Economy Sends People to College for Better Jobs as Obama Offers Tuition Aid

Unemployment rates are growing, and jobs are scarce. More and more people are turning back to traditional and online colleges to help them gain a more competitive edge in their search to maintain their family's income. Unfortunately, though, this is harder for some.

What do you do if you've been out of a job for a couple of months, and you're already facing losing your house or apartment because you can't pay the rent or the mortgage? How are you going to afford getting a loan and going back to school? Banks are having enough difficulty lending to people with good credit, and people in these situations don't have the credit they may have previously held.

Neither brick and mortar or online degree universities are anxious to offer student loans to people who don't have jobs or are already facing bankruptcy because of unemployment. Furthermore, most people rarely keep the cash on hand to pay tuition for a college degree. How are the tens of thousands of people who desperately need the benefit of a traditional or online degree program going to be able to afford to go back to school?

President-Elect Barack Obama offers some hope for solving the educational crisis. His plan includes evaluating what areas of the nation's economy are most at risk to future job cutbacks. He then intends to offer tuition relief to workers in these career positions, so that they can get further education or vocational training before these at risk jobs are lost.

Accredited online university degree programs offer threatened workers a perfect opportunity to return to school and earn a technical certificate at home without quitting their jobs or cutting back their hours. These students can continue earning an income and providing for their families by preparing for a involuntary job loss, resulting in forced career change. Furthermore, they don't have to waste all of their time away from their family and potential study time, commuting to and from a traditional brick and mortar campus.

Obama has also pushed for the development of flexible education spending accounts for employees. People would be able to allocate a certain percentage of their regular paycheck to set aside for college tuition payments. They could then use this money to pay for traditional or online degree courses that would help to improve their chances of success in the job market.

These accounts will likely be very similar to the flexible spending accounts already in use by many employers for healthcare and childcare costs. Most of these accounts are tax-exempt, so employees would be able to set relief money aside without being taxed on this income. This tax break saves more money than merely allowing a tax deduction on a portion of the education costs.

The economic future is unsure, but one thing is sure. Mr. Obama's presidential campaign promised major changes in education, taxes, and many other areas of the U.S. Economy. The next few months will be interesting, and change is sorely needed. Let's hope that the change to come will benefit us all!

Author Sheila Danzig is world renowned education expert. She is currently on faculty at European-American University. For more information on accredited online degrees, and the latest in educational policy in America, visit her website at www.thecollegedegrees.com.