What college directories can tell you that the colleges own website is a question of honesty. It is true that you can learn a great amount from surfing a colleges website–right down to getting a demo of an actual course–but one thing a college website wont do is be self-critical.

College directories separate the weed from the chaff. Even the non-accredited distance learning schools and the diploma mills will more often than not look professional. Not only that, they may also be filled with testimonials from teachers and students, giving off the impression of being legitimate, trustworthy institutions.

Honest College Directories
College directories will tell you whats what. It is sometimes good to have an objective, third-party website to give you a sense of a colleges strengths or limitations. An online university is not going to advertise what it does poorly.

So dig further than just reading a colleges website. Find a directory that you trust as well. The directory may be your best chance to separate the cream from the crooks.

Working adults arent the only people who sign up for elearning courses. Another demographic for elearning is people who are unemployed and looking for work. For people out of work, on line colleges can perform two functions: both to learn a new skill in order to get a good job, and to keep busy until that job comes along.

Looking for a job is a full time job in itself. You have to spend a lot of your time looking through the paper, surfing the web, tweaking a resume, and going to interviews. The time spent going to a college campus may take away from time looking for work.

Keeping Busy with Elearning
It is good if you are out of work, or have been out of work for awhile, to keep busy. You should be searching for work as much as possible. If you are looking for a new job and see a need in the market for computer technicians, than you should look into getting one of the technical degrees on line.

But it is also good to keep active, in a sense to keep yourself in the game. An on line course can your mind active while you seek out work. It can be dispiriting to be looking for a job for too long, and with an elearning course you will be productive, working towards an attainable goal.

One of the best reasons to get a university degree is to get a change of scenery. If youve gotten tired of the same old rut of going to work, coming back to the same apartment, even the same social life, then adult continuing education may be a good choice.

Change of scenery here doesnt a mean a literal change of scenery, because the benefit of an online college is you can study from anywhere–but it refers to the change in your life that will come from learning a new subject, or earning a degree.

A Satisfying University Degree
There is satisfaction in earning a university degree–be it finally getting your B.A. or by continuing on with your education by getting an M.A. or even Ph.D. What it takes to get a degree is focus and desire. Best of all, you will be doing something that interest you.

Imagine taking a course that you really enjoy. Instead of coming home and watching the same old TV shows, you will be reading about subjects that are really fascinating to you. Anyone can pick up and start reading a book. But now you are not only reading and loving what you are doing, you are actually earning college credit.

The accredited college is the litmus test of the online college world. Most standard, campus-based colleges are accredited. It takes too much money and resources to buy the real estate for an entire campus, set up offices for teachers and administration, buy books for a library … the list goes on.

It is a whole lot cheaper and easier to set up an on line university. The janitorial bill alone for an entire university campus might outweigh the cost of maintaining a website. Unfortunately, because it is so much easier and quicker to set up a website than an entire college, it means theres a lot more illegitimate online colleges out there.

An Accredited College Online
Before you get scared and think that you are going to get ripped off by some con-artist college, remember that you can find an accredited college which will solve your problems. Another good bet is to find an online university that has been around for a while.

Sites that have more students have more money. Sites that have more money usually look more professional. Dont choose a site that has a lot of misspellings in the course descriptions, for instance. Online colleges today want to mimic closely the traditional environment. Some online universities even have a literal virtual university in which you click on buildings which will take you to different departments. There are plenty of fine, accredited distance learning colleges in the mix.

If it is not clear yet how far a distance learning degree program reaches, take a look at this list of degrees from one online university:

* Associate of Arts in General Studies
* Associate of Arts in Religion
* Bachelor of Science in Business
* Bachelor of Science in Psychology
* Bachelor of Science in Religion
* Bachelor of Science in Multidisciplinary Studies
* Master of Business Administration
* Master of Education
* The Doctor of Education in Educational Leadership
* Doctor of Philosophy in Counseling

This is just part of the list from one online university out of the many you can choose from. We repeat again: you can get a degree in most ANY subject and these degrees are as valid as any traditional college degree. A distance learning degree program is serious education.

The Respected Distance Learning Degree Program
If you get something like a Bachelor of Science in Psychology, be it from a traditional or online college, people will take it seriously. If you have learned what the degree proves you have, people will take note and give you well-deserved respect.