Online Masters Degree

Hello, I am new here and I am hoping that there might be someone here who has some experience or insight that might help my situation.

I am in my forties and I am looking for information about my options for obtaining a masters degree. See, I have not had an academic life for the last 15 years and have just made a personal decision to go back to the interests that I had when I was a young man. In my early twenties I completed an undergraduate degree, because of events in my life I was unable to pursue them further. And so, the social ties that I had to academia and academic people are long gone and I need new and current information anyway.

I won't state my academic area – sorry, I just prefer to keep that private. But I want to continue my education getting a masters degree in the same field that I did my undergraduate degree.

What options are available out there for completing a masters degree remotely? These days there seem to be online universities and colleges – and although I am researching about them myself, do any of you have experience with these? And what about the fees involved? Are there well known universities that provide online masters degree programs? Or are there different types of online based institutions which provide online courses?

Thank you in advance for any help that you give. This is such a large life decision for me and I want to make sure I go with the right option.

online degrees are a tricky one cause you dont just want to get one for the sake of it - you want to use it and so it has to be recognized. i think the biggest goal especially with a masters degree is to make sure that where you are getting it from is recognized by employers in your target area.

do you know any people in your chosen field that can answer that sort of question for you?

what career have you had? like whats your study field?

As I said, I do not wish to share my field publicly.

I have been doing some research and wanted to determine if online degrees are respected, as per Timeless1's recommendation.

Along with finding out that some are and some aren't, it seems accreditation is one of the most important factors involved in this. Some online "universities" will actually post fake certificates which means your online masters degree will mean nothing upon completion.

Surprisingly the pricing is not much cheaper than a normal degree. But I suppose if you save on travel expenses and have the freedom to work from home it carries with it some benefits.

I am trying to find a middle ground where the cost is not too expensive but the school is well respected and will give me something credible to use to work in my field.

I completed an online diploma a few years ago and it served me nothing. That isn't to say a masters degree received online wouldn't be useful, but for my use the diploma did nothing.

I have been looking into online degrees and came across this for future prospects. http://www.getarealdegree.com/degrees/masters-in-criminal-justice/ I think you can be a police officer in NYC and then retire after 25 years. Many of the criminal justice professors I know have been police officers. I think it's important to look at not only the school but what body accredits the school and program you are interested in, as sometimes those two are different.
Sable- there are other links for other courses so hopefully you find what you are looking for. If you come across any MFA programs please let me know!

Sable, are your interests purely academic or do you intend to use the degree to improve your employability? If the latter is the case, you should, as timeless1 said, not only look at the different online degrees on offer, but also contact potential employers and inquire whether they would accept an online degree as a legitimate qualification. After having done that, you want to spend a good amount of time taking a closer look at different online degrees. The website the person above me posted looks legitimate, but you don't want to rush a decision as important as this!

May I suggest that you watch this?

http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/pages/frontline/educating-sergeant-pantzke/

Most online colleges are for profit, cost much more than the brick and mortar counterparts and deliver a far less respected degree.

That said, there are also tuition free university classes for credit from top universities available now. Check out:

http://www.uopeople.org/?gclid=CITv6Y2_obMCFQ70nAod5F0ACA