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Martin K. Smith lives in a town of about 550 people in Northeastern Nebraska. The nearest college, he says, is roughly 40 to 45 miles away.
So when the now-55-year-old military veteran wanted to come out of retirement and go back to school a few years ago, he turned to an online degree. Smith, who now works as an operations manager for two health care clinics, enrolled in the online bachelor’s degree program in human services at Purdue University Global. Following his May 2017 graduation, he then went to earn his master’s online from the school.
“I picked human services because I felt that was closely related to what I did in the military for nine years,” he says. He was also searching for a university that would accept his two associate degrees and other previously earned college credits.
The broadly defined field focuses on serving clients in various public outreach settings, preparing students for positions such as social workers, substance abuse counselors, child welfare specialists and probation officers, among many others.
“It’s a generalist degree, so they can graduate and move within social services and do different things,” says Julie Riley, academic department chair of Purdue Global’s human services department. “So they work in schools, they work in state agencies, they work as case managers, things like that.”
Some online students, many of whom are working adults, also go on to launch their own businesses, says Riley.
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