New App Offers Students Chance To Earn Degrees On iPads, Tablets

PITTSBURGH (KDKA) -- Online education is growing.

One in four college students take at least some of their courses online, and a new app is now offering the chance to earn a college degree on your iPad or tablet.

There are two big advantages to this. First, everyone knows traditional college is expensive, but this is cheaper. It also allows for flexibility.

Virtually anywhere he goes; Colin Grieg can work towards earning his college degree at his own pace.

"I don't really feel the pressure," says Grieg. "I set my own deadlines and I'm able to work towards them."

Grieg is using an app called MyPath, which is offered through Brandman University. There are no books, everything is done on his tablet, even exams, which are monitored by instructors via webcam.

It was designed with non-traditional students in mind, especially those with busy work schedules.

"You can find yourself with a spare 20 minutes and out comes the tablet," says Grieg. "I can work on a paper or complete a little quiz or just do something towards my schoolwork."

More colleges and universities are offering online options. According to the U.S. Department of Education, one in four college students take at least some of their courses online.

Brandman is hoping to set their program apart by offering an app with a unique payment plan. For $2,700, students can earn all the credits they can handle within six months.

"This provides an incentive for students to finish as quickly as possible," says Gray Brahm, Brandman University's chancellor. "If they finish in two and a half years, a Bachelor's degree will cost $13,500."

For Grieg, studying on his schedule is paying off.

"I'm hoping I can have my degree completed within 12 months, so by May of 2016," he says.

It's a pace he says wouldn't be possible any other way.

Brandman University is an accredited, non-profit college. About 100 students were part of the beta testing for the MyPath app, and school officials say 500 more students have signed up to begin taking the online courses.

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