Women ask me all the time if online degrees are as valuable as the traditional on campus degree programs. Sometimes it comes down to what you want to do with the degree, or where you are located.

Let’s say you live in a small town in a rural area far from the nearest city with a college or university. Your opportunites are quite limited unless you can pickup and move to that city to attend classes. And it can take at least four years in that situation to earn a bachelor’s degree!

If you have children, a good job, or other responsibilities that make it impossible to stop working and/or relocate, an online degree may be your best bet.

In addition, depending on what you want to do with that degree, earning a degree from a local bottom tier university or college may not help you get ahead. Depending on the profession that you wish to pursue, you may need a degree from a top tier school to reach your goals. Top tier schools, such as University of Phoenix Online, eCornell (Cornell University) and many others now offer coursework online.

With an online degree you can study anytime and anywhere you have access to a computer with an Internet connect. You study at your own pace, so in some cases you can actually earn your degree in a much shorter period of time than with a traditional class setting.

There are a great many benefits to be gained from earning an online degree. Due to these benefits, the number of students enrolling in courses leading to online degrees has risen dramatically since the mid-1990s and due to the help of distance learning programs. The make-up of the student groups is diverse and varied.

The best news of all is that a recent survey shows that 85% of employers surveyed responded that they would be willing to employ someone with an online degree. With this high level of acceptance the way is clear to make an accredited online degree your next move.