CAREERS NOW 02-13-11

Get Educated Without Mortgaging Your House

DEAR JOYCE: I need more education in a health care career to be competitive in the changing job market, but I am reading about appalling amounts of student debt and questionable recruiting activities of some for-profit online colleges. What's the solution to upgrade my education without mortgaging my house? - C.S.S.

When you choose online higher education, a little research won't dent your budget line, but plunging ahead without checking - and rechecking - the details can explode into financial disaster. You've apparently discovered the danger by reading responding comments to articles flagging student debt horrors.

Investigate. GetEducated.com - a consumer-focused firm I've mentioned in earlier columns - continues to uncover education bargains. GetEducated.com surveys and ranks the cost of competing online degrees from regionally accredited colleges and universities. "Regionally accredited" is a key defining factor in evaluating the quality of a higher education institution.

Of special interest to you is the website's new study revealing the most affordable options for health care career professionals. The survey winner is a private, nonprofit university in Utah, Western Governors University. The institution offers enrollment to its 100 percent online bachelor of science in health informatics at a price tag of about $23,500 for the entire program. Students anywhere in the country can apply.

By contrast, the most expensive - at a cost of $86,900 - is the bachelor of science degree in health services administration from Berkeley College, a private, for-profit West Virginia University.

According to the GetEducated.com online university rankings team, the average cost for an accredited bachelor's in health care, including tuition and distance education fees, is $45,600. Cruise the entire survey of affordable and accredited online programs on GetEducated.com.

Delve deeper. But GetEducated research is only the beginning of checking out potential educational investments. Ask human resources specialists at several well-known employers if they ever hire graduates of your intended program; if not, why not?

Ask the school's officials for referrals to six graduates of your target program. If you're given only names and e-mail addresses, look out for ringers and don't fall for claims of confidentiality.

Trust but verify. For-profit education, especially online for-profit education, has become a land mine for the unwary student. In the past several months, I've accumulated an inch-thick file on the issues you raise.

Two of the worst allegations:

1) Admissions officers and other employees of 15 for-profit colleges overstated promises of potential salaries after graduation. (Can a barber really make between $150,000 and $250,000 a year?) Use salary sites to nab better income projections, such as payscale.com and salary.com. Also look up your target career in the Occupational Outlook Handbook, free online at bls.gov/oco.

2) For-profit school recruiters used high-pressure tactics to persuade applicants to enroll before receiving information about financial aid. Don't sign up before getting financial aid information. Period. You can scout general facts at finaid.com.

DEAR JOYCE: In these tight times, my own state's colleges are packed with students who in flusher days would have attended private colleges. What are today's best choices in public colleges? - C.D.

I'm uncertain of your aims (saving money or avoiding crowded student populations), but Kiplinger's current annual ranking of the 100 best buys in public higher education again awards the top honor to what many consider a "public ivy," the University of North Carolina-Chapel Hill. UNC meets 100 percent of its students' financial need and wins much academic praise.

Read about the ranking of the other 499 state colleges and universities surveyed in "Kiplinger's Best Values in Public Colleges"at kiplinger.com/tools/colleges.

Caveat: If your state doesn't have "reciprocity" with colleges in the state of your choice, you'll have to pay out-of-state tuition rates, although you may be able to get student financial aid. As always, check the fine print.

Speaking of savings through student financial aid, you may be able to find a good deal at private liberal arts colleges. For top private colleges, check out "Kiplinger's Best Values in Private Colleges" at kliplinger.com/tools/private colleges.

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