College is hard enough. Have you ever thought about online college?

Online schooling is a modern solution to earning a degree in the comfort of your own home.  For many years, students have taken college classes in a classroom during the typical school hours. For whatever reason, if a student was busy during the day, evening classes were offered as well.

Kassidy Clark, who is pursuing a General Studies degree through Erie Community College’s online program, said “One of my favorite parts of being an online student is that I get to stay in my pajamas all day and take my time with things. I also don’t have to stress about getting to school, or dorming. Also, tuition for me is cheaper than if I were to physically attend college.”

Now today’s students are lucky to be able to take classes online if they so choose. Although online college has been around for years, it is now more advanced and user-friendly than ever before.

According to Statista, in 2016 over 31 percent of college students are taking classes online. That is almost a 6 percent increase from 2012.

Online students must listen to advice that specifically pertains to online education. Advice such as “Be on time to class” and “Make sure you bring all your materials to class” would be useless to online students. Instead, they must keep an ear open for useful information that would benefit their online college experience and overall education.

Clark said it’s important to stay organized when taking online classes, suggesting that students have a checklist, get a notebook and write down what is due within that week.

“It is important to not rely 100% on Blackboard,” Clark Said. “Sometimes professors are not as accustomed to blackboard as other professors, and they forget to put every assignment that’s due that week. If you rely on Blackboard alone, you will find this out the hard way and could possibly receive a zero for an assignment. Instead, make notes of everything that your professor mentions that is due in the online lecture, and check things often like the syllabi, emails, and anything else that you have available.”

The qualities that an online student has is quite different than those of a typical classroom student. When asked of these qualities, Clark said: “It is important to be oriented and comfortable with technology, and to be okay with not having face-to-face contact with your professors and classmates. Also, students are even more responsible with their learning. We must be more self-sufficient and in turn, self-taught with our learning.”