Getting an Online Diploma

Let online diplomas work for you and your business
By Kim Finn Whether you're getting ready to start a business or expand an existing business, consider an online diploma in any of dozens of career fields that can help boost your credentials, build confidence and prepare you to handle different aspects of your business you may not be familiar with. Working towards a diploma online allows more flexibility for existing work and family schedules than attending a traditional brick-and-mortar institution.

Not only can you find programs for yourself, you can also find online high school diploma programs for any of your employees who may not have graduated. A win-win situation, it helps employees grow and gives employers a more valuable and productive workforce. Keep the following in mind as you peruse online diploma information:

1. Online diplomas demand self motivation – those who aren't won't do the work required for an online diploma.

2. When assisting your employees, don't confuse GED with an online diploma – they’re not the same. Diplomas carry more weight.

3. Check how easily credits and an online diploma from a particular school transfer to other colleges and universities in case you later decide to pursue an advanced degree.

Broaden your horizons with an online diploma

You'll find lots of opportunities for vocational-technical online diplomas to help further your career and grow your business. Depending on the school you choose, the online diploma list of career programs offered includes agriculture, human sciences, business, communication technologies, computer technologies, journalism, construction, culinary arts, personal services, engineering technologies, legal, mechanic, medical/health, natural resource management, law enforcement, precision production and visual/performing arts.
Try:  Find online diploma schools for vocational-technical programs at Penn Foster Career School. Accredited by the Middle States Commission on Secondary Schools for its high school and vo-tech programs and by the Accrediting Commission of the Distance Education and Training Council (DETC), the school offers more than 80 different career programs to choose from. Check out the online diplomas offered by U.S. Career Institute, one of the largest distance-learning education institutions in the country and accredited by the DETC. In business for more than 25 years, the school offers a small number of programs and focuses on the quality and continuous improvement of those programs. Go to Minnesota Online and take a look at the programs offered through Minnesota schools. The website serves as the primary conduit to the state's college and university online programs.

Find a high school online diploma program

If any of your employees didn't graduate from high school, help them earn an online diploma from an accredited program.
Try:  Encourage your employees to enroll at Continental Academy, an accredited private high school. The school's accreditation comes from the Southern Association of Colleges and Schools, the Commission on International and Trans-Regional Accreditation as a distance education high school and the National Association for the Legal Support of Alternative Schools. Check out the possibility of enrollment at Keystone National High School, accredited by the Northwest Association of Accredited Schools and Distance Education and Training Council. The school's award-winning curriculum offers more than 60 online and correspondence courses and lets students customize their high school education.

Check accreditation of the online diploma provider before enrolling

If you sift through any online diploma directory, you'll doubtless run across diploma mills that hand out diplomas for career programs while claiming they're accredited or even making up phony but official-sounding accreditation agencies.
Try:  Ensure the online diploma provider that interests you cites accreditation by an agency or agencies recognized by the Council on Higher Education Accreditation (CHEA)and/or the U.S. Department of Education. Also double check with accreditation agencies to ensure they list the schools who have claimed accreditation by them.

• In your search for an online diploma program, ask questions about instructor credentials, student-to-teacher ratios, individual support and counseling and other issues of concern to form a well-rounded picture of each school.