By Jeffrey Gangemi

Their popularity is soaring, but some are diploma mills, making recruiters wary of virtual degrees. Here are tips for picking a good program

Dale Bolger, the vice-president of information services for Oki Data Americas and a 2003 MBA graduate of the University of Phoenix online program, has worked in international business for almost 20 years. Maintaining a hectic travel schedule but wishing to advance his career with an MBA, Bolger saw an online program as his only option. "I could be in a hotel in Tokyo or on the road in Brazil or Europe -- and still learn and be attached to the school," says Bolger.

For prospective students like Bolger, whose circumstances make it tough to attend on-campus courses, getting a degree online can be the only option. And programs offering that choice are growing at a blistering pace, with thousands of online MBA's being granted annually through the distance-learning divisions of traditional bricks-and-mortar B-schools and newer virtual colleges whose ivied halls exist only in cyberspace.

"RIPE" FOR FRAUD. Many of the online MBA programs are well-regarded and offer a way for busy people, such as Bolger, to get advanced education without having to sidetrack a career for a year or two. But, as in many growing fields, cautions abound. Concerns about "diploma mills," or substandard institutions without proper accreditation that offer degrees with little or no serious work, are growing.

Diploma mills range from those practising outright deceit -- like St. Regis University, which falsely asserted Liberian government approval and was closed by court order in June, 2005 -- to organizations that require only a modicum of work for a degree, says Alan Contreras, administrator of the Oregon Office of Degree Authorization, a state organization that approves individual degree programs. "In the case of diploma mills, I call the schools 'suppliers' and the degree-holders 'users' because the educational component is often minimal," notes Contreras.

CORPORATE SKEPTICS. Even with the best programs, online students lack the means to build their professional network or even interact in person with classmates. But the schools say that isn't a problem.

"There's a really strong, off-the-radar network building up on its own," says Michael Goess, chairman of the Division of Business for Graduate Programs at Regis University in Denver. (Regis University is not connected with the shuttered St. Regis school.) Goess points out that students often arrange to meet on their own time, as well as trade e-mails and network electronically.

For those who expect the same respect from corporate recruiters, think again. "The only way we'd hire [an MBA with an online degree] is if their résumé is strong and they can explain why they had to get their MBA online," says Gloria Odogbili, assistant MBA recruiter for UBS Investment Bank...