Things aren’t exactly looking up right now for my mother. First and foremost her hours have been drastically reduced. By this I mean that the office does not open until 8am and closes at 3pm, assuming she has work to keep her busy. If she’s finished with her clients for the day, which she usually is by noon, then it’s out the door. Because of the economy a lot of her clients, who were small business owners, had to close their doors. Hence her workload was drastically reduced. To survive she began hunting for clients some of which came to accounting office she works for, most though did not like the idea of going to Las Cruces when they are situated elsewhere, thought their fees were atrocious, and various other reasons. These clients she took on the side and handles on her own. This is how she has been able to substantiate her income (by finding work elsewhere) when she’s been sent home early for lack of work (for shame being caught up with all of your client’s books!) and her cut hours.

Even then it’s barely been enough to get buy right now let alone continue her education. Yes, despite her wishes of going back to school to receive a Masters in Accounting and Business and to pick up a Bachelor’s in Computers, she’s had to put it off due to lack of funds. A pity too as she was progressing nicely. Unfortunately her boss found out that she [my mother] has been maintaining her own clients and was quite livid and demanded that she cease and desist. Her boss’ harped on about loyalty to the company and so forth; nevermind the fact that her boss does this as well.

For people like my mother, an Online master degree is the ideal route to go as it will allow her to further her education while at the same time continuing her career. She’s taken numerous online courses before in her college career so pursuing her Masters degree and her Bachelors in Computers shouldn’t be that difficult for her. I’ve been enlisted to assist her in locating a reputable establishment; as there are sadly quite a few papermill scams out there. I’ve found that Gonzaga University in Spokane, Washington boasts an online masters degree program. This is wonderful news as not many top ranked schools are offering online programs and Gonzaga University is ranked one of the nation’s best universities by The Princeton Review and Forbes Magazine.

The downside, however, is the fact that they do not offer any of the programs she is interested in further pursuing. I would like to see such an accredited school offer a more thorough selection of programs. After all, Gonzaga University claims that they believe online programs allow experienced professionals the chance to further their educations, something they may not otherwise be able to do due to professional or personal commitments. If the school truly believes this then they need to broaden their offerings.