In a new, free white paper titled "Online Degrees Make the Grade:Employer Acceptance Now Common," researcher George Lorenzo, publisherof Educational Pathways, reveals that online education now receives widesupport among businesses. "As corporations continue to see an increase injob candidates who have earned their degrees online," writes Lorenzo, "theword has spread among executives, human resource professionals and hiringmanagers that online higher education graduates are focused employees withstrong work ethics."

Online learning has become widely accepted. Online courses and degrees arewidely available through both traditional and online universities. Bothstudents and employers are less apprehensive; hence, the quality of onlineeducation is seldom an issue. "If you ask employers about their sense ofthe quality of online education -- is it of equal quality to traditional --the response you typically get is a growing adherence to it being of equalquality," says Richard Garrett, a senior research analyst for Eduventures,an education research and consulting firm.

Flexibility is a key attribute of online education valued by employers andworkers. According to Lorenzo, "Employers realize that the flexibility andconvenience of online teaching and learning modalities are a great fit forbusy adult learners seeking to improve their workforce skills and advancetheir careers."

Students at Western Governors University (www.wgu.edu), which commissionedthe study, are featured in the accompanying case study.

Bob Roark was in his late 30s, married with two daughters, and was workingas a technical solutions manager. "My position required a bachelor'sdegree, but they hired me because of my capabilities and experience as longas I finished my degree," he says. He looked at many institutions, bothtraditional and online, and chose WGU because of its flexibility,convenience, reasonable cost and accreditation. Completing his courseworkfor his bachelor's gave him the confidence to continue his education to thenext level and he began his MBA at WGU. While studying for his master's, heinterviewed for another manager position. "WGU came up in the interview andthe interviewer told me at that point he would rather hire me as a directorthan a manager," Roark says. Several weeks later he was offered thedirector position and received a 32 percent salary increase.

"Bob had a more educated view of business in general than his peers," saidBob's former boss. "The online curriculum I think helps to forceindividuals to become quick studies and to become well read." According toemployers, the main considerations are the quality of the education aparticular job candidate receives and how prepared he or she is forreal-world challenges.

To view the complete white paper free of charge, visitwww.wgu.edu/makethegrade.

About Western GovernorsUniversity (WGU)

WGU is the only accredited onlineuniversity in the U.S. offering competency-based degree programs. Theprivate non-profit university has been a leader in online education formore than 10 years. WGU is the recipient of the USDLA 21st Century Awardfor Best Practices in Distance Learning for 2008, awarded in recognition ofWGU's success in expanding access to higher education. It has also beenrecognized among the Top 20 Military Friendly Colleges and Universities byAdvanced Military Education Magazine.

Now serving more than 11,000 students, WGU was founded by 19 U.S.governors, and is supported by more than 20 leading corporations andfoundations. They include institutions such as AT&T, BearingPoint, Dell,Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation, Hewlett-Packard, HCA, Microsoft, Oracle,Qwest, SunGard Higher Education, Sun Microsystems, and Zions Bank. WGUoffers bachelor's and master's degrees in business, information technology,teacher education, and health professions, with students in all 50 states.More information is available at www.wgu.edu.

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Contact for media inquiries:Amber PodluckyPR Coordinator801-290-3658apodlucky@wgu.eduContact for enrollment information:866-225-5948