In summary, if you choose the right school, online degrees can be pretty rigorous.

Here are some of the most important factors:

ACCREDITATION: If your degree isn’t accredited, it’s almost worthless.

REPUTATION: Some schools have a reputation as a “degree mill” where they give degrees more for profit than for education. Others are well known more for their on-campus program than off-campus.

ADMISSIONS FACTORS: Like regular schools, the harder to get in the better the reputation probably is. Sorry, but it’s true. If they accept everybody, you need to look elsewhere.

BUDGETARY FOCUS: Schools publish their budgets if you look hard enough. If they spent more on marketing than on educational development (hello, University of Phoenix), it’s probably a for-profit *business* rather than an *educational* institution.

Overall, my two favorites for my business concentration are Penn State World Campus and UMass.

Good luck with your search.

That said, there some very few examples where regional accreditation isn’t essential. Religious training is one of those – though RA isn’t bad in that case. There are also examples where regional and national accreditation are required (law, medicine, etc…)

Most important – the single most important issue is reputation of the school.

U of Pheonix is.

But then I think of the episode of King of the Hill where some guy ran a fake one out of a hotel room.

I suggest that if you want to take courses from an online U, talk to real live alumni. They can verify the legitamacy of the program.