I have been thinking about going the online university route to finish my degree. But is a degree from an online college (like U of Phoenix) worth anything? Do employers look at it the same way they would look at a degree from a non-online college? Just wondering what everyone thinks.

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I do not think that they are worth the investment you are better off going to a community college. If you are going to go to one I would go to one that was not as popular as the U of Phoenix then at least the employer will think that it is a traditional school.

Hmmm... You really think community colleges are looked at with more respect than online colleges?

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Yes, If you are working in a community and people are familiar with the school name I think it is better than an online school. Most online schools are legitimate but I think the perception is that it is very easy to get a degree with them whether or not it truly it. Perception is reality.

One thing that you may want to consider is going to an online university that has a real school many of the traditional universitites are offering online degrees now and you get the best of both worlds - school with a good reputation and the conveniece of learning at your home

I thought about that as well. There is just no possible way at this point in my life that I could physically go to a university for classes, so online seems like my only option

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The 2 realities are this: If you go to an "online" college and get a degree, the people who interview you for a job won't recognize the name of the school and will probably think you made it up or its some phony college.

The second reality is that if you go to a traditional school and take online courses, you are paying the hefty "in-school" tuition rate, even though you aren't using their facilities. Until online schooling is the norm (I give it at least 15 years) a traditional brick-and-mortar college is the only way to go in terms of it being respected as a standard education.

I realize this is a touchy subject for the people who have "graduated" from an online school, but how does 4 years of classes at a traditional college compare with 1 to 1.5 years (max) of online course work? It simply doesn't. Many of the online schools don't even test you and if they do what is stopping someone from cheating?

There's my 2 cents...

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Thanks ADT I did not realize that about online schools - cost of online programs from traditional schools and how easy it was to get a degree. I thought that the online schools were really coming into their own but now I have to agree with you that it will probably be another generation of students before it really catches on.