Every time someone asks me if I’m in school, I say “Yeah I’m in college, but it’s online,” as if an online education doesn’t count. I feel like people perceive me differently when I tell them that I am in school online as if it isn’t up to par with ‘normal colleges’ where you learn on campus. I feel guilty downplaying the fact that I am in college and work very hard to keep my grades and GPA up. Normal college is at a campus, how could online college even compare?

But you see, online college does compare.

In January of 2012, the total number of students who took a class online in the prior 12 months adds up to over 6 million! This proves that the number of students enrolled in online colleges are rapidly increasing.

Online college lets students have many opportunities. We make our own schedules, we determine how much time we will need to take for each assignment. We have lots of reading, papers and final projects, much like the students of college campuses.

Online college is also convenient. We do not have to commute or stay on campus and I can have a very diverse life outside of college. We don’t have to get up at a certain time worrying that we will be late for classes and we don’t have the normal distractions of “college life” with the wild parties and interferences of dating while on campus. Online college has the opportunity for students to be involved in fraternities and sororities, clubs and honor societies.

We do have teachers and classmates, which many non-online-college students tend to overlook. Many professors make videos introducing themselves to the class as well as make notes and PowerPoint presentations for their students. Many of them send out weekly announcements and emails specific to the assignments of the week as well as ways to improve our work with outside resources. Students are able to talk to each other through the assignments due every week in the discussion board. This allows us to interact with each other, read each other’s work and learn from each other.

Even though Southern New Hampshire University has a campus in Manchester, I decided to be enrolled through their online courses to study towards my Bachelor’s Degree in Criminal Justice. In my experience, I believe online students have to be hardworking and motivated, and possibly even more so than students studying on a campus. Teaching yourself college courses is challenging, and there is no one to help you pronounce those complex Physiology words or how to evaluate that irritating Statistics problem you forgot how to calculate.

I have learned a lot about myself in this experience. I have learned the necessary skills needed to be successful, how to be proficient in self-educating while learning and realizing which aspects of my work I need more help on.

Whether you are still in high school or want to go back to school, you have many options to choose from. Do you have a full time job and can’t attend classes on a set schedule? Do you have a baby that you can’t leave alone to attend classes on campus? Or do you just want to make your own schedule and do work completely on your own time, while having the support of sophisticated professors with supportive staff? Also, while still interacting with positive students and having time for your job and other daytime leisurely activities?

Online college is no less of an education if you work hard and are driven towards that degree.