Speaking as a college professor who teaches both on-campus and online, let me say this. YES, you can get a solid education through both means.

But in the job market, an online degree doesn’t carry the same weight. Why not? Because with classroom learning, there’s someone there–your instructor or professor–who can vouch for the quality of your work.

With an online degree, there’s no way for me as an instructor to know if you’re the one actually doing the work. For all I know, you could have someone sitting there feeding you the answers and doing all your work.

So in my opinion, an online class here and there is alright, but if you have the choice between an online degree or an on-campus degree, go for the on-campus!

I believe you will find it is all in the accreditation of the school. Make sure they are properly accredited. For instance I have some units at a community college here in California and they will only take online credits from an accredited college. When in doubt check with your college. Most colleges now have internet courses and are much cheaper than for instance Phoenix university or Kaplan College and AIU. These are all good college but very expensive to complete the whole degree online, but a necessity for some. So just do your homework. Also find out ahead of time if the profession you are going into has ever hired anyone that got their education online. Call an HR department and ask them. Tell them you are doing some research for an article on online education and the realities of employment after the schooling is over. Finally ask previous students what there experience was in trying to find employment. Most schools have a team devoted to helping you gain employment after you graduate via contacts throughout your industry, you just have some that are more aggresive than others thats for sure. The better colleges are going to make sure their students are supported in this aspect though because word of mouth gets arounf fast and you don’t want to be known as a school that does not have a strong after support program in place that helps place it’s graduates. Do you mind if I ask what field you want to major in?

They absolutely work for most instances. The 2 spots where I think they put you at a disadvantage are:

1) If you are competing against Ivy League degrees

2) If you get an unaccredited degree like a Warren National or Rochville degree