{"id":6964,"date":"2022-02-28T09:48:17","date_gmt":"2022-02-28T14:48:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/?p=6964"},"modified":"2025-08-24T12:33:03","modified_gmt":"2025-08-24T16:33:03","slug":"college-options-in-these-modern-times","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/2022\/02\/28\/college-options-in-these-modern-times\/","title":{"rendered":"College Options in These Modern Times"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Today, there are ever-expanding options of how one can get a college degree. A decade or so ago, there were not a lot of options. That is not the case nowadays. There are associate, bachelor\u2019s and master’s degrees offered in various fields, completely online. Online learning has benefits such as convenience and affordability.\u00a0 Others prefer the traditional classroom setting, feeling they learn better that way.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Emily Buddemeyer, age 20, is a student at Southern Maine Community College (SMCC) in South Portland, Maine. Her first semester was through their online Associate in Liberal Arts degree program.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0As Emily put it, \u201cDoing school work online was such an adjustment. As it is so different, I had a hard time with it. I felt like going back to the actual classroom was a better fit for me. That\u2019s why I switched all my classes being on campus and decided to commute to school.\u201d\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Emily and Gracie doing school work.<\/p><\/div>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0On her commuting experience she added: \u201cI did enjoy going to class in person as I am a social person and a visual learner. It was easier than a strictly online class where it\u2019s read this and then submit this assignment. Do this discussion post.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Emily found herself going back to online learning after a turn of events for her. She chose Zoom classes this time around.<\/span><\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cDue to puppy adoption, then becoming pregnant and having a lot of sickness and life getting hectic, I felt if I wanted to continue my education, I would have no other choice but to go online. I take Zoom classes now, which I have found works better for me. I need to see the professor talking about the material and feel like I am in a classroom, even if it\u2019s a virtual one. It also helps me to be on a schedule of sorts.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Autumn Buddemeyer, age 22, is currently in her third semester at SMCC pursuing an Associate in Liberal Arts with a concentration in mathematics. Her first semester, she lived on campus.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cI enjoyed that experience for the most part,\u201d Autumn said. I lucked out and had a roommate I had common interests in. It was nice to be out on my own, somewhat. But the lack of money, no car on campus and people I didn\u2019t know was difficult at times.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Due to unforeseen circumstances, Autumn found herself switching to online learning through the same college. Commuting to classes wasn\u2019t really an option.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u201cThat adjustment was so hard! Considering I went K \u2013 12 in a public school, comparatively speaking, online learning is so different. I enjoy some of the classes. Even though I struggle with it, online just works so much better for me right now regarding several things like life and full-time work. The convenience of having a deadline but being able to do the work at my own pace, and time constraints, works.\u201d\u00a0\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0So, despite preferences, online school options versus traditional ones make getting a degree feasible. In the past, depending on life\u2019s circumstances, a degree may not have been possible.<\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0Today, there are ever-expanding options of how one can get a college degree. A decade or so ago, there were not a lot of options. That is not the case nowadays. There are associate, bachelor\u2019s and master’s degrees offered in various fields, completely online. Online learning has benefits such as convenience and affordability.\u00a0 Others prefer […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":212,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[7381],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6964","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-archives","et-doesnt-have-format-content","et_post_format-et-post-format-standard"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6964","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/212"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6964"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6964\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":8206,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6964\/revisions\/8206"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6964"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6964"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wp.umpi.edu\/utimes\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6964"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}