Three decades after her last class, going to college online

Colfack, laboratory manager at hospital, earns degree

Friday, April 3, 2009

Click here to enlarge this photo Colfack E-Mail This Article | Print This Story

Jeanne Colfack had not taken a college course for three decades when her supervisor approached her and persuaded her to finish her degree for the sake of her job.

"He said he wouldn't leave until I promised to go back to school," Colfack recalled.

That was the summer of 2005. The medical director of the Prince George's Hospital Center only had her best interests in mind, Colfack said, noting that it would increase her job security and that promotions required post-secondary education.

The St. Mary's County resident hit her 30-year mark in November with the hospital, where she worked a variety of positions with increasing levels of responsibility, she said. She certainly had the experience to go along with the title of laboratory manager, but she didn't have the formal education.

"I didn't really have the degree that supported the position I am in," she said. The hospital she works for is for sale, she said, and Colfack, 52, began to think having a degree under her belt might offer some added job security.

"I hadn't been in a formal classroom for a long, long time," she said. "Over the years I took time to have a family."

Last October after three years she finished her bachelor's degree in management from the online Kaplan University with a 4.0 grade point average and was mailed a diploma along with an honors card.

"It seemed like there was always something," she said, that for three decades kept putting off the decision to go back to college. I realized all of these things I said over the years were just excuses."

Colfack lives near Valley Lee with her husband. As it happened, one of her sons was at the University of Maryland in College Park, when she began seriously thinking about how to go back to college herself.

Colfack went to help her son buy books at the bustling campus. The experience was overwhelming and she decided that a traditional college campus was not for her.

She heard about Kaplan University and figured she would give it a try, taking her first courses in October 2005. She started with three courses at a time but then pared that down to just one for the last few terms.

She was able to build on some credits from an associate degree to compete her bachelor's with three years of online courses.

Kaplan, based in Davenport, Iowa, advertises "a different school of thought for higher education" through its online courses and degrees. Kaplan is a subsidiary of The Washington Post Co., which also owns Southern Maryland Newspapers, which publishes The Enterprise.

Many traditional universities have added online classes and there are universities along with Kaplan where a student can complete an entire degree online. University of Maryland University College has for years offered an array of both graduate and undergraduate degrees online.

"Online education is a very good solution for many, many people," said Betty Vandenbosch, dean of Kaplan's school of business and management. The average age of students is about 34, she said, and three-quarters are women.

"Many of these women have jobs, have children and have a whole life in addition to their school," Vandenbosch said. "We have broad range. We have students who are 22 years old and we have students who are 62 years old."

Occasionally, she said, there are even some high school students who get a jump on college by taking courses online. One student said he was a soldier on active duty overseas.

Kaplan University has grown steadily from about 17,600 students in 2004 to currently about 44,000 online students plus another 4,000 campus students.

"You have to be very self-motivated to stick with any kind of university and that's the same with Kaplan," Vandenbosch said.

There are some inherent differences, though.

"There's a lot of flexibility in the number of classes you take at a time," Colfack said. And with the quick, 10-week terms and short breaks in between she was able to stay focused on her goal of earning a degree. Most students take two courses at a time, a college official said.

For many of her classes she had to log in at a set time to attend a seminar, which functioned kind of like a live chat room.

"You can still get a flavor of the personalities of the people in the class," she said. "I personally enjoyed that aspect and I tried to be there."

Other classes functioned with bulletin board postings, which she could add to during lunch breaks or other free time.

A big advantage was she could still go on vacation any time as long as there was Internet access available.

"You didn't have to go out for your books. They came to you," she said, summing up some of the pluses of Kaplan. "You could log on whenever you could grab some time and yet you still had the sense of being in a classroom."

She admired some of the professors, including one who had real medical experience.

"I could take what was being taught and see the practical application and take it back to work," she said.

Her research skills improved greatly and she learned more about management, an important part of her job.

She said the experience cost about the same as a traditional school.

Online colleges offer the convenience of being able to fit a course in to a busy work schedule.

It is also easier to review previous discussions as transcripts are available online.

And for the shy students who have trouble speaking up in a large class, that stage fright is all but gone. "Everyone has an equal footing in the online classroom," Vandenbosch said.

jyeatman@somdnews.com