Twenty-first century parents are faced with many challenges. Time has changed so much since the times of old when dad worked and mom only stayed home and took care of the kids. Today, many families require both parents to be working just to make ends meet. As a result, many working parents have had to continue their education on the back burner, as the economic climate does not allow them to stop working and attend traditional universities.

However, with the advent of online education, many working parents have been given a lifeline as online education allows them to gain an education without ever setting foot on the campus of a university. With online degree programs, working parents can now attend classes based on their own schedule and in locations most comfortable to them. So parents get to work, spend time with their kids and study all at the same time.

After working parents have made the bold step to further their education, they are then faced with the next hurdle of finding the funding required to pay for their tuition. Various avenues are available based on their credit rating, age and financial condition. However, one of the most sought after method is through working parent scholarship schemes. These scholarship programs provide working parents with either full or part time financial aid.

Project Working Mom

Project working mom is a scholarship program that was launched in 2010 to provide full scholarship for working moms at a cost of $5 million. The concept was developed after research found that only 20.4% of female parents had a bachelor degree. Although these women may have been slaving and gathering vast experience, the study revealed that if they had a bachelor’s degree they could have been earning $26,000 per annum. This shows that a college education pays off in the long run irrespective of your age. So the project hope to start with these women and then expand based on the level of success.

Heather Herrera a beneficiary of the program related her story about how the program has changed her life. Since becoming pregnant the same of her graduation from high school, she has been struggling to bring up her child. Now fourteen years later, after receiving her scholarship to pursue her online degree, she is now enjoying her time in school as she feel more comfortable learning in the online environment.

Men not left out

After its initial launch, project mom was bombarded with request by working men who expressed their desire to be included in the program. Their request was backed up by the same survey that found that only 19.6% of working dads between the ages 22 to 50 actually had a bachelor’s degree. Many working dads are now competing scholarship places, as they too want to enjoy the benefits of having a college degree.

Other Scholarships for working parents

Both government and private entities also offer various scholarships for working parents. These entities offer scholarships to that benefit their populous and employees as they are fully aware how their additional education can help their businesses and the community.

With its diverse economy, Alabama is rapidly becoming one of the hottest places to gain your online college degree. Many of the online universities based in Alabama benefit from the wide array of industries located in its cities. They draw on the support and experience of these institutions to develop curriculum that are in-sync with the nature of the state.

Diversity intertwined with tradition

Many strides have been made to embrace new developments; Alabama has still been able to maintain its rich cultural background. This is reflected in the design of many of the online courses offered by Alabama based online colleges. Therefore, a student can be pursuing an online degree in biomedical engineering and be surprised about how these methods could have helped many victims during the civil war or how it has helped many individuals who were injured working in one of the many paper mills or shipyards.

Online Colleges in Alabama

Online education has given new life to those individuals within the state of Alabama who want to study and work full time. Alabama online students are able to study from the comfort of their homes irrespective of the type of course they choose to pursue. Online courses are available in various disciplines including business administration, engineering, finance, marketing and various vocational areas. Most online colleges within Alabama offer online degrees at all levels of the educational ladder where student can earn degrees at the associate, bachelor and master’s level. However, students must ensure that any online college they choose to attend is accredited by the Department of Education. Some of these accredited online colleges within Alabama include:

• ITT Technical Institute: The ITT technical Institute is one of the leaders in the delivery of technical orientated online education. Many of their graduates have gone on to play leading roles in the development of the economy of Alabama. All their programs involve the use of cutting-edge technology that is solidly backed by all industries. ITT Tech offer online degrees at all levels and personalized certificate programs depending on demand.
• Strayer University: Strayer University is one of the oldest and original trailblazers of online education. Strayer has been responsible for many on the innovations that are now commonplace in the online education industry. Strayer Universityhas brought to Alabama a wealth of experience that enables them to offer students of the state high quality, accredited online courses that are applicable to the many industries within the state.
• South University: South University is another stalwart of the online education industry within the state of Alabama. Having being in existence for over 100 years, they have been able to transfer their experience to the online educational environment by creating Alabama orientated educational programs that suit the needs of Alabama employers.

As the cost of college education keeps rising, students have had to be seeking various ways of sourcing funding for their online college education. One of the best-kept secrets is that there are loads of scholarships available for online students. The knowledge of online scholarships is always shrouded in the idea that because the format of education is in a virtual environment, no one would be crazy enough to put up funds to educate someone they cannot see.

However, after receiving full accreditation status for their online degree programs, students of online colleges can now access the same level of scholarships that are offered to students attending traditional institutions. These scholarships for online students are funded by the government, private companies, social clubs, various interest groups and even the university itself.

Ways of gaining Online Scholarships

Scholarships for online education come in various forms. These include:

• Organizational Scholarships: As organizations warm up to the idea of online education, many are now offering thousands of scholarships to online students each year. Students just have to research properly as statistics show that many of these company scholarships go unclaimed each tear. Companies offer scholarships for various reasons. Some do so out of an obligation to give back to the community in which they are located. Others do so out of special interests that will benefit their organization in the future.
• Government Scholarships: Students can also get online scholarships through various government-funded programs. These mainly target students with dire financial needs or are academically talented and may come in the form of part or full scholarships.
• School sponsored Scholarships: Some of the more established online colleges also offer scholarships to online students. Online scholarships from these institutions are offered based on the student’s academic achievement and their potential for success. Scholarships offered to online students from their college usually cover the cost of tuition and books and come in the form of bot partial and full scholarships. Each school will have a different policy.Students must contact the financial department of their college to find out the details of their scholarship program.
• Scholarship Contests: Another easy way of getting a scholarship for your online education is by participating in one of the many scholarship contests that are put on by various special interest clubs and companies each year. These scholarships usually fall within the marketing budget of the organization and usually require the recipient to play some active role in their promotion program. The criteria for each scholarship will depend on the sponsor. For example, a newspaper will offer a $10,000 scholarship based on an essay writing competition.

To qualify, students are required to have an average GPA of at least 2.5 and must be accepted or a full time student of an online college. However before you launch out on a scholarship contest spree, students should ensure that the organization is legitimate by checking their phone numbers, website or company registration. This will protect you from the many scholarship frauds that are also out there.