Before you get lured by the sleek advertising which says "get your degree in less than a year" or promises to give credit for "life experience" take time to make sure that investment you are putting into a distance learning program is going at the right place. In other words, don;t sign up unless you make sure that the institution is accredited by a reputable institution otherwise your degree will be worthless and you will waste a lot of money.

So how to assess the credibility of distance learning program? Yes it is tougher than the regular colleges because the whole thing is virtual. Nevertheless, you can make use of various resources to check out the institution.

First place to check would be the United States Government's education site. Go on to the site and search whether the institution is accredited. Their link is:http://www.ed.gov

You can also check out at Council for Higher Education Accredition.Their link is:http://www.chea.org/search/

After you have made sure that the institution is recognized, check that the program they are offering is recognized too. There have been cases where the institution was recognized but not some programs they offered.

Ideally you should check for accredition before you pay any money to the institution for admission or anything and also before you decide on a particular institution.

I suggest you visit these sites before making any decision:

www.elearners.com
www.guidetoonlineschools.com
www.usdla.org

Bets of luck in your quest for education.

Learn more about this author, Bhumika Ghimire.
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