Myth — Colleges won’t accept diplomas from online high schools. Colleges around the country have accepted and will continue to accept high school diplomas from students who have done their work online. There is a catch, however: in order to be widely accepted, a diploma must come from an online school that has accreditation from the proper regional board. As long as this is covered, colleges should accept diplomas from distance learning schools in the same manner they accept diplomas from traditional schools.

Myth — Online high school students do less work than traditional students. Online students may finish their work faster than traditional students, but that doesn’t mean they’re doing less. Consider the interruptions in a traditional school day: breaks, transition periods, busy work, waiting for other students to catch up, teachers trying to quiet down the class. If there were some way to take out those interruptions and just let students focus on their work, they’d probably finish in about the same time it takes online learners to complete their assignments. Of course, this isn’t an absolute, and the amount of work can vary between online schools. Some may offer a lighter load and others may challenge students with even more work than traditional schools.

Myth — Students who earn credits online won’t be able to transfer them to traditional high schools. As long as the online high school is accredited, the credits should be able to transfer to a traditional high school.* Sometimes credits don’t transfer because the traditional high school has different graduation requirements than the online school. In this case, the credits don’t transfer because the traditional school has nowhere to record them, not because the online school isn’t being recognized. The same issue can be a problem when students try to transfer credits between two traditional high schools.

Myth — Online high schools are just for teenagers. Adults looking to get their high school diplomas are welcome to participate in many online high school programs. Distance learning schools are often convenient for adults who hold jobs and can only complete assignments during certain hours. Some schools even have programs created specifically for mature students.

Click here to read the full article.

*Recognition of a Penn Foster High School Diploma is solely at the discretion of the receiving institution. Penn Foster High School is both nationally and regionally accredited.

Source: ©2007 About, Inc., a part of The New York Times Company. All rights reserved.