Internet Fraud

The idea sounds great. You can work full time and come home and do online classes, but they seem like they’re just not as trusted as going to an actual school. Is this just because it’s new? Also I wonder if they’re just as credible as any other school, as they all say they are.

I know of several people who are doing online classes.I cant wait to see what the general census is.

I would not say they are outright scams to swindle their users. Rather they are not as trusty as the good old brick and mortar establishments. If you have to work and go to school at the same time, I would recommend a combination of night classes and online classes from a brick and mortar university. Then once general education and whatever upper-level classes you can get out of the way are done, then you will have to take a year or two off to finish off your degree full-time. Most places of employment will understand and if they do not, do you really want to be an employee of theirs anymore?

I don't really trust online program. I would like to go to accredited university. It is all depending on what you want out of your career and futrure. If you want to work for big companies and have better career, I would suggest you not to go to any online program for Bachelors. Many big (more known) companies would like to go to accredited university to recruit their candidates.

Most online degrees are not scams if they are from an accredited college, however most of the online colleges that offer them are more into your money than benefitting you to learn. Having said that, companies who hire you may not look upon online degrees with great respect (it really depends), but have done both attended school and online, I found that online can be difficult sometimes because you are always depending on yourself, with no classroom surrounding, students, and teacher doing live lectures, etc. Sometimes students taking online classes feel isolated and unsure of what they are studying because you are missing that part of the communication and it is only text. So it really depends on you.

The state universities and community colleges will be the best and least expensive way to further your education online. Usually degrees obtained online from state universities and colleges will be no different than a degree granted to a student sitting in class. You probably won't get a scholarship, but financial aid is possible. Employers won't be able to tell that you got the degree online unless you tell them or if you have an overlapping work experience and a degree from another state. :) A degree from Mississippi State is a degree from Mississippi State, doesn't matter if you attended on-campus or online. Online classes may be new (if you consider 10 years old, new), but distance education is over 100 years old. Many colleges like University of Maryland University College have had distance education courses for military for over 20 years. Stay away from the for-profits because of high cost. Some will be reasonable, but most, like University of Phoenix, overcharge. If you are just starting your college education or have less than 60 semester credit hours, try your local community college first. They may have an online AA degree program. If they don't, try other community colleges in your state. Once you have an AA degree, you can enroll in an online bachelor's degree completion program at one of the state universities. Many state universities now have online degrees. The following are some websites to get you started. http://www.fhsu.edu/virtualcollege/ http://www.peru.edu/offuttafb/degreeprograms/onlinelearning.htm http://outreach.uwyo.edu/ocp/ http://www.distance.msstate.edu/ http://www.distancelearning.ufl.edu/degrees.aspx http://www.apu.apus.edu/index.htm http://www.online.uillinois.edu/ http://www.depts.ttu.edu/ode/CollegeOverview.asp Finally, when you choose a school, make sure it is at least regionally accredited. You can check accreditation at http://ope.ed.gov/accreditation/search.asp You can learn more about accreditation at http://www.ed.gov/admins/finaid/accred/index.html Finally, there are a couple of forums online with members who have obtained their degrees online. Some have gone pretty far with their online degrees. The forums are free to join but you can read the forum without joining. You just won't be able to post. http://forums.degreeinfo.com and http://www.instantcertonline.com/forums Good luck

If you take online courses offered through traditional schools then it is far from a scam. In fact, your transcripts wont even say that you attained you degree online. However, if you go to one of these highly marketed for-profit schools like AIU or U of P you may find the quality and the image to be very poor. Check out http://www.aiutruth.com for more info on this topic.