old daughter's school started up again in the fall.
"Online doesn't take you away from home," explains Felicia, a youth counselor for runaways and children with behavioral problems in Richmond, VA. "The sooner I get started, the sooner I finish."
Not only is Felicia hoping to advance her career (she's considering becoming a juvenile probation officer with her degree), she's also trying to avoid becoming one of the approximately 50 percent of adult learners who started but never finished a baccalaureate program.
2. Supplement Your Studies.
If you've been working toward a specific degree, try taking an elective during the summer. Finding a class offered online over the summer is key to keeping the academic momentum.
Part of the beauty of online learning is that it doesn't have to be tied to a classroom campus' schedule, which often decreases the number of summer offerings. Distance learning programs can offer a full complement of courses, giving students a chance to complete prerequisites before the school year starts, says Arnold Bateman, associate vice chancellor for Extended Education and Outreach at the University of Nebraska.
Others use the summer to take a creative elective they've been meaning to try. The fact that students can enter most distance learning programs throughout the year, not just during one or two select points of entry, as is common with on-campus education, notes Bateman, also attracts learners to the program, which is largely comprised of graduate students.
The online students at the University of Nebraska, whom Bateman describes as either "time-bound or place-bound," have diverse histories - people of all ages, from all parts of the country and even the world, of both genders, and with varying levels of work experience. "We are truly attracting students into these programs who would not be able to pursue graduate education otherwise," he says. Though most of his students are fully employed, many find the summer as good a time as any to begin a degree.
3. Speed your way toward the finish line.
Jay Julius' decision to enroll in an online program to earn his MBA wasn't entirely his own. A chemical engineer, Jay had been thinking about returning to school for years. When he got laid off last spring with a $5,000 stipend to go back to school, he figured his time had finally come.
Already, his schooling at the University of Phoenix has helped him get interviews when he might have been passed over, particularly since a master's degree in business has become more expected in his line of work as operations manager in a petrochemical plastics plant.
"I've put it on my résumé," Jay says. "I'll hear, 'Oh, you're getting your MBA. That makes us more interested.'"
Since his degree is online, it's OK if he gets a job elsewhere in the country or even the world (Jay has interviewed to work in Saudi Arabia). And, as a current resident of hazy, hot, and humid Houston, TX, he also finds summer a great time to study.
"In June, July, August, you don't want to stay outside too long," he explains. "This gives me something to do inside instead of just watching TV."
And the benefits of online education continue in a busy season when vacation may be part of the plan.
"You can go ahead and travel and take your laptop with you. I just plug in and go online anywhere."
4. Improve your academic weaknesses.
Having trouble with your studies? Use summer hours to get in-depth tutoring with an "off-duty" professor, a graduate student, or even at a learning center.
Since summer is a notoriously quiet scholastic season, you'll have ample opportunity to capitalize on resources that can be hard to come by during the academic year. Use this to your advantage, and get all the help you can while it's readily available.
5. Find an online school.
Even if you don't even have time to take an online class, remember that there are other ways to boost your current/future degree during the summer, too: Do some Internet research, visit a school you're interested in, or read a book that will help you when school does start again - in September!
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