SALT LAKE CITY, Jan. 30, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- The Forbes list of the "10 Most Promising Jobs of 2015" highlights high-paying, in-demand careers expected to offer big potential to job seekers in the coming year. From software engineer to human resources manager to product manager, jobs in IT and business are especially promising, and one university—the online, nonprofit, competency-based Western Governors University—offers degrees directly related to seven of them, degrees that aspirants can earn without having to rearrange their lives or quit their current jobs.

The list of jobs and their relevant bachelor's and master's degrees is available at www.wgu.edu/TopJobs2015. The jobs covered are:

• Software engineer (average base salary: $98,100)
• Business development manager (average base salary: $94,900)
• Human resource manager (average base salary: $96,400)
• Finance manager (average base salary: $123,000)
• Marketing manager (average base salary: $100,100)
• Product manager (average base salary: $113,400)
• Sales manager (average base salary: $76,600)

WGU's competency-based degree programs mean that students learn material on their time and advance through their coursework at their own pace, passing courses as soon as they are able to prove they have mastered the material. For many WGU students, this translates to significant time savings—the average time to complete a bachelor's degree is under three years. And with a low flat-rate tuition charged per six-month term, regardless of the number of courses completed, saving time also means saving money at WGU.

The majority of WGU students work full time and have family responsibilities that make a nontraditional university setting unrealistic or impossible. WGU offers them the opportunity to earn the bachelor's or master's degree they need to change careers or advance within their current careers, building a better life for themselves and their families. And WGU's affordable tuition—about half the rate of other online universities—lets them achieve their goals without taking on significant student debt (or any at all).

About Western Governors University
Now with more than 53,000 students nationwide, WGU was established in 1997 by a bipartisan group of U.S. governors with a mission to expand access to high-quality, affordable higher education. The nation's first competency-based university, WGU has been recognized by the White House as what works in post-secondary education. WGU is accredited by the Northwest Commission on Colleges and Universities, has been named one of Fast Company's Most Innovative Companies, and was featured on NPR, NBC Nightly News, CNN, and in The New York Times. 

WGU has earned the support of more than 20 leading corporations and foundations, including AT&T, Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, Lilly Endowment, HCA, Hewlett-Packard, Lumina Foundation, Microsoft, Oracle, SunGard Higher Education, and Zions Bank. More information is available at www.wgu.edu or by calling 866.225.5948.

Follow WGU:
http://www.facebook.com/wgu.edu
http://www.linkedin.com/companies/western-governors-university
http://twitter.com/wgu
http://www.youtube.com/WesternGovernorsUniv
http://google.com/+wgu
http://news.wgu.edu/news/news.xml

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SOURCE Western Governors University