Parkland College

Parkland: A Smart Choice

Parkland is a fully accredited, public community college in Champaign, Illinois.  The College was founded in 1967 and is housed on a 233 acre permanent campus.    

Parkland enrolls approximately 20,000 student annually, although only about a third of our students live and work in the Champaign area.  We have earned a national reputation for excellent academic standards, innovative programs, and quality instruction. 

At Parkland, our online courses offer high-quality instruction, small class size and personal attention at a price you can afford.

Accreditation

Parkland College has been specifically accredited for offering online courses since 2001. According to the North Central Association, our accrediting body, "The institution has had outstanding success with distance education . . . all distance education students know whatever they need to know to be successful in their classes. They have access to their instructors, to counseling, to services, and to each other." Read more on our accreditation page.

Personal Attention

Class sizes for online courses are capped exactly as they are for classes taught face-to-face. This means that you won't be one of 100 students in a single online section. Most classes have between 20 and 30 students, while some are significantly smaller.

At Parkland, you'll receive personal attention from your instructor just as you would in person. In fact, students often report more personal attention from their instructor in online classes than in traditional face-to-face classes. In most cases, emails to instructors are returned within 24 hours.

Cost

The cost of taking online courses at Parkland is significantly lower than the cost of other popular online courses. This chart shows the cost per credit hour at five well-known institutions.

Cost per Credit Hour

* See below for tuition information and links.             

Hear from previous students

The following comments are from anonymous course evaluations:

"This was my first online class and it was a wonderful experience. I had no trouble following the syllabus or taking the tests online."

"I would have been unable to take this course if it wasn't offered online and truly appreciate the opportunity."

"I thought this professor was very organized. I had an easy time adjusting to the online classroom, it was very user friendly."

"[The instructor's] enthusiasm helped make this a fun class. He is a very good online instructor and keeps in touch to the extent that I actually interacted more with him than with other teachers where I've been in a classroom setting."

"I thought this online class was done very well. As a class we were able to have lively online discussions and group projects. I think [the instructor] did a great job with this class and responded very quickly to any questions or problems."

"The class was excellent. There was a lot of interaction, and this made the online course much more like an on campus class. I felt this class, being that it was a required course, far exceeded my expectations."

"The class was interesting and I actually felt part of a class of students as opposed to just me and the instructor. I would highly recommend this class to others."

"I really enjoyed it, I would take all my classes like this."

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* Parkland College tuition information is here:
http://www.parkland.edu/admissions/payingForCollege/tuition-fees.aspx

Capella University information found here:
http://www.capella.edu/inc/pdf/tuition_chart.pdf

DeVry University information found here:
http://www.devry.edu/financial-aid-tuition/tuition-and-expenses.jsp

Kaplan University information found here:
http://www.getinfo.kaplan.edu/Microsite_B/tuition.aspx

University of Phoenix information found here:
http://www.phoenix.edu/tuition_and_financial_options/tuition_and_fees.html

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