As soon as you hear a negative story about online education, such as the proliferation of degree mills or the absence of professor involvement, a positive story comes along to balance it out.

It's important to remember the true goal and benefit of studying college courses online: to provide a chance for people to learn and accomplish goals that they may have not been able to achieve any other way.

Bryant Mills in one of those people. With every story like this one, the quality of online education shines bright.

The Deseret News reports: Bryant Mills thought his dream of finishing a college degree was long past. He even kept it a secret that he had dropped out of college, worried the men working beneath him would realize they were more educated than their boss.

But now a business degree hangs in the office of the 54-year-old North Salt Lake resident, who finished an online degree from Western Governor's University last month.

"I just needed something that could work around my schedule because I work full time," said Mills, an account manager for a technology distribution firm.

Pat Partridge, vice president of marketing for WGU, [explains the] spread of online learning throughout the nation. Online classes are common now at traditional universities, he said, and acquiring full degrees through online schools like WGU is quickly moving into the mainstream of education.

Add to that the growing number of adults going back to school for degrees and online universities are set to continue expanding, he said.

"While we tend to think of college as being the 18-22 year olds, the adult education market has been growing at a much faster clip," Partridge said. "Online education is flexible, it fits into carrying a regular job and possibly a family."