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I've looked into this myself. I have an associates and have been slowly chipping away towards a Bachelors for years. http://www.degreeinfo.com/forum.php has a lot of good resources on this, but basically you can hack together credit from a combination of CLEP, DSST, among other equivalency testing, and then transfer them into one of the friendly-towards-this-kind-of-thing schools like Excelsior or Thomas Edison State college.

I was actually enrolled in Thomas Edison prior to knowing about this, slogging away at online courses. After learning about this "hack", and even figuring out a sure-fire way to a Bachelors degree in like 6 months, I didn't do it and I now haven't continued any further with Thomas Edison. For some, having a "BS" or "BA" in and of itself might be worth it, but for me the whole idea/thing just made the online degree seem like a joke if you can test your way out of an entire degree basically

called 'DegreeInfo.com.

They have information on about 300 acredited degrees, ranging from Associates to Doctorates in lots of disciplines.

There is also a fairly active set of discussion forums, where you can post specific queries.

I'm not assoicated with them, but used the site pretty actively last spring when I was looking for an MBA program. In the end I started an Executive MBA from a traditional bricks and mortar University, but that was just my personal choise.

Some of the on-line MBAs were pretty solid; I took my research to the point of evaluating several schools and even talking with past students - no problems there at all.

called 'DegreeInfo.com.

They have information on about 300 acredited degrees, ranging from Associates to Doctorates in lots of disciplines.

There is also a fairly active set of discussion forums, where you can post specific queries.

I'm not assoicated with them, but used the site pretty actively last spring when I was looking for an MBA program. In the end I started an Executive MBA from a traditional bricks and mortar University, but that was just my personal choise.

Some of the on-line MBAs were pretty solid; I took my research to the point of evaluating several schools and even talking with past students - no problems there at all.

The real key to online degrees is accreditation. The breakdown is as follows (in order of goodness):

1. Non-accredited
Stay away from these schools. These schools can vary from solid coursework to send me $50 and I'll send you a degree. You can't be sure. All accredited graduate schools require an accredited degree for admission so this will not help you.

2. State accredited
These are a bit better but still aren't good enough to get into accredited graduate schools. Most employers won't pay for tuition and you the US govt. won't consider you as having a degree with this or an unaccredited degree.

3. DETC accredited degree (Distance Education Training Council)
This is an agency appproved by the US Dept. of Education. These degrees are much better than the above two but still aren't widely recognized especially in academic environments. This is the silver standard of accreditation. These degrees will be harder and require coursework that is expected of someone earning a college degree. Most schools won't accept these for admission to an accredited graduate program (unless it's also DETC approved) but there are many that do. It's the exception to find one that does. Given costs and other opportunities available to get a degree, think hard before going this route and make sure it fits your needs. (Disclaimer: I am enrolled in a DETC school for my Masters in History because they have what I want to study and it meets my needs. My school is also a candidate for regional acccreditation. See #4) These degrees are accepeted by many places for tution reimbursement as well as for getting govt. jobs. They also have been approved for the minimum accreditation for qualifying for officer school for the armed forces.

4. Regional Accreditation
This is the gold standard of accreditation. All the top schools you hear of are appproved by these 6 seperate acreditation bodies. They are:

* Middle States, Association of Colleges and Schools
* New England Association of Schools and Colleges
* North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
* Northwest Association of School and Colleges
* Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
* Western Association of Schools and Colleges

If the degree you choose is accredited by one of these, you are good to go. You can get into any graduate program and won't have any problem with tuition assistance or even getting govt. jobs. You can teach at a university level and can be approved to teach K-12 as well.

Online degrees are being more and more accepted in business today. Many of the top schools in the country are starting to realize that they can make money by offering these programs. Penn State, Univ. of Maryland and even Harvard offer certain degrees in an online format.

There are several schools where you can test out of an entire degree. That's right, TEST OUT OF AN ENTIRE DEGREE. And it's regional accredited. One of these schools is Excelsior College (www.excelsior.edu) They will give credits for MCSE and Cisco exams as well as CLEP, DANTES and other exams you can take for credit.

For more info on these exams and to see how this is possible, take a look at BA in 4 weeks (http://bain4weeks.com/). 4 weeks is a bit aggressive but take a look at the details.

I know, I did it. It took me about 4 months once I enrolled with about 30 credits to finish by BS degree in General Business.

There is a great forum over at www.degreeinfo.com dedicated to distance eduation (http://forums.degreeinfo.com/forumdisplay.php?s=& forumid=13) as well as on specifically on IT and tech degrees. (http://forums.degreeinfo.com/forumdisplay.php?s=& forumid=22)

--
BS General Business, Excelsior College 2003
MA Military Studies, American Military University (in progress)

The real key to online degrees is accreditation. The breakdown is as follows (in order of goodness):

1. Non-accredited
Stay away from these schools. These schools can vary from solid coursework to send me $50 and I'll send you a degree. You can't be sure. All accredited graduate schools require an accredited degree for admission so this will not help you.

2. State accredited
These are a bit better but still aren't good enough to get into accredited graduate schools. Most employers won't pay for tuition and you the US govt. won't consider you as having a degree with this or an unaccredited degree.

3. DETC accredited degree (Distance Education Training Council)
This is an agency appproved by the US Dept. of Education. These degrees are much better than the above two but still aren't widely recognized especially in academic environments. This is the silver standard of accreditation. These degrees will be harder and require coursework that is expected of someone earning a college degree. Most schools won't accept these for admission to an accredited graduate program (unless it's also DETC approved) but there are many that do. It's the exception to find one that does. Given costs and other opportunities available to get a degree, think hard before going this route and make sure it fits your needs. (Disclaimer: I am enrolled in a DETC school for my Masters in History because they have what I want to study and it meets my needs. My school is also a candidate for regional acccreditation. See #4) These degrees are accepeted by many places for tution reimbursement as well as for getting govt. jobs. They also have been approved for the minimum accreditation for qualifying for officer school for the armed forces.

4. Regional Accreditation
This is the gold standard of accreditation. All the top schools you hear of are appproved by these 6 seperate acreditation bodies. They are:

* Middle States, Association of Colleges and Schools
* New England Association of Schools and Colleges
* North Central Association of Colleges and Schools
* Northwest Association of School and Colleges
* Southern Association of Colleges and Schools
* Western Association of Schools and Colleges

If the degree you choose is accredited by one of these, you are good to go. You can get into any graduate program and won't have any problem with tuition assistance or even getting govt. jobs. You can teach at a university level and can be approved to teach K-12 as well.

Online degrees are being more and more accepted in business today. Many of the top schools in the country are starting to realize that they can make money by offering these programs. Penn State, Univ. of Maryland and even Harvard offer certain degrees in an online format.

There are several schools where you can test out of an entire degree. That's right, TEST OUT OF AN ENTIRE DEGREE. And it's regional accredited. One of these schools is Excelsior College (www.excelsior.edu) They will give credits for MCSE and Cisco exams as well as CLEP, DANTES and other exams you can take for credit.

For more info on these exams and to see how this is possible, take a look at BA in 4 weeks (http://bain4weeks.com/). 4 weeks is a bit aggressive but take a look at the details.

I know, I did it. It took me about 4 months once I enrolled with about 30 credits to finish by BS degree in General Business.

There is a great forum over at www.degreeinfo.com dedicated to distance eduation (http://forums.degreeinfo.com/forumdisplay.php?s=& forumid=13) as well as on specifically on IT and tech degrees. (http://forums.degreeinfo.com/forumdisplay.php?s=& forumid=22)

--
BS General Business, Excelsior College 2003
MA Military Studies, American Military University (in progress)

Once she's done with high school, she can come back for help earning her degree by distance as well!

There is an active on-line community at DegreeInfo.com who research and discuss the merits of each institution.

Here in the UK The Open University has been providing fully accredited distance learning since the early 70's.

I went to a brick and mortar Uni myself, but have worked with several graduates of such institutions, both in the banking and academic worlds (I'm a banker and part time visiting lecturer at a local Uni), and they were fine; like most things, you get out of it what you put into it.

Lots of information about online learning here:

DegreeInfo