georgia tech online masters

[sarahmac]

I don't know of any university that offers online degrees and puts "online" on them. However, here is why people ask. Two examples.

Purdue University is a well-known, respected, major university.
Purdue University Global is part of the Purdue system, a separate university with separate accreditation and a separate chancellor, but with a similar name.
Purdue University Global diplomas say "Purdue University Global."

Penn State is a well-known, respected, major university.
Penn State World Campus is Penn State's online-centered division, which offers degrees and certifications via an online format.
Penn State World Campus diplomas simply say "Penn State" because the World Campus is actually part of the same university, not another campus in a system.

This may be obvious to people on this board, but for people who are new to this world, it is not super obvious why these two are different.

I think this hits the nail on the head and is often what people really mean when they ask about this. UAGC, UMass Global etc. all fall into this group too. Technically separate universities that happen to be federated with a brand name one.

Then there is the Harvard Extension School issue where the degree is issued by an online format only division or school. UCLA Extension sort of exists in that space too, although they don't offer full degrees only certificates and certain classes. I guess this is probably more what the poster was concerned with re the OMSCS. Is it still issued by the CS department the same as the in-person one, and is the degree the same.

As an aside: the Penn State WC case is a funny case since Penn State *is* a campus based system - and usually satellite campus students actually do have their campus on the diploma. But WC is based out of the flagship campus at University Park (so UP students can take WC classes, and WC students living near UP can take classes in person). My husband switched from Penn State Behrend to WC so he could get a main campus diploma instead of a Behrend one.