I have an online college degree. Like many people, this degree came from an accredited university with a physical campus. It was simply obtained through completing the online courses which the university made available to accommodate students with less-than-traditional situations at home. I had one of those situations and the online degree program accommodated me perfectly.

The story behind my degree was that I had delayed college until later in life. I was already a foster parent to children with special needs when I realized that I needed an education to go further with my own goals. Although I loved fostering kids, I wanted to move past that stage of my life and into a completely different type of job. To do that, I needed to do two things: get an education and finish fostering the kids in my home until they could find adoptive placement.

In order to do both of these things at the same time, I needed to find a school program which would allow me to complete a degree on my own schedule. Kids have needs that aren’t convenient. Special needs kids inside of the foster care system have even more needs which are even less convenient. I wasn’t about to place my own goals ahead of those needs but I didn’t want to sacrifice my dreams because of them either.

I managed to complete two online degrees while meeting the needs of those kids and my own needs as well. They moved on to permanent adoptive homes. I moved on to the next stage of my life. I’m not sure that I could have done that nearly as easily if I’d had to attend classes on campus each day.

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