In principle there&#x27;s nothing wrong with the concept of online degrees.<p>In practice, it&#x27;s currently a complete cesspool of low-quality for-profit degree mills.<p>I would argue that MOOCs from top tier universities far, far exceed the average online for-profit in terms of quality of content. It&#x27;s ironic, considering they&#x27;re free. The caveat of course is you don&#x27;t get a degree, though many have options for certifying you took the class.<p>In my opinion, a bullshit degree is worse than no degree. The person with no degree is relying purely on skills and experience. The person with the online degree meanwhile may be of questionable caliber.<p>I have sympathy for people who people attain online degrees out of necessity and are fully aware they&#x27;re just getting a piece of paper to satsify whatever arbitrary bureaucratic requirements. For example, it&#x27;s not uncommon for a minimum level of education to be retroactively forced upon already-competent employees. The questionable caliber part comes into play when you have people who fail to realize that their obviously poor-quality online school is, well, just that.