Hi

Over the last decade, as an increasing number of students continued to enroll in distance education programs, the powers that be did something, that to this day, significantly impacts the higher education industry. In 2006, the Higher Education Reconciliation Act (HERA) lifted the 50-percent rule.

This rule had denied students equal access to Federal student aid, if their colleges offered more than 50% of their courses online. The same rule applied to colleges that had 50% or more of their students enrolled in online programs.

The 50% rule was designed to eradicate bogus online schools and poor quality colleges that were springing up in the 90’s like flies. However, it ended up preventing many financially-challenged students from attending legitimate online schools.

Now, the new rule has given online students greater access to Federal student aid. As long as a college is appropriately accredited, Federal financial aid is available to them, regardless of the percentage of courses that are offered online.

It doesn’t matter if 100% of the courses are offered online nor does it matter if a student is taking a short program like an online diploma or a longer one like an online degree. Federal student financial is available for all courses offered at an accredited online school.

The Higher Education Reconciliation Act (HERA), also brought good news for many minority students who were unable to afford the tuition of the traditional brick and mortar colleges. Now, they have greater access to financial assistance and are able to enroll with online colleges that in many cases, cost less than traditional ones.

Isn’t this cause for celebration?

Make it a great day

David

Tags: grants, scholarships

This entry was posted on Sunday, April 27th, 2008 at 1:36 pm and is filed under Distance Education. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.