In the last few years acceptance for online courses has grown tremendously. And we are not talking of only some wayside diplomas. More and more people are today opting for serious bachelors and masters degrees online. The change in mindset has also come from employers recognizing the courses offered by these online universities as completely legitimate. People who are earning their degrees online are today not shy to tell others that they are pursuing education online. There are several companies that are reimbursing their employee’s online tuition money. Some companies, where promotions are linked to a prerequisite of a certain degree, are today promoting their employees on the basis of their online education as well.

Therefore it is not surprising that, today there are over 1.2 million full-time online university students. This figure is up from 700,000 in 2003. The University of Phoenix itself has about 250,000 online graduates so far. If estimates are to be relied upon, it is expected that by 2008 at least one out of ten college students will be enrolled in an online degree program. These figures are from a research conducted by Eduventures, an independent Boston market research firm.  This is a clear indication that the era of online education is here to stay. Pittsburgh Tribune reports:

I don’t think you’re ever going to get away from those who want that college experience," said Elden Monday, vice president for the university’s Pennsylvania campuses. But he said there is little distinction between an online degree and any other. It’s not like there’s an asterik on the dipolma.