We have a neighbor friend that's in her 60's and graduated college many years ago. She's lovely and kept inviting me over for tea and conversation. I kept telling her that I couldn't due to school work. Well, eventually she quit emailing and dropping off goodies... We eventually saw each other in the parking lot. She was so excited and was glowing from head- to- toe. She said that she had started school "online" and was earning her Masters in Criminal Justice. Now, this woman barely knew how to send emails when she started and I thought that she had missed that boat. Little did I know...

I asked her if she knew Spanish because she'd probably have a hard time getting a job if she wasn't bilingual. I speak to her as if she were my mom because she is my Modesto mom. She says, "Who's looking for a job?" I'm going to become an online Instructor-that's where the money is!"

She even starts rattling off her 97 point grade average. I replied that she was a college graduate so why was she so surprised. Then she says, "Oh, I made lousy grades in college- but I'm doing great now!" She's doing great because she loves what she's doing.

Many students do not realize this but you truly do not get into subject expertise until the Masters level. Most undergrad work is about fulfilling general classes with a few Introductory electives. I guess, that's why it's called a Masters level because you are ready to master the subject. The PhD is then adding to the body of knowledge. I'm just sharing this to motivate you to go for your Masters degree. It's much more fun and interesting at the Masters level, well, except for Statistics. Yuck!

100% Online: This means that all work is completed online with no face-to-face meetings.

Blended: This term is used a lot with the Ivy League and highly ranked colleges that want to dip into online benefits but will not offer a fully online degree. This means that some of the work will be done online but it still has on-campus requirements.

Fielding University is technically a "Distributed" program. I discovered this school while searching online programs. It's the only program that offers an APA approved Clinical Psychology program that is partly online- that I am aware of at this time.

It's easy to recognize that there are a lot of meetings and travel demands in Fielding's Clinical program. I'm sure that this is due to APA requirements. Cross country travel is required twice a year, at your own expense, monthly face-to-face meetings are required, and some work is done online. This is above supervised hours and residency requirements. Fielding U does offer other online programs and has a fantastic reputation. My plans include applying to Fielding U for the PhD Clinical Psychology program.

Saybrook is marketed as being "At-a-Distance." Most of the work is done online and in KAM formats. (Discussed later) however, they do require 6 day residencies in San Francisco every 4 months. This is also above supervised hour requirements and residencies.

KAM: Knowledge Areas of Mastery: This is for students that researches and submits papers independently from a class. Their only connection is a committee member. I look forward to working like this at the PhD level but I was not ready for it at the Masters level. I enjoy online classes. Many PhD candidates prefer to work like this.

Clusters: This is when you meet within your specialized group- face-to-face for ongoing discussions.

Hybrid is a new catch phrase that can be used in different ways. It usually means that 3 or more formats are used including: Online, Clusters, On campus, KAM, Travel practicums.

In my opinion, once a student is on the graduate level it automatically evolves from being "Online" to "Hybrid."

This is especially true for students that have to meet licensure requirements within their programs. For example, I am attending Walden University- Mental Health Counseling program. This prepares students to sit for licensure and therefore; requires a certain number of practicum hours, supervised hours, and a residency year after the classes are complete. Because of all of the actual physical and face-to-face requirements it's no longer 100% online. See what I mean? Who decides the "Hours" Well, your State does and most schools design their programs to meet the most stringent States licensing requirements. If your State required more classes or supervised hours then you will have fulfill them past your school's requirements.

Back to my friend, I told her that she looked like a bum now- like me -with a chuckle. Admittedly, I'm always in sweats and rarely fix myself up anymore. I need to work on this. Just because we can wear sweats or jammies all day doesn't mean that we should. Ha.

I think that it's a trap that Online college students fall into and obviously, folks that work- at- home or are unemployed due to the recession. I only dress up when I have an interview. I am working towards changing this because although it's fun for a while I do not think it's conducive to mental health and happiness.

Anyway, I was just teasing her because prior to that she had always dressed to perfection. She laughed and said, "Oh, I know, I scare Bob (Her man) sometimes with how bad I look." Then she actually jumps up and down- I'm not kidding- talking about how happy she is to be in school. Her joy was contagious and I hugged and congratulated her big time. Actually, it was unbelievable to me. I knew that she had started school but I didn't know that she was going to thrive like that.

I have older sisters and an older brother that are younger than my friend but argue that they are too old to learn how to use the computer, even enough to attend school online. Honestly, they appear to be quite sad and disappointed in life. Meanwhile, this woman that must be a good 10 or 15 years older than they are is so happy that she's jumping up and down in public. Ha.

I think that the bottom line is that if you let fear stop you you'll be miserable. We may not be able to go to Harvard because that's dependent on decisions made by many other people but we can make decisions that are based on our choices. I was scared to return to school when I did (age 35) but I did and my friend returned in her 60's. If we can do it so can you.

I joked with my family when I was earning my undergraduate degree that computers make dumb people smarter -not the other way around.

If you email regularly, post messages and reply to messages, chat on message boards, open, save & upload documents, surf the Internet,you have the basic requirements for becoming an online student. You may have to learn how to scan & print documents, work with PDF's, and definitely use a word processing application such as Office Word or OpenOffice.org. After these basics have been mastered you in the same boat as most students.

We all have to learn how to research & retrieve scholarly databases, cite our sources, and produce scholarly literature reviews and other writings however, this is mastered over time.

You may want or need to learn a new software program but we're all doing this together. For example, I'm learning how to use EndNote to prepare for PhD research. However, this is my choice and is not mandatory. Software programs become addicting as you discover how they will save you time and effort after they are mastered. I suggest Lynda.com for all software training or your local community college.

You will have to learn how to keep you computer online and this is mandatory.

I started my school career at Capella University. I believe that I mention this in a few places so please forgive me if I'm a bit repetitive. The very first class that I took was called, "New Media." It required individual participation and a team project. This is when students are grouped together in 4 or 5 teams and work together to produce a research project. It usually ends up being a Word or PDF document and maybe a Power Point presentation.

Anyway, I learned quickly during this class that we were not equipped to keep my computer online. We didn't know anything about anti-virus programs, spam, or pop up blockers. I had never been in one of those computer arcades prior to this class. I went because my Instructor told me to do this when I called and said that my computer was down.

Do you know what Hell is? Ha. These are dimly lit places filled to the brim with loud kids playing computer games. Every now and then I'd hear a 10 year old yell out, "Dammit you killed me!" or something similar. I couldn't afford better places and the libraries are a joke.

Instructors will tell you to go to your local library however, they won't tell you this. There is usually a waiting list, stringent time limits, and they are not located close by for many students. Although, this phrase is used it's pretty useless for me. Don't think that they'll accept this as an excuse because they won't. Ha.

Anyway, I couldn't make prearranged meetings (Online) with my team mates and we couldn't afford to keep taking our PC to the repair shop. There was no way that we could afford a Mac back then and I'm not sure that Capella could be run on the Mac platform back then or not.

I'm sure that my team-mates told my Instructor that I missed a lot of meetings and I ended up with a "C." At the time I thought, well this is college, I guess I'm a "C" student. even though I was disappointed I decided to keep going expecting to earn average grades....

In the background, my wonderful husband started taking computer repair classes and working with as a computer repair technician. He became an expert tech and today he keeps my computer up and running. The next two classes I earned A's and I've never looked back.

If you do not have a spouse or good friend that will keep your PC running then you'll have to learn some preventative and repair basics. Thankfully, today, most computers come with McAffe Security software (Or similar) and using pop up blockers spam control is fairly commonplace.

I suggest having two PC's and a laptop. Macs are the ultimate and best guarantee against crashing. Make sure that your school's platform will run on Mac and Safari if you can afford a Mac. Some schools such as Walden offer Apps that enables the students to work online through an iPhone.

If you cannot afford a Laptop then a good alternative are the newer netbooks. These can be found online and at Walmart. The best brand that I've had success with is Acer. In fact, I found a 7 inch Acer online for $99.00. I don't know why this brand is so inexpensive compared to other brands but my guess is that it's an introductory price.

Walden offers their complete program easily accessible from an iPhone application. Honestly, I do not want to read and write on an iPhone. A netbook or a laptop is as small as I want to go but for those that want it the technology is there with Walden.

The main reason that I suggest having a laptop or an iPhone (If applicable) is so that if your network goes down you can easily go to the library, Starbucks, or even McDonald's and access free Wi-Fi. It's still not as great as working at home and controlling the noise level but it beats those crazy gaming arcades.

Always back up everything even if your Instructor has your paper. Use a thumb drive or Carbonite.com. I love Carbonite.com. It works seamlessly in the background and it's easy to retrieve papers from any computer.

Many online schools will accept everyone and anyone that applies, (Why wouldn't they - it's based on getting people in and not keeping people out!), In addition, students are not taking up physical space and limited resources. However, it's up to the student whether s/he survives and finishes the program or not.

I spent an interesting semester at Saybrook. While I was at the Orientation I became friends with exactly 2 women and 1 guy. All 4 of us dropped out for different reasons and this was an online school. In other words, it's just like on campus schools. The person on either side of you probably will drop out before it's over for various reasons, but just remember you can always drop back in.

My reasons for switching from Saybrook to Walden was mainly over fiances. Saybrook demanded week long travel to San Francisco every 4 months and I wasn't receiving any Financial Aid overage. I knew, that in my case, I needed to find a more reasonably priced school with less travel demands.

Walden U requires one week travel -once a year. This is a huge difference in travel demands and funds. One suggestion that I will make is to understand your F/A and expected overages. Any school (especially at the graduate level) requires a lot of software programs expensive books, and possible travel. If you cannot afford these out-of-pocket expenses,and travel, you'd better make sure that you'll receive some overage to pay for these expenses.

Schools that offer Financial Aid (F/A) usually offer book advancements. This means that the Online school will send you a check (in advance) of receiving your financial Aid disbursement. If you are approved for F/A it normally sent to your school. Your school (Bursar) takes out funds to pay for the students classes and then sends the student a refund check or direct deposit. The book loan at Walden can be up to $500.00.

Capella U began with offering book advancements but cut it out after my second year. It was very upsetting and I was dependent on the advance or my mother for financial help. Make sure that you check this out before signing up.

Don't even get me started on joining career specific societies. Ha. This normally happens on the graduate level. I am directing this towards what I know a little about. In the past I was a student member of the Society for Human Resources Management(SHRM). Psychology and counseling students normally want to join the American Psychology Association. Counselors will want to join the American Counseling Association and the American Mental Health Counsel Association (AMHCA). There are plenty more societies specific to niches such as Forensic Counselors, Drug and Alcohol Counselors, Child Life, just to name a few.

I've recently learned that once I begin working as a counselor (Under supervision) that I will have to join at least one society. The good news, is that these societies offer liability insurance and student rates. These are all things that you have to consider depending on your program. It seems that every degree comes with 3 or more societies that would be beneficial but the monthly memberships do add up.

Just a heads up. Some online schools are becoming increasingly more difficult to enter as "online schools" have gone from non- traditional to main stream.

Some online schools offer start dates that coincide with their on campus schools and only allow online student start dates once a year. This can become a major hindrance for the eager adult student. Other online schools offer start dates 2x a year - up to every month. When a school refers to offering "Rolling Start Dates" they are normally offering monthly start dates.

Palo Alto University (PAU) in Palo Alto, CA. It appears to be a fabulous school and is in consortium with Standford University and their psychology program is APA approved.

Online start date: 1x a year.

They do offer an online Masters program that leads into the PhD on- campus program. OK so the Masters is a 2 year program (and you still cannot work as a counselor at this point) then the PhD is a 5 year program.

Palo Alto U (At the time of this writing) also offers a 4 year PhD campus program. Most students come in with a Masters degree however, you can get special permission to enter without one. I'm sure that the required Graduate Registrar Examinations(GRE) http://www.ets.org/gre/ test scores helps make this decision.

OK, so when I asked if I could do the Masters online and then on campus within 4 years the answer was "No." It just didn't make sense to me and I asked two different advisers with the same response.

I was desperately trying to find the advantage of attending online for the Masters program. The final key was this. I asked if I would be allowed automatic entrance into the PhD program without taking the GRE. The answer was still No. Everyone has to take the GRE before consideration into the PhD program.

Lastly, the school is/was so expensive that I'm not sure that F/A would have paid for the entire Masters program, let alone, the PhD program.

I realized that I could graduate from Walden U within 1.5 years, take the entrance exams for all PhD schools during the break and then if Palo Alto U offered the best deal I could enter their on campus (4) year program. Meanwhile, I could work as a counselor and will have graduated from the highest CACREP accreditation that counseling offers. Due to this, I didn't follow through with Palo Alto U and will have to see if I'm still interested once I graduate from Walden U. That being said, I would highly recommend Palo Alto's PsyD program on-campus that is in consortium with Standford University- If you are near or willing to relocate near Palo Alto. It's also APA approved. Palo Alto is a ritzy and beautiful area.

In order to attend online at (PAU) I'd have to make visits to Palo Alto and tests would have to be done in front of a proctor at a school or library. The worst part were the start dates. I'd have to wait almost a complete year just to start because it's one start date per year. I realized that I'd be half way through my Masters at Walden by the time I could start at Palo Alto U.

Walden has implemented a feature called "Live Class." I'm telling you, is exactly like being on campus. The Instructors could even publically embarrass you and make you write out math equations that everyone can see if they wanted to. Ha. In addition, many on- campus schools will send you straight to online classes. In this situation, you most likely, will have to go on campus to sign up, speak with a guidance counselor, buy books, and then go home and get online;-) This is, in my opinion, the worst of both worlds.

Walden has not made "Live Class" mandatory yet and we can watch the lectures and demonstrations at a later time. There are online schools that have mandatory online times and utilize the camera. In fact, an online student is sitting in on a campus based class in this situation. The Instructor can normally see you and you can see the Instructor and Power Point demos but the class cannot see you. In this situation, you are required to be at your computer on time during all scheduled classes just like an on campus school. Be sure to ask and understand what you are committing to.

At Walden U (Presently) we have due dates and deadlines however, we can do submit work and assignments on our own time as long as it is in before the deadlines.

The main benefits to being "online" in my opinion, is not needing to buy books on a campus (which is a nightmare) and not having to deal with traffic or parking spaces (which is another nightmare). We have our own problems though such as computer problems. If you are off line you are out of school so you'd better have 3 back up plans. None of the Online schools take technical difficulties as an excuse. It's equivalent to the dog at my homework.

Oh, if your school offers live class you will need a web cam, headset with speaker, built in or separate from your computer. Most online school systems are built to work the best with a PC and Internet Explorer. Be sure to find out your school's requirements before you join-especially Firefox, Mac, and Safari lovers.

A student and friend of mine, just failed both of her classes for the quarter. She was late on most of her papers and then tried to submit them all literally before the last 2 weeks of class. This is the biggest no-no of online schools and where people are graded harshly. These are not self-paced. My friend was getting reimbursed by her employer so due to failing two courses she lost her F/A for that quarter, $2,000 dollars in employer reimbursement (They won't pay if you fail), and of course, time. She will have to do both of those courses over again if she wishes to proceed. Lastly, even though she will take the two courses over again the GPA will forever be on her transcripts. She will have to explain herself if she applies for a PhD at another school or if an employer actually reads her transcripts. Obviously, it is not the end of the world and my friend will graduate. I just wanted to point this out so that you know that it is not self-paced.

There are some accredited schools that are based on the European orientation. This means that it is basically a contract between the student and teacher. The student can carryover work into the next quarter however, Financial Aid requires that progress is made. These kind of schools usually work on a gym membership payment plan, this means that you pay whether you do or complete the work. If you are a procrastinator (Like me) this probably is not a good platform even though it sounds good. You could end up owing much more money, uncompleted work, and be in danger of losing your F/A. Remember, students have to pay back F/A whether or not you received a degree.

I also learned the hard way that they do not change grades. At least not the schools that I attended. I did earn a "C" in my first college course undergrad and I suspected (due to rumors) that if a "paying" student barked loudly enough that the school would change the grade. Ha. They don't. The only thing that they will investigate is discrimination and I wasn't prepared to go that far because it would not have been true. When an online school investigates discrimination the board goes into the course room and reads every inch of dialog and postings made. In fact, a friend of mine did go this route and the final response: The board would have given him a lower grade than the Instructor did and was given a choice. He chose to stick with the original grade. Really and truly we do not want an online school that changes grades because they would not attract or keep great Instructors and they wouldn't help students.

My nephew took some college courses both online and on campus. He ended up preferring to be on campus so he'd get credit just for showing up. You do not really get credit just for showing up- online. Your only credit truly is writing, participating, and timeliness.

Benefits: It's great for students with social anxiety or just want to avoid clicks. Discrimination and clicks really aren't a part of being online- from what I've witnessed over the past (close to) 6 years. I mean, I guess that it could happen but not as often as on campus where you are face-to-face. Many people are very intelligent but just can't survive clicks,demands of being popular, or keeping up a huge social life.

Which brings me to this, if you hate writing and do not want to focus on writing -online is not for you. If you love to write and excel or at least want to become a better writer then online is for you.

Online is mainly about writing, researching, revising, publishing, sharing, writing, and did I mention writing. However, the main disadvantage that I've seen, to graduating online college (undergrad) is that there usually is not access to research labs or working directly under Professors for research credit. What you are basically doing is this scenario is research that your Professor will be credited with in the end. However, it is political even in college and it does help with entrance into highly ranked schools, research positions, and publishing. In fact, it helps with some online graduate programs to but thankfully, most do not require it because they know that online students do not have access to research labs.

I do think that future technology will fix this problem in the near future. In fact, I have seen Professors asking for online research assistance on indeed.com. I think that the technology is already here but the online schools have to implement it.

The majority of PhD students are able to win research grants and teach at the undergrad level in lieu of paying for college. This is a wonderful advantage of traditional colleges and especially Ivy League colleges. I have not found this full-ride benefit online. However, many online graduate schools are or already have implemented the undergraduate college. They are beginning to hire graduate students and give them credit as an assistant teacher and perhaps a nominal discount or pay. I think that this will get better with time but it's not there yet.

In my opinion, online schools cannot compete with Ivy League schools. This is just my opinion. Ivy League schools are actually bending to the online success and are offering blended online/on campus degrees and certainly online certifications. I do not think that they are now or ever will be prepared to give a full degree online - at least not at the graduate or PhD level. If you find one please let me know and I'll update this. Never say never. staceymccall@live.com or the form block below.

I do believe that apart from academics that online degrees are comparable with top ranked schools that are not Ivy League. The good news is that although companies seek Ivy League grads for some positions many more individuals are hired at the Non-Ivy League level. Why? Because most companies cannot afford Ivy Leaguer's (Made up word) for many positions -if at all.

I didn't really consider that I would graduate Capella without having a base of peers to call up for career advice or let's face it- jobs. The online answer to this is in fact, travel demands albeit weekly, monthly, or annually. Obviously, the more that you "Meet and Greet" the more established you will have become with your future peers but it's also much more costly.

I do have to say that the quality of Online Instructors has been amazing for me. I did graduate Capella U Cum Laude with a recommendation from a famous Philosopher and published Author. His recommendation alone could have gotten me an interview in most any school. I also had two other glowing recommendations form PhD and J.D. holders. However, I didn't have a network of peers to call upon.

The great thing about Harvard, besides the reputation, is that they all hire one another -no questions asked. Oh, I see you graduated from Harvard...When can you start? I don't know that many on campus highly ranked colleges have this kind of reputation to rely on unless they are lucky. I think that this will improve as more professionals graduate from online schools and hire one another.

Some online schools such as Phoenix University requires team participation each and every week in every class. If you are not a team player and do not want to be graded as a "team" then do not go to Phoenix U. They are also based on the 5 week system which is fast and furious.

I have found, through experience, that slackers usually prefer to be graded by team performance and higher achievers usually prefer to graded on their own merit.

Most online schools focus on individual focus with some team work. I think it's important to learn how to work as a team "online" because chances are very high that you will have to do this in your future or even present work. However, I do not like being graded as a "team" for every class and project. I may write more about this later...

Cohorts usually means that you take classes in a specific order with the same class from beginning until graduation. I have this with Walden U and I'm glad. I think that it will help me solidify a peer network and the students are high caliber. One of my classmates is a 2x published author.

Capella was free style. I chose the order of the classes and registered for each one at the end of each quarter. The only mandatory classes were the first and last classes.

You'll have to decide which system that you prefer and make sure that you are getting what you want.

When deciding on an online school take in consideration how their quarters work. Some schools are on a 5 week system (Phoenix U) while others are on a 10 (Capella) week, 12 week (Walden), up to 15 week (Modesto Jr. College) systems. Now, 5 weeks sounds great until you actually try and do it. Ha. It's comparable to a diet. Do you want to eat 500 calories or less in order to lose a lot of weight quickly or had you rather be on a sensible 1,200 or 1,500 calorie diet and lose 2 pounds a week? If you have done a 500 calorie diet in the past did you end up in the ER. At best did you keep the weight off for long?

I do not feel as though I've learned much if I cannot complete a text book within the quarter. That's just me and my opinion. I'm much more likely to be able to read a chapter or two from each book and complete it with high retention if I have 12 to 15 weeks. If I have 5 weeks, I'm going to skim and forget it as soon as the class is over.

I had a nightmare a few days ago trying to install Office 2007 and several software programs. In fact, my old XP couldn't handle the new software and I had to order a new laptop with Windows 7. My recommendation, make sure that you have new software and possibly a new updated computer before classes start.

Fielding University and Saybrook University work on a gym style membership. You pay for it whether you are taking it or not. It's like a monthly gym membership- you pay whether you are showing up or not- get it? This is the most expensive way that I have ever seen to earn a degree. I didn't fully realize the mistake that I had made until our Orientation. On the last day we broke up into clusters. It was explained that we should take as many classes as possible because chances are none of us would have enough F/A left to pay for our entire Masters program. Several of us were in complete shock because we naively thought that F/A would automatically be there as long as we were in school. Not true! Each American is able to utilize about $130,000.00 worth of F/A. Now, this sounds like a hell of a lot of money until you get to the Masters and PhD level. If you used F/A for an undergrad school such as Berkley or Stanford forget about it... You'll never have enough F/A to see you through the PhD.

Believe it or not you will meet students in your online Masters programs that graduated from Ivy League schools. I used to wonder how could a Berkley graduate end up online with me. Ha. Well, now we all know. Although, they were accepted and had the brains their F/A ran out!

My humble opinion, if you are dependent on F/A, and you know that you want to go for your PhD -get the cheapest undergrad degree humanly possible. Take every class that you can from a Community College. I did not practice what I'm preaching -but I didn't know back then..

If you are not going to go for your Masters or PhD get in the best Undergrad program possible;-)

Keep this in mind when you are scheduling your classes as a new student. It's not just about taking the class, it's learning your schools new web site, expectations and requirements, syllabus, software programs and so forth. Does it use Moodle, Whiteboard, or Blackboard? If you do not know the system you will have to learn it quickly.

When I joined Capella U (5 years ago) I didn't know whether anyone would accept my degree or not. On campus was not an option for me so I just went for it hoping that it would carry some clout.

Now, going on 6 years later I've seen online be considered mainstream, bosses know what you're talking about and usually offer an online school as a benefit. In fact, many companies are now creating their own online schools for training purposes. In fact, it's cutting into Human Resource and Training positions. That's another story. Uughhh!

Check out your online school and see what companies they are aligned with and you might be surprised.

I personally, as written before, I do not think that I am in competition with a Harvard graduate. I have full respect for Ivy League grads and they are usually the CEO's of most companies. However, I do know, from personal experience, that if you interview well and have experience, that you will have a great chance at employment. It will probably come down to how well you are presumed to "Fit in", "Recommendations", and salary requirements. In this economy I'd go in low with a clause that after 3 months you can sit down for a salary review. Presidents do it all of the time- especially for sales people.

I have heard teachers say that their online degree(s) cut them out of teaching at Ivy League schools but gave them great opportunities to teach online. I also know online grads that teach online and at traditional schools- just not Ivy League (At the time of this writing).

I've also been told by online graduates at the top of Psychology Fields that outside of Academia no one cares where you graduated as long as it's from an accredited school.

I'll tell you, if someone can pull this off I say more power to them. Oops. I have heard of these schools and I bet that in the beginning many non grads got high positions using these types things. OK, they do exist no doubt about it. I read an article, I believe on MSN, once explaining how to figure out if it's a degree mill. If I can find it the article I'll come back and cite it. This is basically how it works. A prospect (Student) finds one of these Degree Mills online. They contact the school front and pay the requested fee. This degree mill in turn emails or mails you a degree within 1 to 14 days. It comes with a School name (Normally outside of the U.S.) a long distance phone number and an email. So the prospect would write this info on his/her resume. The employers reads it, calls the number, and someone on the other end answers professionally and gives the employer the information that is on the prospects diploma/degree.

The catch is that If the employer or HR rep tries to google the name of the school nothing comes up and obviously, it's not listed in any directories. These are the first clues that it's a degree mill. I doubt seriously that job candidates can get away with this for long -these days. In the past, employees could talk themselves into a job with personality and references were not often checked.

Due to new laws, the employer's market, and so many investigations cracking impostors, references, schools, licenses, accreditation, everything is checked and double checked. I've hired employees, allowed them to start, and then had to give them notice once their background checks came back. I even fought for one employee because it was just a former DUI that he didn't report and (because we were desperate) our President allowed him the chance to stay. Things like this have a lot to do with how much you are in demand. If this person had been in sales or HR he would have been let go.

This is the way that I feel assured that the online school is legit. When I was researching Walden U - I checked the American Counseling Association, CACREP, the President of the California Association of Counselors, Dean Porter, and a couple of different States. I knew that the school was legit from reputation and the ACA but I wanted to see if the license would be respected.

As a consumer you can ask the school for their credentials and then call those credentials and check the web sites. The most important accrediting credentials include: The Higher Learning Commission and a member of the North Central Association, www.ncahlc.org; 1-312-263-0456, The North Central Association is one of the six officially recognized regional bodies in the United States authorized to accredit colleges and universities. WASC http://www.acswasc.org/ is another one. This accreditation decides whether or not your degree or classes will transfer to Regionally accredited schools.

*One note: It is more important to know where you earn your Masters degree if you want to go on to earn your PhD. Most Bachelors and Masters programs will accept accredited Bachelors degrees but once you get on the Masters to PhD level watch out. PhD programs will normally accept 12 or less units from your Masters degree. I find this to be very frustrating but it appears that this is the case with most PhD programs.

Next, I check for extra approval. Psychology is the (APA) and Counseling is (CACREP), Human Resources is (SHRM), American Bar Association (ABA). These are the only areas that I have familiarity with. Students should not decide a school based solely on these approvals. There are many fine organizations that are not approved because they do not want to follow strict guidelines set by these societies. However, normally they are a good indication that your school has high standards and will most likely help when you are applying for research grants and jobs.

This is the biggest indication for me as a student. I assume that if the school accepts Financial Aid that it must be legit. I could be wrong about this but I need it as a student anyway so it works for me. Again, there are many fine schools out there that do not accept F/A that may suit student purposes. I do use it as a source of verification because institutions have to jump through many hoops and pass many testing standards in order to offer F/A.

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