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Internet rules our lives. Okay if not ‘rule’ then at least it dominates our lives to a very large extent. We have been addicted to it since its inception. In fact today, someone who is kept away from the internet and the computers would be considered to be a person who is either troubled or someone who has come from the moon!

Today, anything and everything is available online. This holds true for educational aids too. We can find study materials online and send our homework through emails as well. There are scores of other things like presentations, videos, webinars/seminars and so on. Many colleges claim to offer online degrees as well such as MBA, masters or even a graduation degree. In the past we have been wary of such degrees offered online but it is going to change now as Internet is definitely our future.

So how does it change? The fact that one of America’s largest public universities is taking a huge leap to create a course that will be offered to students online. Yes, the University of California is now planning to offer a graduation degree online. This bachelor’s degree they plan to offer is going to be on par with the degree they offer on the campus.

The University is making plans to offer subjects in calculus, chemistry, freshman composition and physics through the online course. These are the subject choices because they are also the most crowded classrooms on the campus.

However, putting this plan in perspective and making it a success will require at least $ 6 million in private donations. The problem that we can visualize is that this decision has come at a time when there is a cash crunch in the country. Also this decision has arisen from the fact that the students have been increasingly protesting fee hikes in the recent past.

The spokesperson of the university stated that they were all very happy with the online degree decision and think that they are going to lead the way for other big names to follow. This program will help them save a lot of money. Living on campus and paying fees can become very expensive.

We know that every university in the country is facing budget deficits. It will only grow much more. In fact, by 2011, deficit is expected to touch $ 1.2 billion. Plus the University of California is facing a major crunch. They have cut down on many staff members too and also on other facilities offered to students.

While online graduate degree seems to be a great idea, would you as a student be happy getting an online degree? Sure it’s an authentic degree from the University of California but won’t you miss out on the exciting campus life?

Are we all heading towards an education system that will be completely virtual? In the near future, will everything be offered online? Will it work in the best interest of the people? A lot of questions have to be answered before we take this crucial step.