# Online degrees **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [October 28, 2005, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-degrees/328256 "2005-10-28T03:31:46Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 9\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![ishamael69](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@ishamael69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ishamael69)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 3:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-degrees/328256/1 "2005-10-28T03:31:46Z")
What’s the story with online degrees? No, I’m not looking at that one offered to me through Hotmail :rolleyes: I’m looking at a school named South University. It is accredited by SACS and appears to be legit, but I am not sure how to look into it any deeper than that. What should I ask/look for? I’m also concerned that an employer may look at my degree, and think that it’s not worth the paper it’s printed on. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 3:35am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-degrees/328256/2 "2005-10-28T03:35:41Z")
[Yes, it is accredited by SACS, but it also has sanctions against it.](http://www.sacscoc.org/dtails.asp?instid=41075) That alone would make me wary. Highest degree offered is a bachelors. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 3:40am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-degrees/328256/3 "2005-10-28T03:40:18Z")
And I just realized one other thing. You said South University. The school accredited by SACS is South _College_. May not be the same school. Watch it very closely. ---
**Author:** ![ishamael69](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@ishamael69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ishamael69)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 3:50am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-degrees/328256/4 "2005-10-28T03:50:36Z")
[This](http://www.sacscoc.org/dtails.asp?instid=64440) is the school I’m looking at. ---
**Author:** ![Rico](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/rico/32/3582_2.png) [@Rico](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rico)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 4:11am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-degrees/328256/5 "2005-10-28T04:11:58Z")
Well heck, I didn’t even see that one! Looks good - but an email to SACS might be in order with any concerns you might have, ---
**Author:** ![Shagnasty](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/9dc877/32.png) [@Shagnasty](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shagnasty)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 4:33am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-degrees/328256/6 "2005-10-28T04:33:13Z")
I can say that a reputable online university can be a legitimate way to earn a degree. I believe the University of Phoenix is among the most popular. Traditional universities are starting to build many online classes as well so that lends some overall credibility to the concept. However, many employers will not take your degree seriously especially in a tight job market. HR people are often used to screen for that sort of thing before it even hits a hiring manager’s hands. In a similar thread, many hiring managers on this board said that they would automatically trash such resumes. ---
**Author:** ![capybara](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/capybara/32/202_2.png) [@capybara](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/capybara)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 4:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-degrees/328256/7 "2005-10-28T04:38:38Z")
A lot of normal universities have decent curricula for continuing ed students and such with lots of online courses. Try seeing what regular old brick and mortar schools can do for you. ---
**Author:** ![CookingWithGas](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/cookingwithgas/32/485_2.png) [@CookingWithGas](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/CookingWithGas)\ **Post date:** [October 28, 2005, 2:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-degrees/328256/8 "2005-10-28T14:44:56Z")
> [@capybara](#): > > A lot of normal universities have decent curricula for continuing ed students and such with lots of online courses. Try seeing what regular old brick and mortar schools can do for you. I second that heartily. I am getting my Master’s at Virginia Tech, which has a good reputation–and the degree is 100% online. ---
**Author:** ![ishamael69](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b9e5f3/32.png) [@ishamael69](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ishamael69)\ **Post date:** [October 29, 2005, 3:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/online-degrees/328256/9 "2005-10-29T03:39:51Z")
> [@capybara](#): > > A lot of normal universities have decent curricula for continuing ed students and such with lots of online courses. Try seeing what regular old brick and mortar schools can do for you. Wow. Thanks. One of the reasons I was looking at South as opposed to some others was because it appeared to be a brick and mortar. However, I didn’t realize so many accredited schools were offering online degrees. I just googled “online degree state university” and it seems to have cleared out most of the phony sites!