Accredited distance learning programs are just as real as the ones you'd attend at the school. (Accreditation is essential, especially if you plan to transfer credits later.) You'll have professors, there will be other students, and there will definitely be assignments. As for earning your degree, you can go for professional certification, an associate's, or your bachelor's.

Most adult students tackle this problem by balancing a job, a family, and personal obligations with part-time college classes funded wholly or in part with federal student aid. And thanks to computer technology and changing regulations, many of them are able to attend classes via the Internet without ever having to leave the house.

Many schools offered occasional online courses, but only as an adjunct to the hundreds of classes taught on their campuses. Common belief held that if a school wasn't operating in classroom buildings, then it was probably a sham feeding off the degree dreams of students who couldn't find any other way to get to school.