Summary: Is an online degree (like University of Phoenix) ok? Yes. There’s a bias in human resource departments but it’s easily overcome.
The actual value of the degree is all about who you want to impress.
I never finished college, yet employment was never a problem. Depends what you want to do. Degrees are typically used as part of the screening process by Human Resource departments.
But, if someone in management likes you, well, you’re in, degree or not.
http://www.payscale.com/college-salary-report-2013/majors-that-pay-you-back Oh and here.
But most of all, people skills pay more than degrees or occupational skills.
The occupational skill is sort of a given when you apply for a job; it’s the people skills that they care about generally, because any deficiency in knowledge, you can get “on the job”.
But if your people skills are lacking, you’ll be a pain in the ass to work with.
Now that’s management perspective.
Human Resource perspective? they care about the degrees, the paperwork, etc. But human resources don’t hire people. They keep people out.
If in doubt, look up “Human resources” Phoenix University.
You’ll get a lot of opinions.
The slight bias is there. You’ll be at a slight disadvantage by graduating from an online university. But it’s no big deal. It’s not much different than the automatic bias of skin color, gender, age and the like.
You can overcome it easily by your presentation / people skills.
Learn to be confident without cockiness. Self-assured without being smug. Learn about the company you’re going to work for. Act as if you already work there. Dress a little above the job you want to get.
It’s a game. The rules are common and easy to find out.
In the end, do what’s right for you in your field. It’s a real bias, but as more and more homeschooling takes place and more and more people are graduating from online degrees and the generation of human resource workers is getting younger, by the time you’re at a point to have to worry about a job, it won’t be as much of an issue as it was a few years ago.