With unemployment currently sitting at a staggering 9.8% in the United States, many people are giving careful consideration to the idea of going back to school to better their career opportunities. For those unsure of what career path to follow, the criminal justice field is a great place to look. With online education available, there has never been a better time to pursue your degree.
While the thought of attending classes may seem overwhelming for individuals with existing career and family obligations, there is a solution. More and more people are finding distance or online learning to be a remarkable alternative to the traditional classroom setting.
Through the online learning environment, students are able to pursue a criminal justice degree online without ever leaving the comfort of their homes. All that is required to complete online classes is a computer or laptop with connection to the internet available. If you do not have internet access at home, most local libraries can often service your needs with their computer labs.
A criminal justice degree online offers more than the comfort of studying from home. It offers an element of flexibility not found in a traditional classroom setting. While there are prescribed due dates for assignments, projects, and tasks, you are your own time manager. As long as you complete the assigned work by the due date, it doesn’t matter when you choose to submit it by. Many students find this to be a significant benefit.
Not only is scheduling much more flexible than in traditional classes, students will save money in the long haul by participating in the criminal justice degree online. By using your computer as the portal to your education, you won’t be encumbered by the expense of gas required to drive to campus. You can maintain your current job while obtaining a full-time college education. Another growing trend among the web-based classes is the ability to rent textbooks as e-books for the current semester. This is much more cost effective than having to purchase a textbook.
Students who decide to obtain a criminal justice degree online can find jobs in a wide array of fields. Depending on how far you go with your education, these are some of the different jobs you can obtain with a criminal justice degree:
- Police Officer
- Sheriff
- Correctional Officer
- Security Manager
- Detective
- Loss Prevention Manager
- FBI
Depending on which job category interests you, the salary for someone with a degree in criminal justice can range anywhere from $36,000 to upwards of $115,000. That is certainly a wide range of salary and will vary greatly by job selection.
Not only is a job in the criminal justice field rewarding in a monetary sense, but it is also a great job for those looking to give back to their community. Many workers in the criminal justice field aim to keep crime low and the streets safe for citizens. That in itself is just another added bonus of a criminal justice degree.
With all of these positives, it is hard not to think about diving into a degree in the criminal justice field. Now with online education so readily accessible, it is also impossible to say that there is not enough time. Let today be the day that you turn your run of the mill job into a career that you have always wanted.