Even as the credibility of some online degrees are being questioned about their credibility, top universities like Harvard University and Phoenix University are already hopping on the distance learning degree bandwagon.

Online education offers students the opportunity to study and earn a degree level education at where the students are located. This will also mean that students living in another part of the world can also study and take examinations online without ever stepping foot into any college or university campuses.

All the online student needs to do is to watch online lectures, access course material and take examinations through a learning management system and communicate with lecturers over the internet or on the telephone.

This method of obtaining a credible accredited university degree will auger well for the distance learning universities, colleges as well as the students since more students from around the globe can enroll in the courses offered by these institutions. This will also result in keeping the costs of running the degree courses much lower and making the university fees more affordable to potential students.

As with anything, there will always be the good the bad and the ugly. There will be so called universities offering fake degrees without even going through a course of studies. So it is vital to ensure that the online college or university you are enrolling in is appropriately accredited. This can be done by checking on the accreditation body that provides the accreditation and re-confirm it with education agencies.

By and large, most accredited online colleges offer real and recognized degree programs. Most online education classes use the same course content, materials, instructors and even same examination questions as those students who attend the on campus programs. In other words, the distance learning degrees are of the same quality as those of the on campus degrees.

Numerous researches and studies done on accredited universities and colleges has shown that the online degree programs are effective and have consistent student's achievement.

The California State University at Northridge conducted study on students in online education programs and reported its findings as follows :-

a) Students online learning programs tested 20% better than their counterparts in a traditional classroom study environment.

b) Online distance students tend to be more self-motivated, disciplined, and are higher achievers.

c) Distance learning students spend 50% more time collaborating with other online students than students in the on-campus environment.

d) There is no difference in long distance online education results versus in-class accomplishment. The research found that student's attitude and motivation being the determining factor of their results and the methods of delivery in the class do not matter at all.

So if you are uneasy about the credibility of online colleges or universities degree program, these findings should put you more at ease.