December 5, 2006, GetEducated.com, Essex Junction, VT (PR Web)

GetEducated.com, LLC, America’s first online degree clearinghouse, is easing the financial burden of attending college online by awarding cash scholarships to distance education students.

Ken Wiegman, a computer support specialist at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville (UWP), was selected by Wisconsin’s Distance Learning Center Scholarship Committee as the first recipient of the GetEducated.com award. Ken’s nomination was based upon his academic achievements and the strong recommendation of his nominators, Dr. Susan Hilal and Dr. Cheryl Banachowski-Fuller. Ken is currently enrolled in the online Master of Science in Criminal Justice through UWP.

Aside from working at the university, Ken is a 20-year member of the Wisconsin National Guard. For thirteen years, Ken served with the 229th Engineer Detachment in Platteville. Presently he is enlisted as a master sergeant in the 115th Fighter Wing Air National Guard in Madison.

“GetEducated was founded in 1989 to help consumers get educated about distance learning,” says founder Vicky Phillips. “As a part of our social mission we are proud to earmark a percentage of our profits to fund college scholarships for deserving distance education students. We are very pleased to make this award to Ken, who in many ways represents a model distance learning student.”

Online degree seekers tend to be older, with an average age of 36. Most hold down full-time jobs and assume responsibility for keeping their families running at the same time they study online to earn their degrees. Mobile workers, such as military members, are especially well-served by distance education.

Susan Hilal, Ph.D., and Cheryl Banachowski-Fuller, Ph.D., program coordinators of UWP’s online Bachelor of Science in Criminal Justice and Master of Science in Criminal Justice, respectively, nominated Ken Wiegman to be the 2006 recipient of the GetEducated.com $500 award.

“Ken Wiegman has been in three online graduate courses and is currently enrolled in another one,” said Hilal and Banachowski-Fuller in nominating Ken.

“What makes the quality of Ken’s work exceptional is that it is critical. He is able to synthesize material he has read and provide a critical analysis in a very thorough manner in which all of the major points are addressed from several angles. Ken logs into the class on a daily basis and participates in the discussion board significantly more than the required minimum, while providing scholarly comments and questions.

“Last spring we nominated Ken to represent the graduate students as a voting member on UWP’s Graduate Council. Ken was subsequently voted in by the Council to represent ALL UWP graduate students for the 2006-2007 academic year.”

Dawn Drake, executive director of alternative delivery systems at UWP, was especially pleased to receive notification from GetEducated.com of this new scholarship program.

Says Drake: “GetEducated.com, which screens accredited online degree-granting universities and publishes The Best Distance Learning Undergraduate and The Best Distance Learning Graduate Schools, has awarded its Consumer Seal of Approval to UWP annually since 2002. They have become a trusted resource for students seeking information about online degree programs. We are grateful for this scholarship award program which makes it possible for students to participate in accredited distance education degree programs like the ones we offer at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.”

“The University of Wisconsin-Platteville’s distance learning program has consistently impressed our national education review team as a high quality institution that offers students nationwide the chance to get educated and move ahead in their lives,” comments Phillips. “We are proud to partner with them in establishing this scholarship fund for online education.”

The University of Wisconsin-Platteville has received national Best Buy rankings from the GetEducated.com college review team for its online bachelor’s degree programs in business administration and human resources as well as its distance masters in criminal justice and engineering. The UWP criminal justice master’s degree program Ken is attending is profiled in GetEducated.com’s Best Distance Learning Graduate Schools: Criminal Justice, Law & Legal Studies.

Consumers wishing to register for an online degree scholarship, good for use at any accredited distance learning program headquartered in the USA, can register at the clearinghouse’s online degree scholarship page.

About: Founded in 1989, GetEducated.com, LLC, is the safest place in cyberspace to shop for your online degree ™. The site researches and publishes independent national ratings and rankings of more than 1,000 accredited online college programs. In a nationwide campaign against online degree mills, the clearinghouse accepts no advertising from unaccredited online colleges or from colleges “accredited” by bogus agencies. The clearinghouse operates the Diploma Mill Police, (SM), a free accreditation verification service designed to protect online degree seekers from consumer fraud.

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