If there’s one good thing that’s come out of the whole for-profit scandal, it’s that current and prospective students at these schools are getting the extra help and attention they need.

For instance, take a look at Ashworth College’s Twitter stream, and you’ll see that advisors are constantly supporting students.

And, the University of Phoenix is making a free, three-week new student orientation mandatory starting on November 1st, for students entering the school with fewer than 24 credits.

We have to take that as a good sign that many for-profit schools are trying to right the wrongs that have taken place, by offering — and publicizing! — actual support for their students, who are often nontraditional and have been out of the study loop for a long time.

If you’re considering attending a for-profit school — which is a good possibility if you’re looking for career-focused and/or online programs — one of the top questions you should ask is: What type of academic support is available?

Some schools have peer tutoring, professor office hours (virtual or in-person), and other study help to take advantage of. Unfortunately, some students don’t know about them, or know to ask, and they try to struggle through alone when they don’t have to.

Remember, education is an investment, and in many ways, you’re a consumer. Make sure you’re getting your money’s worth — if you need help, ask for it.

-Dawn Papandrea

If you’re taking an online course, chances are you’re not looking to make lifelong friends. Let’s face it – the online learning environment offers a convenient way to cut through the chit-chat and get right to the meat of the program. But feeling connected to peers and professors has been shown to significantly impact the learning process, leading to success in and satisfaction with the course.

You don’t have to be the life of the party to succeed in an online program, but the experience shouldn’t be completely impersonal, either. Here are a few “personal touches” to look for in a prospective online learning community:

• Interactive technology. You won’t have face-to-face interaction in an online course, but the experience should be much more interactive than what you’d get in a correspondence course. Make sure the online course delivery software is user-friendly, with interactive features like message boards, chat rooms, and team modules built into the delivery model.

• Accessible faculty. Find out if your profs have virtual office hours, how you can get in touch with them (e.g., cell phone, e-mail, Twitter), and whether you can reach them in a timely manner. If you want to know what you can really expect from the online student-professor relationship, talk with current students or alumni.

• Involved students. To assess the level of student engagement in an online program, take a look at the average class size. More than 25 students enrolled in an online course may translate into a loss of interactivity. The smaller the class, the easier it is to keep up with the online discussions.

Don’t sit back just yet – once you’re enrolled in an interactive online program, practice these proactive strategies to keep it personal:

• Speak up. If it’s true that you only get what you give, then class participation really does count in your education experience. In other words, to be part of a thriving online learning community, you need to make a contribution.

• Reach out. Read your peers’ bios (typically posted in the welcome thread of the course’s online discussion board); find a few students who share your academic, professional, or personal interests; and reach out to them. Since you already have something in common, it’ll be that much easier to make a connection.

• Get involved. You’d be surprised how many extracurricular activities (e.g., clubs, groups) you can get involved in as an online student. Spending time with faculty and peers outside the confines of a particular course increases your chances of feeling connected and experiencing education success.

Whatever you do, don’t consider an online course a golden opportunity to get your hermit on. Come out of your shell so you can experience the education of a lifetime.

-Robyn Tellefsen

If you’re in the market for a new career, you already know how important it is to set yourself apart from the competition. A solid resume and a carefully crafted cover letter can get you in the door. But once you’ve landed an interview, how will you prove your professional worth? Invest in online education to acquire one of these top job skills that will have employers clamoring to put your name on the payroll.

1.  Project Management
Project management tops the list of desirable career credentials for 2011. In fact, according to a 2008 Anderson Economic Group study, more than a million positions are expected to open each year through 2016. Online certificate programs provide solid project management training, which involves identifying and managing project risk, leading teams, and executing projects on time and within budget. Not only can these top job skills help you get hired, they can also put you in position to secure a sweet six-figure salary.

2. Six Sigma
Six Sigma certification continues to climb the career skills charts, with Master Black Belts earning more than $140,000 a year, according to the 2010 iSix Sigma Global Salary Survey. The ultimate quality improvement professionals, Six Sigma Black Belts utilize a data-driven approach to solving problems and improving business processes, with the goal of reducing an organization’s product or service failure rate to zero. Online certificate programs provide the career skills needed to monitor, control, and improve operational performance in order to enhance efficiency and increase revenue.

3. Internet Marketing
As we head into a new decade, Internet marketing is just as hot as it was at the dawn of the millennium. According to a 2010 American Marketing Association report, 80 percent of the explosive growth in the industry involves online and mobile marketing. In a digital world, online education is the obvious choice for gaining the skills most needed in the marketing field. Online certificate programs show you how to get businesses connected, optimize online communications, and exceed marketing goals.

4. Contract Management
Contract management is edging out other credentials as a top career skill in today’s workforce. According to a 2008 National Contract Management Association report, nearly 40 percent of these professionals are expected to command six-figure salaries in the coming years. In an online contract management certificate program, you’ll gain in-depth understanding of contract law, federal and commercial law, procurement processes, and best practices. This knowledge will enable you to prepare, analyze, negotiate, and review contracts for all purchases and sales – must-have career skills in a culture obsessed with outsourcing.

5. Human Resource Management
Human resource managers are reaping the benefits of a booming profession that’s projected to grow 22 percent by 2016 – much faster than the average growth for all occupations, according to the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Human resource professionals are increasingly being called upon to make a major bottom-line impact, leading the way to unprecedented career advancement. With online education, human resource managers learn the theories and practical applications of strategic management, workforce planning, compensation, benefits, and organizational management.

Pursuing these top job skills through programs that are 100 percent online enables you to earn credentials at your own pace and on your own schedule. Are you ready to get hired?

-Robyn Tellefsen

Last week, hundreds of students and employees from for-profit schools met at the U.S. Capitol for a rally organized by the Association of Private Sector Colleges and Universities. Their mission? To let Washington know that they are serious about career education and want their freedom to make their own choices left alone, please.

Harris N. Miller, the association’s president, said the rally was coordinated “to proclaim the absolute need for student choice in selecting a college or university.” The crowd represented 26 states and included some from as far away as California.

Student rallies are not at all uncommon when it comes to schools that have traditional campuses. And since many for-profit colleges and universities offer exclusively online programs, it’s easy to assume that students at an online college or university would miss out on the opportunity to gather with classmates on campus in support (or protest) of an issue simply because, well, there is no campus.

You know what happens when you assume…

For-profit colleges have not exactly been the darlings of the press lately, but last week’s rally shows that many of the students who attend said schools are happy with the choices they have made. These students have decided that a four-year degree is not necessary for their career choices, though education certainly is.

When it comes to career education, people should have the right to choose where they can enroll. The writing is on the wall… and the tee shirts. Many rally participants wore tees that said “My Education. My Job. My Choice,” which also turned out to be the motto that was chanted throughout the day.

It’s understandable that the government wants to step in and protect people from the few rotten apples in the bunch, but most for-profit schools can be excellent choices for vocational- and trade-minded people. Flexible options? Career-focused education? On-the-job training? Sounds like a good plan.

-Barbara Bellesi

Access to an MIT education – without the cost – has attracted millions of people to the MIT OpenCourseWare program since 2004.

The school has published MIT undergraduate and graduate course lectures, course notes, videos, and other materials for free on the web, making it available to the world.

So you can imagine why the possibility of MIT charging for its content has made some headlines. Right now, MIT’s distance-learning program is not for credit, and no degrees or certificates are granted. Students also can’t chat with MIT faculty through the OpenCourseWare program.

Here are the comments that made some think that access would soon no longer be free. Lori Breslow, director of M.I.T.’s Teaching and Learning Laboratory, said at the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development’s Institutional Management in Higher Education conference in Paris that free access “may not be the best economic model, so we are now looking seriously at new e-learning opportunities,” according to The International Herald Tribune.

But Stephen E. Carson, external-relations director for MIT OpenCourseWare, told The Chronicle for Higher Education’s Wired Campus blog: “The content that’s available on MIT OpenCourseWare will continue to be free and available as it always has been.”

But obviously, budgets have changed since then, and the school has been considering ways to generate online learning revenue. Three suggestions from a panel, according to the Wired Campus blog, included:

• Enhancing OpenCourseWare website, providing on-campus courses, and distance learning for a continuing education “extension studies” program

• Offering select master’s degree program, mostly taken online

• Offering some online undergraduate subjects for credit

MIT says it costs $10,000 to $15,000 for each course to compile course materials from faculty, ensure proper licensing for open sharing, and format materials for global distribution. Double the cost for courses with video content.

The school’s vision in launching OpenCourseWare was that “a faculty member at a new engineering university in Ghana, a precocious high-school biology student in suburban Chicago, a political scientist in Poland, a literature professor in upstate New York, or an executive in a management seminar down the hall at MIT will all be able to use the materials our professors rely on in teaching our full-time students,” then-MIT President Charles W. Vest wrote in The Chronicle for Higher Education in 2004.

Whatever move MIT makes, it is one that others are closely watching.