Is it possible to 'hide' a degree?

[SolarKat]

There is a stigma with certain types of accredited schools i.e. ITT Tech, University of Phoenix, Everest, and Devry. ITT Tech shut down, but many people have the misfortune of having their degrees. We have a member here who will not interview anyone who attended an expensive for-profit. To him, overpaying for a degree at a low-quality school is a sign of the person's intelligence.

Piggy-backing off this, I think you need to know *your* market. In the Boston area, there are loads of brick & mortar universities packed in & around the city. I don't think I'd encourage a young person in this area to do an online degree in STEM (the market that I'm most familiar with)...and I'd be cautious about any field. The local students spend time building projects/portfolios, doing local internships/co-ops/industry events, and get connected by their schools' career services departments. These interactions with industry are really important to career development for a new grad around here. And even then, it's super competitive. I've heard flat-out from managers at Amazon Robotics, BAE, Raytheon, and others that they would be very skeptical of anyone coming in with "just a piece of paper" and nothing substantive behind it. There's a sort of "snob" factor around here from the ground up, based upon where you've graduated, as well as industry pressure for kids to come in with job skills, like knowing bench equipment, that often is overlooked by online STEM degree programs. The student has to make a determined, independent effort to build those skills outside of (and in addition to) the online course requirements. (And the student must realize that they *need* those skills...which is tough if they have no exposure beyond a text and an online classroom.)

I think the bigger hurdle to overcome is not the "online degree" part, it's that these skills on-the-ground get overlooked in an alternative-learning format. For example, testing out of a tech writing class will give quick credits, but it doesn't develop the tech writing *skill*. (I took "Advanced Technical Writing" at Study.com. I wrote a total of 800 words. I passed with flying colors, but my experience with the various tech docs was unchanged.) This is the underlying problem of distance/test-out ed, I think. The student has to know...well...what it is they don't know, and then go get the knowledge/skill some other way.

So yes, I think in *certain* markets and certain geographic areas, distance ed has disadvantages, sometimes severe disadvantages, in the job market, particularly for young people just starting a career, and possibly for older workers making a major career change. It's something to be examined carefully prior to sinking a load of cash into a program.