Continuing Education Courses
If you need to make money but want to be engaged in learning, try getting a job and taking continuing education courses. These courses can be found at most large universities and often at small or specialized colleges as well. Courses can be found on a range of topics, from professional development to career planning, from basic liberal arts and sciences to advanced interdisciplinary studies, from language and computer skills to art and creative writing. Sometimes and employer will foot all or part of the bill, but courses can be expensive and financial aid is often not available. One of the largest detriments of this type of education is that, aside from specialized certifications and technical skills programs, you won't receive any diplomas to pad your resume. Most graduate programs will not accept more than one or two continuing education classes for transfer credit. The courses can be a lot of fun, however, and you can learn so much from them. For more information, look at the website of your local university and find the section on "continuing" or "adult" education. One great program is at New York University http://www.scps.nyu.edu/.
Second Bachelor's Degree Programs
Many schools offer students the option of earning a second bachelor's degree. Often, these degrees grant credit towards general education requirement for courses taken in the first degree program, so students are required to complete a major and allowed to pursue elective interests in the time left over. The programs usually take no more than two years to complete. One example of such a program can be found at Towson University http://onestop.towson.edu/nontrad/usb/de... in Maryland.
Certificate Programs
Certificates are post-bachelor's programs offering a coherent course of study in a particular area over the course of two years or less. They are often focused on particular professional areas, like information technology, real estate, or paralegal studies. For programs like this, check out the website of any large university. You can find them in all sorts of interesting areas, however:
- Duke University, NC program in Nonprofit Management http://www.learnmore.duke.edu/nonprofit/
- University of Washington program in Wetland Science http://www.outreach.washington.edu/extin...
- Stanford University (CA) program in Bioinformatics* http://scpd.stanford.edu/ce/ndp/certific...
- California State University, Hayward program in Multimedia Studies http://www.extension.csuhayward.edu/html...
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