Nontraditional student? Here’s what you need

Welcome to the Key, the print version of our new Metro-sponsored website, EducationOption.com.

We serve nontraditional students: anyone beyond high school age who wants to pick up new job skills, is thinking of starting — or finishing! — college or is looking for a master’s degree program.

Unlike high-school kids, adult learners usually look at schools where they live. Someone in Philly looking at MBA programs is going to start with Temple, Penn and Villanova — not Chicago or Stanford — so we provide localized databases targeted to specific regions. We’ve got schools in the Philadelphia region, including South Jersey, as well as the rest of Pennsylvania, plus New York and Boston.

We have two-year and four-year colleges and universities, graduate and professional schools as well as trade schools and career training. All listings have information about the programs offered, including what degrees or certificates are available. So if you want to know where to look for a certificate in IT, a master’s degree in business or a bachelor’s degree in nursing, you can search for that.

In addition to the school database, we provide information on things like financial aid, the application process, how to pick a school and online vs. traditional learning. Unlike traditional college-search sites, which are targeted to high-school students, we give you the information that adults need, like tax credits and tuition assistance from employers.

We cover a lot of this in our FAQs, and we’re adding more material every day (plus doing some blogging) — so check back often.