Cheap, Accredited Online Degrees... Where are the windfalls?

[dfrecore]

I see the accreditation boogeymen are out in full force. Don't go to an NA school! Your career will be ruined! You'll never get a job! No school will ever take your credits! You will have to register as a sex offender!

Give me a break.

For one, most employers don't know the difference between NA, RA, or AA (Alcoholics Anonymous). And considering how many people get hired with fake degrees and make it all the way to Executive roles (check LinkedIn for proof), a legit degree from anywhere gives you a big advantage since there is no chance of losing everything after being "exposed" since there will be nothing to expose you on.

You'll find people with NA degrees gainfully employed and doing a great job all over the world. For-Profits too, because contrary to the mainstream media's nonsense witch hunt and gullible people willing to believe it, the difference between what you're taught at a for-proft versus a non-profit is generally negligible and normally the same things from the same textbooks following practically the same lesson plans. But listen to the boogeymen and they'll have you to believe that an NA school and/or a for-profit gives you a box of crayons and a coloring book in lieu of the textbooks the pious, angelic RA non-profits charge you an arm and a leg for.

And in case you're wondering, I have a degree from an RA non-proft and one from an NA for-profit. Both schools had their issues. Quality was about the same.

The only advice I would give to the contrary is to avoid an NA graduate degree if you can. The main reason is that usually at the Master's level you're getting that degree to compete for upper-level positions and at that level the salaries are higher and the stakes are higher, and employers are looking for names they know firstly. Generally, an NA school won't be well-known. But at the Associate level? This isn't even a valid worry. That level is the ultimate checkbox degree. No one will give a damn where it's from as long as it's legit and it's not a field that requires a license that specifies regional accreditation, and unless you're trying to get into Harvard or some other top school, you won't have that much trouble getting into the school you want for your Bachelors later on.

As someone who worked in HR, the difference CAN be huge.  It just depends on the company that you want to work for.  So, if it makes a difference to the hiring manager, and the NA can keep you out of the running, then having an NA degree is a huge negative.  If it doesn't make a difference, then the NA degree can't hurt.  So for this reason, I say that there are more negatives than positives in getting an NA degree.  You can disagree with me if you want, but my experience counts as much as yours, and I have seen an NA degree disqualify someone from getting hired.  I've never seen an RA degree disqualify someone.

I also told the OP that if they aren't looking for a degree, then it doesn't matter where you take courses.  A carpentry course is just fine from wherever you want to take it.  So I'm not against NA schools - they have their place - but I personally wouldn't recommend a degree from one.  Especially if you can get a similar degree from an RA school for the same or less.  Why spend money on a degree that MIGHT hurt your chances later?  It just doesn't make sense to me.