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Having researched and obtained an accredited online Master's Degree, I think of myself as a kind of authority on this subject. And let me tell you, it is a lot more work than typing a few words into a search engine. There are MANY potential pitfalls and options to consider before enrolling in an online degree program and I hope to outline the vast majority of them here while assisting you with developing your own plan for finding the best online degree program for your own educational pursuits.

1. Accreditation! This is the most vital piece in your search for an online college regardless of what type of degree program you pursue. Think of those Sally Struthers commercials for your "study-at-home career diploma". You call a number and they send you a bunch of boooks on, say, auto-mechanics. You take the tests open-book, mail it back, get a "grade" and they send you a career diploma. But what is that? For what does it certify you? Are you a cerified mechanic now? No. It certifies you for nothing. It's basically gravy and no professional grade, certified mechanic is going to hire you just because you took a gravy home-study course and obtained a "useless" career diploma. Now, online colleges are EXACTLY THE SAME THING. For every legitimate, accredited, degree-granting, federally accepted online university you find, there will be at least ten "diploma/degree" farms that offer you an inexpensive degree that counts for NOTHING. You can do these for fun; some people enjoy school and are willing to pay 3,000 dollars for a writing program that doesn't certify or qualify them to do anything in the writing field. I like to think the majority of us, however, really want a degree. For instance, my degree, a Master of Fine Arts in Creative Writing is terminal: this means that I am now qualified to teach at any university to any creative writing student, from graduate and doctoral students to your regular undergraduate student. I would NOT be qualified to do this had I obtained a degree from a school that was not nationally acredited. I would simply have paid a butt-load of dinero for a piece of paper that looks pretty on my wall. So, lets get into the nitty-grits of Accreditation in 2.

2. Determining if your school is Accredited. Perhaps the simplest way to determine if your online university if nationally accredited (meaning, your degree will count and certify you in your state as well as any other state in the U.S. to do whatever it is you want to do with that degree) is

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