“Whether in New Mexico, North Carolina, or Florida, you can hear the same concern aired by veteran police officers and deputy sheriffs nationwide: they need college education to compete for promotions, but their rotating schedules slow down their eagerness to get back into a traditional college environment. Heavily marketed online college degrees seem to be the answer to many, but it is not a path to be taken without some knowledge of the online education industry.
Care needs to be taken to avoid throwing money at a degree that may be viewed as the product of a diploma mill. Online colleges that promise ‘credit for life’s experience’ with little academic work or rigor are probably too good to be true and may backfire on you later.
Accreditation
Many online colleges advertise themselves as accredited. It is important to dig through their website and find out who their accrediting organization is. The next move is to go to that accrediting body’s website and confirm through a search that the accrediting organization is legitimate. There are six regional accrediting entities that are recognized by established educational institutions. This is important if you are seeking to go on for a higher degree and want the lower degree acknowledged or if your employer or prospective employer will view a non-accredited degree as ‘resume fraud.’”
More at http://www.officer.com/article/article.jsp?siteSection=19&id=26513