Need honest opinions regarding attending school....

My current college told me they had lots of degrees I could get fully online. HA!

There are next to no online classes next semester, and now working fulltime, trying to attend night classes full time and have a family will prove difficult at best.

I was thinking of transferring over to the Art Institute Online (AI Pittsburgh) starting in January or February in their graphic design program.

Really, now. Tell me straight.

Will this degree get me laughed at or is it a legitimate degree? Of course they say they are accredited, and all, but if I want to get a "real" graphic design job after obtaining the degree, will it be a worthless piece of paper or is a generally well accepted school?

Thanks for input and helping me with this decision!!

Just Google reviews on that school.
There are plenty.
Unfortunately, it's hard to find a positive review for that program.
Here's one site I found (I'll do anything to put off doing the work that I need to get done right now) -
http://www.getdegrees.com/reviews/the-art-institute-of-pittsburgh-online-division

Then this video is for you: http://www.todaysbigthing.com/2009/11/05



Re: the topic... in the design field, I think that skills and real-world experience are more valuable than a degree.

This may not be doable if you have a full time job, but have you considered trying to arrange an internship with a company in your area? A lot of places are willing to let you come work for them if you offer to do it for free (and in turn, you get free training). Even if it's only one day a week.

I did this one summer back when I was in school—literally opened up the phone book and called graphic designers, saying that I had no experience, but would work for free. As luck would have it, I wound up meeting a great husband-and-wife design team, and what I learned from them advanced me further than my degree did.

If you're looking to work on software skills, I've heard good things about http://www.lynda.com/

Lynda can show you all kinds of hidden goodies in software. I have seen the one for dreamweaver back when i was trying to do some of that.

I would always recommend typing "this place reviews" in google to find out there rep.

Too many designers and not enough work extremely competitive! but do what you love because that's what you spent your life doing. my world experiance is way beyond a degree, if I got one I would still have to go up against the best World class designers. Creativety is a God given gift, a lot of study and on the job training. I encourage you to keep your dream alive and do your homework about which school to attend. build a worthy portfolio and spend your money wisely. online schooling is not for me, I like to be with real human beings most of the time. whatever you do I hope you have success!