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Regardless of whether you want to enroll in a single course or a degree program, you must select a school that is respected and accredited. Don’t sink your money into a diploma mill that teaches nothing and wastes your time. In Chapter 5 we detail how to determine a school’s accreditation, but we can tell you up front that it should be obvious. When you visit the school’s website or review its printed material, you should see accreditation credentials listed.

After verifying accreditation, you may want to consider other factors when you evaluate online programs (see Chapter 5 for more details and lists of questions to ask academic advisors, instructors, and other students):

 General course style: Are these self-paced courses where you read and take tests, or do they engage the learner in discussion and active participation? You need to find a course that meets your expectations of what learning should be ideally. Also, consider whether you will work on your own schedule or schedule your courses with real-time meetings conducted via web conferencing.

 Class size: How many students does the program squeeze into the virtual classroom? If you’re one of 20, that’s an acceptable ratio. If you’re one of 50, expect the instructor to be harried and the quality of your interaction to be markedly different.

 Completion and retention rates: This is a telling statistic. How many students actually complete the courses or degrees? If only 20 percent of starters reach the finish line, the courses may be poorly designed, too difficult, too boring — you get the picture. This area is worth exploring with a counselor or an advisor.

 Faculty background and training: Who teaches at this school? What kinds of credentials do the instructors possess, including technology training? Surprisingly, you don’t need to consider whether the faculty are full-time or part-time, because many online faculty are actually subject matter experts (SMEs), who have impressive professional credentials in their disciplines. The most critical issue is whether these folks know what they’re doing when teaching online.

 Student support services available: Who will help you register, select the right courses in the right sequence, and figure out the technology, for example? What if you need accommodation for a disability? Quality schools and programs address these student services from the beginning; you know you have a whole team behind you.