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On October 8th 2020, Carol Fuentes put together an article about how online school is ruining college students mental health. She says that a study that happened in June, 75% of college students reported that they were feeling more anxious and stressed because of online school. This further proves my point that online school is worse than regular in person school.

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It began with classes transitioning to online platforms and assignments piling up. It worsened with moving back home and saying goodbye to friends. Staying up until two in the morning on most school nights became a regular occurrence, which led to staying in bed until the early afternoon. For junior Aishani Saha, online classes hurt not only her grades, but also her mental health.

"My mental health was already kind of shaky, it was getting better actually, but then this happened and it got worse," Saha said. "For me, I've always partly depended on social stuff like seeing friends but when that suddenly stopped, it was completely different. I slept in a lot, super late, which I think made my mental health worse; I would get out of bed at like 1 p.m., and I wouldn't get a lot done during the day, so I would just feel worse about myself so it just kind of went in circles."

Last spring, time management skills were left in campus buildings and meaningful social interactions went away with the rushed goodbye to in-person classes, forcing students to change their usual routines, adapt to new learning environments, and get used to sitting in front of a screen all day long. For Saha, adapting to school from her parent's home proved difficult.

"I've noticed that I feel really hopeless and my self esteem goes down when I don't get a lot done in a day," Saha said. "I still can't really go out that often, being at home is really lonely for me as an only child."

Saha isn't the only one. According to a study conducted in June, 75% of college students reported feeling more anxious or stressed due to online learning. Now, with only 4% of colleges fully reopening their doors to in-person instruction for fall semester, online school has made this emotional stress the norm for most students.

Senior Spanish and psychology major Andre Jaurigui also found that the transition to online school took a toll on his mental health.

"My motivation definitely dropped, it was just such a sudden transition," Jaurigui said. "I'm sure that it was pretty hard for everyone. It was pretty hard to go from having these very interactive in person classes to going online and professors not really knowing what they're doing, students not really knowing what to do, so I feel like it was definitely hard to stay motivated towards the end of the semester."

While Jaurigui has been living in Portland with his housemates, many students have been attending classes from their parent's houses. Zoom class backgrounds have become a collage of different houses, varying time zones and a range of outside stressors that go unseen on camera.

"The first week of school, after the second or third day I was just so tired, I was ready to go to bed and not do homework," Jaurigui said. "It's just hard because you're doing class online and most of your work content is online too so staring at your computer for several hours a day, it's really exhausting."

Jaurigui also explained that it can be difficult to focus on school when there are overwhelming societal issues occurring at the same time as classes, such as climate disasters, protests regarding institutional racism, and of course, a pandemic.

Junior organizational communication and Spanish major Rebecca Robles believes that professors have been so focused on classes that they forget students are also dealing with these issues.

"I thought with online classes, everything would be easier, but I feel like it's the same amount of work but less motivation and encouragement from professors," Robles said. "They're like, yeah, sorry about the wildfires and I'm sorry about coronavirus and I'm sorry you're home, but the assignment is due tonight at 11:59."

According to Carol Dell'Oliver, director of the Health and Counseling Center, COVID-19 has made school more stressful for many students.

"It has significantly impacted mental health, and there's more worries and anxieties around COVID related concerns," Dell'Oliver said. "There's also more of a sense of isolation when they're not around their friends as much, which is an important protective factor in their mental health. There is also more unpredictability and things that are out of their personal control."

This unpredictability looks different for every student. A study showed that almost 80% of students felt they would be more successful if they lived with friends instead of their parents. However, this is not an option for many students, including Robles.

"I find being around people makes me feel better, and if they're motivated, then I'm motivated," Robles said. "I miss being on campus and having that community of support, not only for my education but also my mental health."

Dell'Oliver explained that it is vital for students to find strategies that help them escape the stress of online classes and isolation.

"I think it's important to try to create some teams around socially connecting with others, because it is such an important part of their emotional wellbeing," Dell'Oliver said. "Also, trying to touch base with their friends on a regular basis, especially those friends they feel they can trust and talk to about whatever is going on."

On top of this, Dell'Oliver recommends finding time to look away from screens and focus on simple forms of self care, which can include going on a walk or doing something more creative such as drawing or journaling. Students have found many different outlets to release the stress of online school.

Over the summer, Saha began making custom artwork and selling it online. She found that it has provided a good escape for her usual routine.

"I was planning on doing an internship, but that didn't happen," Saha said. "I started out with just some of my friends, and they'd ask for a specific picture or something. I started contacting people I know and they spread the word. I've always liked making art and making some money through it."

Dell'Oliver also advised students to find different ways to spend their time to break the regular routines of the day. This could include joining virtual clubs, finding different environments to attend online classes from, or talking to friends and family regularly.

The Health and Counseling Center (HCC) is still available for tele-counseling appointments, Monday through Friday from 8:30 p.m. to 4:30 p.m. Dell'Oliver wants students to know that the counseling center is just as available to students as it would be during any other school year.

The HCC offers free short-term counseling for all UP students. Compared to previous years, the wait time for counseling services has been low, with most students getting to talk to a counselor within one or two days after contacting the HCC, according to Dell'Oliver.

Dell'Oliver said that much of the focus for the counselors over the summer was finding resources that students could use without having to wait for an appointment. These resources include contact information for outside referrals, resources to cope with living through a pandemic, as well as resources specifically for LGBTQ+ and cultural minorities to receive specialized support.

These resources, along with instructions on making a virtual appointment, can be found on the HCC website.

"We want students to know that we're still here and we want to serve students in whatever way they might need," Dell'Oliver said.
Carlos Fuentes is the Copy Editor for The Beacon. He can be reached at fuentes22@up.edu.

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Zoom fatigue and all-nighters: Online learning takes a toll on students' mental health

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It began with classes transitioning to online platforms and assignments piling up. It worsened with moving back home and saying goodbye to friends. Staying up until two in the morning on most school nights became a regular occurrence, which led to staying in bed until the early afternoon.

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On September 10 2020, an article about how online school is stressing out middle school students. This article was created by Anna North. She says that without a teacher in the room, students have to rely on self-control which isn't fully developed in middle school students. This makes them feel lonely, and working so much harder to get things done. They feel like they are struggling and are the only one. This explains why online school is worse than traditional school.

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If there's one thing Stephen Guerriero has learned in his 18 years teaching middle-school students, it's that they thrive on structure and predictability.

"I know that when I go into this classroom, I start this warmup; I know that I need to bring this; I know that I have lunch every day at 11:15." Routines like these, he told Vox, are "so linked to middle-school students' sense of safety."

But when school buildings closed due to the Covid-19 pandemic this spring, those routines were completely disrupted. And with the fall term beginning and the crisis still in full swing, students' predictable days aren't coming back anytime soon. This can have an effect on their learning - but it has a major impact on their mental health, too.

Most students will be attending school either remotely or on a hybrid model, with some days in classrooms and some days at home. And even these new routines are still in flux, with some areas - including Needham, Massachusetts, where Guerriero teaches - delaying the start of in-person school due to concerns that aging school buildings simply aren't ready to accommodate even a hybrid model.

Add to that uncertainty the fact that the virus remains a real threat, parents have lost jobs, food insecurity has skyrocketed, and teachers, the trusted guides students rely on to get them through a radically different school environment, are also afraid of what will happen to them and their families if they return to buildings that may be unsafe. For everyone involved, the pandemic has been "a collective trauma," Guerriero said.

And while some families have the resources to help kids adjust to the new normal, others are going into their sixth month of unemployment, or dealing with the demands of online school without reliable internet or space for kids to study. "Their stress level is going up," Sarah Y. Vinson, a psychiatrist in the Atlanta area who works with kids across the income spectrum, told Vox.

Experts fear that, for students around the country, the stresses of the pandemic could lead to anxiety, depression, or difficulties with learning, and that groups hardest hit by Covid-19, including Black and Latinx Americans, could be the most affected. "The communities that already had less room for air have, of course, been hit hardest," Vinson said.

To help students across American society cope with the loss of their routines, adjust to new ones, and begin to heal from the stress of living in a global public health emergency, Guerriero and others say schools need to focus on kids' emotional needs - perhaps even before they worry about the curriculum. "Coping strategies and skills that oftentimes would be ancillary to what we were doing in the classroom," he said, "now it's going to have to be the primary thing."

The pandemic has put students' mental health at risk

Before Covid-19 hit, school was a constant in the lives of millions of American kids - a place they went to learn, play, eat lunch (and often breakfast), and socialize with their peers. The latter is key - in normal times, schooling by its very nature is a space for social interaction "and a place where we can connect and build these relationships," Justina Schlund, director of field learning at the nonprofit CASEL: Collaborative for Academic, Social, and Emotional Learning, told Vox.

But in the spring, with schools nationwide shifting to remote learning, kids lost that physical space to connect with each other and with teachers. And while educators were once able to create a supportive place for education in their classrooms, they suddenly had to rely on kids and families to construct such places at home.

"Now out of my 100 kids, I have 100 different learning environments," Guerriero said. Without a teacher in the room to keep them on task, students have to rely much more heavily on executive functioning skills like self-control - which aren't fully developed in middle schoolers to begin with. As a result, "they feel like they're working harder, they feel lonelier, they feel like if they're struggling with something, they're the only one," Guerriero said.

Kids who get mental and behavioral health services at school for disabilities or learning differences are also facing additional disruption. "All these professionals that normally connect with kids in person in school, now you're over Zoom," Guerriero said. "It's just not the same." This has particularly impacteddistricts with a higher percentage of low-income families, Vinson said.

Overall, the challenges of online education and the general isolation and stress of the pandemic could lead to a spike in mental health problems among kids. While nationwide data on the impact of the pandemic is still sparse, one study of students in China's Hubei province, an early Covid-19 hot spot, found that 22.6 percent reported depression symptoms and 18.9 percent had symptoms of anxiety after about a month in lockdown. And in the US, a Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) survey conducted in June found an increase in anxiety and depression among adults since the pandemic began, NPR reported on Thursday. Experts are concerned about a possible uptick in suicides among teenagers and young adults, with one in four 18- to 24-year-olds telling the CDC they had "seriously considered" suicide in the last 30 days.

Anecdotally, Vinson saw an uptick in anxiety and sadness among her patients in the spring, as well as increases in psychotic symptoms among patients who already exhibited those before the pandemic. Now, "some families have been able to sort of re-equilibrate and find a new normal, and for those kids, some of them are doing better than they were in April or May," Vinson said. In other cases - where a parent has lost a job, for example, or where lack of internet access makes online learning impossible - kids are doing even worse.

And the overall environment in a country where the response to the virus has been slow, confusing, andpoliticized from the very beginning isn't helping. "Even if a child isn't aware of what President Trump said, there's a certain amount of just tension and uncertainty," Vinson said. "Whether they can connect the dots or not, there's a way that being in a stressful environment and stressful community absolutely impacts how kids do."

How schools, districts, and families can help support kids' mental health

Despite these challenges, experts say, there are ways for schools, districts, and families to help kids through this unprecedented time. For Vinson, it's important to start with making sure students' most basic needs are met. "Kids' nutritional status and having reliable, consistent access to food is really important in terms of how they do mentally," she said. "School lunch and school breakfast in certain communities is something that families rely upon."

Programs to continue providing meals while school buildings are closed, such as one launched by the Miami-Dade County school district in the spring, are crucial for kids' mental as well as physical health. And to make sure kids without internet at home can still connect to their schools, programs like mobile wifi hot spots or in-person learning hubs can be helpful, Vinson said. The San Francisco school district, for example, has pledged to set up hubs serving 6,000 students, where they can get supervision and access to wifi if those aren't available at home.

When it comes to the content of classes, many say that social and emotional learning - "learning who I am, my emotions, my identity, my values, and how that fits into the larger world," according to Schlund - is more important than ever. In collaboration with other education groups, CASEL has put together a slate of recommendations for supporting students' social and emotional learning during the pandemic that is being used by a number of school districts around the country, including those in Chicago and Baltimore.

The recommendations include strengthening relationships between schools and families, something the Cleveland school district did in the spring with a program to call every family to make sure kids had what they needed for remote school. They also include embedding opportunities for social and emotional learning in the remote school day - for example, by having students discuss current events and how they connect to their daily lives, and "using that discussion to help students think about what actions they can take to support themselves, their families, or their communities during this time," Schlund said.

Schools can help students meet the challenges of pandemic schooling by taking care of their social needs as much as possible. The school where Guerriero teaches, for example, is organizing online clubs around nonacademic interests, like student leadership and spirit days. Schools also need to be thoughtful about how they manage transitions, like the shift from hybrid to fully remote if there are positive cases, because those transitions risk upsetting kids' sense of predictability and making them feel alienated from school. "When they feel disconnected, it's almost impossible to reconnect to them remotely," Guerriero said.

Of course, for many families, school this year is as much about what goes on at home as what happens on Zoom. And parents can do a lot to support their kids' mental health during a difficult time. "One of the things that's really important is to have a good baseline of how your child functions," so you can spot any problems early on, Vinson says. And even though families may be spending lots of time in the same physical space, parents should make sure "it's quality, interactive time where they really do have your full attention and you have theirs, so you can have a sense of how you're doing."

Getting exercise in some form is also helpful for mental health, Vinson says, and it's something families can do together. And protecting kids' sleep is also crucial. Especially for older kids, that might mean having them hand over their phone to a parent in the evening so they actually go to sleep when it's time for bed.

"Given that we know this is a more stressful time" for kids, Vinson said, "we want to put them in the best position possible for their little brains to handle it."

The CASEL recommendations also emphasize the importance of supporting teachers and staff, so that they in turn can take care of students' needs. "Schools are places where we're really relying on adults to play important roles in supporting students socially, emotionally, and academically," Schlund said. "But we don't often recognize that they themselves are experiencing the same types of stress and potential trauma."

Schools and districts can support teachers by making sure their health insurance covers mental health care, having employee-assistance programs in place to offer crisis counseling and referrals, and giving teachers the ability to take time off if they need it, Guerriero said. "We're going to be in front of these traumatized students as traumatized people ourselves," he explained. "It's so important for us to take care of our mental health."

Overall, experts and educators agree that while kids crave structure, they're also often highly adaptable and resilient. And the transition to online school hasn't been wholly negative - some kids prefer remote education, perhaps because they were bullied or ostracized in their classrooms, Vinson said.

But to help the kids who are struggling, and to support everyone's ability to learn and heal, schools and families alike need to understand how deeply different this year is from what came before. Guerriero, for his part, might start his first class of the school year with some icebreakers - in the spring, "we'd do silly things like kids holding up a pet to a camera," he said. But "my main message to them will be, you don't have to know everything I'm telling you right now," he said. "I just want you to know that I'm going to take care of you, I'm going to be with you for the whole year, and if you have questions, you can come and ask me."

Millions rely on Vox's journalism to understand the coronavirus crisis. We believe it pays off for all of us, as a society and a democracy, when our neighbors and fellow citizens can access clear, concise information on the pandemic. But our distinctive explanatory journalism is expensive. Support from our readers helps us keep it free for everyone. If you have already made a financial contribution to Vox, thank you. If not, please consider making a contribution today from as little as $3.

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Remote school has kids isolated and stressed. Here's how to help.

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If there's one thing Stephen Guerriero has learned in his 18 years teaching middle-school students, it's that they thrive on structure and predictability. "I know that when I go into this classroom, I start this warmup; I know that I need to bring this; I know that I have lunch every day at 11:15."

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On september 25th 2020, McKenna Cowley made an article about how online school is stressing students and giving them less motivation. On a twitter poll, there was 685 responses. 84% of people said that they lost motivation, 10.7 percent of students say they feel the same motivation and 5.4% of students said they feel more motivated. This is another reason why online school is worse than in person school.

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Students have reported higher stress levels with the transition to online learning, citing at-home distractions, rigid deadlines, and the national political climate as contributors.

In a series of polls the North Texas Daily conducted on Twitter, 84 percent of 685 respondents reported feeling less motivated, 10.7 percent felt the same level of motivation and 5.4 percent felt more motivated to complete their assignments compared to previous semesters.

Of 400 students polled, 64 percent reported feeling it is more likely they will fail a class this semester, 23 percent reported the same level of likeliness and 13 percent reported it was less likely.

Pre-medical freshman Hakeem Werra said the self-pacing of online classes creates a stressful learning experience.

"It's stressful in the sense that the workload is more than it would be in person since the classes are more self-paced," Werra said. "It gets stressful at times, not wanting to keep up and doing other things."

Werra does all their coursework from home and said family members play a part in learning distractions.

"Being around siblings and parents who want you to help with something or run errands definitely contributes towards that distraction and stress because you are trying to get things done," Werra said.

Students generally perform worse in online classes compared to in-person classes, according to a 2017 study published by the American Economic Review about college students' success in online classes.

"Online courses substantially change the nature of interactions between students, their peers, and their professors," according to the study. "First, in online courses, students can participate at any hour of the day from any place. That flexibility could allow students to better allocate time and effort, but could also be a challenge for students who have not learned to manage their own time."

The study cites the lack of face-to-face communication in online classes as an issue for students because students feel less obligated to engage with the professor's questions.

Human resources junior Caroline Clark said completing schoolwork feels pointless during tumultuous times, like the pandemic, which may also contribute to the decline of students' motivation.

"With this semester it almost feels like there is no point in trying," Clark said. "I've noticed with me and my friends, we have no motivation. It feels a little hopeless."

Clark, who is diagnosed with major depressive disorder, said students are dealing with multiple stressors this semester - including mental health issues, an election year, a social justice reform and the pandemic - which could overwhelm them.

"I took a year off to work on my mental health and it almost feels like I need to take another year," Clark said. "It doesn't feel worth it to stay in school. There's already a sense of unease, we're in the middle of a pandemic, [there are] all these really important things that need to be talked about but [they're] all being talked about at once. Then on top of that, you have school."

Clark said professors could give out a lighter workload for students to improve their online course experience.

"It's a scary time," Clark said. "So you have to give grace. You have to be kind about it."

Werra said while they do not expect professors to give lighter workloads, it is important to be more accommodating toward struggling students.

"I can't say less workload because it's college, maybe make it more flexible where students can get an extension instead of rigid set times where they turn stuff in," Werra said. "Consider the fact that they are at home and have to deal with other things. In these times people are dealing with a lot of stuff. Not being accommodating adds to the stress."

Students who are struggling with their courseloads have the option to drop or withdraw from classes. However, some students rely on scholarships and financial aid, which could have a requirement of full-time workload of 12 or more hours.

Psychology senior Makayla Cruz, for example, relies on Hazlewood benefits due to her dad's military service, which requires students to take 12 hours of classes and meet a certain Satisfactory Academic Progress (SAP.)

"With all of the new changes, I'm a little worried about meeting those requirements," Cruz said. "If I were to drop [a class], I wouldn't meet the 12-hour minimum. There's not really anything I can do."

Although the university reported a record-high enrollment this semester, Clark said they believe the drop-out rate will rise.

"I would not be surprised if there is a heavy, heavy drop out rate for this year," Clark said. "I don't think people are going to be able to handle everything that is going on and finish school."

While most students polled reported feeling worse with more online courses, interior design junior Alesis Lewis said she feels positive about the transition.

"I am actually a little bit more motivated," Lewis said. "I am more in charge of managing my time. It has kind of forced me to be more productive that way because we are basically teaching ourselves."

Despite feeling more motivated, Lewis said she still feels more stressed out this semester than previous ones.

"I think in regards to everything going on right now including COVID and other influences like political stuff going on, it's a lot of mental congestion," Lewis said. "With these online classes, it is a breeding ground for stress. Students are dealing with a lot of other factors in day-to-day life. Being distracted by all of these things going on personally stresses me out a lot."

Featured Image: Inside Willis Library, a row of students at tables all work on their laptops on Sept. 22, 2020. Image by John Anderson

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Students report less motivation, higher stress levels with the transition to online learning

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Students have reported higher stress levels with the transition to online learning, citing at-home distractions, rigid deadlines, and the national political climate as contributors. In a series of polls the North Texas Daily conducted on Twitter, 84 percent of 685 respondents reported feeling le

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On september 18th 2020, Arianna Prothero says that 61% of students are worried that they will fall behind academically due to the pandemic. This is a reason why online school is worse than in person school.

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While teens may often be glued to their phones for recreation, a new poll finds that a large share of them feel they learn better sitting in a classroom with their teacher.

Sixty percent of teens say that online learning is worse than in-person learning, and nearly one fifth say it's "much worse."

Even so, the vast majority of teens say they don't think classes should be taking place fully in person this fall.

The nationally representative survey, from Common Sense Media, found that 42 percent of teens think school should be fully remote and 37 percent feel their school should follow a hybrid schedule. Only 19 percent say classes should take place fully in-person. Common Sense Media is a San Francisco-based nonprofit that studies the impact of technology on children and young people. Common Sense Media partnerned with SurveyMonkey to poll 890 teens between Aug. 20 and Aug 27.
Here's What Teens Are Worried About
Nearly seven in 10 teens are worried-either somewhat or very-that they or someone they know will get sick with COVID-19 because of in-person schooling.

How worried depends on teens' race and ethnicity. Eighty-two percent of Hispanic teens said they are worried about getting sick, while only 62 percent of white teens are. Seventy-nine percent of Asian teens and those that fall into other racial and ethnic groups are concerned about themselves or someone they know getting sick and 71 percent of Black students say the same.

Most teens don't have much trust in their schools taking the necessary steps to keep them safe from the coronavirus. While 30 percent said they trusted their school "a lot," 52 percent said they trusted their school "a little" and 17 percent said "not at all".

But teens are also worried about the downfalls of remote schooling, both academically and socially.

Sixty-one percent say they are concerned about falling behind academically because of the pandemic, a fear that is especially pronounced among Asian and Latino teens-67 and 79 percent, respectively.

A little over half are worried they will lose out on scholarships and exactly half are concerned the pandemic will hurt their college or job prospects.

Fifty-six percent say they are very or somewhat worried they will lose connections with their friends.

Those numbers are nearly identical to how teens felt in a survey by Common Sense last March. However, slightly fewer teens now say they feel "more connected than usual" to their family than they did in March (30 percent compared to 40 percent).

In terms of what teens believe will be the biggest academic challenges facing them this year, 42 percent said learning remotely, 37 percent said uncertainty around the pandemic, and 32 percent said emotional upheaval.

Many also say they expect getting access to their teachers and reliable internet will be significant roadblocks to their schooling-around one third and one quarter respectively.

Related stories:
Image credit: E+/Getty

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Is Online Learning Worse Than Being in School? Majority of Teens Say Yes

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While teens may often be glued to their phones for recreation, a new poll finds that a large share of them feel they learn better sitting in a classroom with their teacher. Sixty percent of teens say that online learning is worse than in-person learning, and nearly one fifth say it's "much worse."

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On May 6th 2020, Trish Sammer made an article saying that says that with online school, you may have more control over your schedule. Because online learning is more flexible than classroom learning, students can work though material at their own pace. This is goes against my claim that says that online school is worse than in person school.

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Is an online education equivalent to an on-campus education? In a lot of cases, yes.

In fact, there's good evidence that online education has some significant advantages to the classroom experience-and some of them may surprise you.

1. You're not bound by geography

Huge strides in technology have made a college education more accessible than ever. With a computer and Internet access, the entirety of the educational world can be yours as long as you have Internet access, no matter where you live.

That's hardly an exaggeration when you consider that for the past few years, highly prestigious schools, such as Harvard, MIT, and Stanford, have been offering full, non-credit courses of study online for free through something called MOOCs (which stands for massive open online course). MOOCs generally have the same professors and the same study material you'd get if you were attending the university in-person.

It was probably inevitable that schools would begin wanting to monetize all of the material they were providing online. In 2013, Georgia Tech became the first school to create a MOOC-based degree program. The University of Illinois followed suit two years later. Now, more than 30 brick-and-mortar schools offer MOOC-based degrees, through partnerships with tech-ed companies like Coursera, edX, and Udacity.

But MOOCs are only the tip of the online-learning iceberg. Digital and traditional institutions are also perfecting more-intimate online learning options, with smaller class sizes and more one-to-one professor-to-student interactions. Online degree options abound and if you can't find the offering you want at a local university, you can probably find it at another school.

So whether you're looking to earn your degree to go nab a 9-to-5, or you're looking to study the stars with the world's top astronomers, you can probably find what you're looking for online.

2. Online learning may be more engaging than classroom learning

A recent article in Forbes offers some insight into the state of online learning. Researchers have begun diving into how efficient online learning is compared to classroom education. So far, the results have been promising.

A study from California State University in San Bernadino found that two different sets of students-one group who studied online and the other who went to class-who received the same instruction from the same professor fared equally well in terms of performance. However, the study revealed that online students were less intimidated about participating, and that there was a higher-quality of interaction between students and the professor.

In addition, the Forbes article notes online classes are more likely to present material in attention-grabbing, multimedia formats that may be better suited to today's students.

The upshot: Educators have long known that different people take in information in different ways, but educational methods have struggled to adapt. If you're someone whose eyes glaze over during a classroom lecture, you may find that you respond better to online learning approaches.

3. Feedback is faster and more frequent

Believe it or not, online learners may actually have more contact with their educators than classroom learners.

Online students are generally asked to complete more-frequent assessments so that professors can monitor their competence. Because of this, learning gaps can be identified and addressed faster, rather than allowing a struggling student to slip through the cracks until exam time.

Remember, this isn't just about GPAs. When you're paying thousands of dollars for an education, you don't want to hide in the back corner of the classroom. You want to ensure you understand the course material so you can apply it later.

4. Online college can be a cheaper way to earn your bachelor's or master's degree

What's the biggest difference between online and traditional school? The campus, obviously. If you attend a regular college, you're probably going to spend several thousand dollars a year on room and board, as well as transportation.

Online college removes all of those expenses from the equation, effectively yielding you a five-figure discount during the course of your studies. Score!

5. You may incur a lot less student loan debt

In addition to not having to pay for room and board and commuting, online study may reduce your costs in another extremely significant way.

Most online programs are structured around the idea that students are employed, and possibly employed full-time. Being able to continue working while going to school means that you may have to take on less student loan debt.

Smaller student loans means you'll be paying less student loan interest. When you consider that most people take close to 20 years to pay off their student loan debt, reducing your total debt load is one of the most-important strategies you can adopt. Your future self will thank you.

6. You have more control over your schedule

Absenteeism and scheduling conflicts are virtually removed from the online learning equation. While some programs may require participation in online lectures at certain times, those same lectures are generally archived for later reference.

Because online learning is more flexible than classroom-based learning, students can work through material at their own pace. People who need more time to grasp a concept can take it. People who want to work faster may do so.

Schedule flexibility is also a huge asset for people who work full-time or who have childcare responsibilities that would interfere with regular campus attendance. Just think about it-the single mom whose babysitter canceled at the last minute would be out of luck with traditional learning. With online education, she can still attend class with the assurance that her child is being care for.

7. The online classroom is good preparation for a changing workforce

Getting comfortable with technology is an excellent side benefit to online education.

As technology advances, workforces are become increasingly distributed. Whether you're working with someone across the state or across the world, becoming adept at technology for video conferencing, messaging, aggregating information, and collaborating is a skill set that you're likely to find a need for.

8. Online learning is getting a good reputation

Academics have seen the value in online education for quite some time. A 2012 study from Babson/College Board showed that 77% of academic leaders believed that online education offerings were just as good, if not better, than classroom-based educational offerings.

Employers are also getting that message. A recent article in U.S. News & World Report shows that more hiring managers are seeing the value in online degrees, as long as they come from properly accredited institutions.
See also: FAQ: Are Online Degrees Respected?
Our prediction about the future of online college

Online college options are going to continue to increase in popularity as costs get lower (thanks to better technology) and quality of instruction continues to evolve and improve. Within the next generation, online learning will become more of a norm and less of a novelty.

Want to learn about the most affordable online college options? See our roundup of the 20 best programs here.

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8 Reasons Why Online Education is Better than Traditional

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Is an online education equivalent to an on-campus education? In a lot of cases, yes. In fact, there's good evidence that online education has some significant advantages to the classroom experience-and some of them may surprise you. Huge strides in technology have made a college education more accessible than ever.