Mary Beth Coombs has some good advice for those looking to enroll in an online academic program.
"You really need to be a self-starter and a motivated person to do well in an online program," said Coombs. "And don't be a procrastinator."
The ability to juggle one's life might help, too. Coombs should know.
She wore many hats during the past couple of years while attaining her Associate of Applied Science in Practical Nursing degree online from Northland Community and Technical College.
Despite all of her responsibilities, Coombs found the willpower to go back to school, stay in school, and earn her degree.
"I had been in jobs that required me to keep up with continuing education, but this seemed more stressful," she said. "I felt the pressure (placed upon myself by myself) to do well."
All the while maintaining a delicate balance between her life, her work, and her studies.
"Even though my children were in college, they still came home on the weekends, and on the ranch, life doesn't stop just because you go back to school," said Coombs, who started the program at the age of 46. "I think it is this way for anyone married with a family. In an online program, or even in a campus-based program, you still have to keep up with life's basic responsibilities in addition to doing the class workload. You may try to enlist help from family members, but the bottom line usually stops with someone needing 'mom'.
"For the first few semesters it wasn't too bad to juggle work and school work, but towards the end of the program with the type of classes and travel requirements to finish my clinical in Grand Forks, which is more than 3 hours away from our home, I had to cut back to working one day a week besides my ranch responsibilities."
Her path to the online program at Northland Community and Technical College, which has campuses in East Grand Forks and Thief River Falls was made, in part, because she was laid off from her job as a sales representative for an insurance agency. And because the community where she lived, Martin, North Dakota, didn't afford her a lot of other employment opportunities, she decided that going back to school would be a good move for her and her family.
"Since we lived in a rural area with no colleges closer than an hour away, I had been searching for a program that allowed me to stay home and do my coursework online so I could continue to work at least part-time," she said. "With both children in college and living on a ranch, I didn't think we could do without my income while I was going to school. My daughter had received her associate's degree in nursing from the Minnesota State Community and Technical College in Moorhead and she told me they also offered an online program."
She said the biggest challenge in going back to school and doing it in an online environment was becoming computer proficient.
"We didn't even have a very good computer at home when I enrolled, so I purchased a new one, and had to learn how to do more than just turn it on," she said with a laugh. "I just did the full tutorial that came with the computer program I purchased, and I asked friends for help when needed. Now, skills that seemed daunting back then are second nature to me."
Coombs said many of her teachers went the "extra mile" to help facilitate her online learning, however, she added that the online process forced her to seek out information on her own.
"You have to dig for information yourself if there are any concepts you don't understand. There isn't a teacher there to see you raise your hand and ask a question while it is fresh in your mind. You have to e-mail or phone a teacher, and you have to wait for the answer to your e-mail. That sometimes made learning more difficult," she said.
Despite the challenges and the juggling of her work, lifestyle, and studies, Coombs said she would do it all over again, and recommend the program to those who are self-motivated.
"I know the directors of the program are always trying to improve the program, and I know they keep the students' best interests in mind, so I would recommend the program to anyone who is committed to learning."