The stigma used to haunt a degree from a community college. Now, it has moved on to online degrees. Regardless of how much work a student puts into the classes, or how good the instruction is, some businesses and academic institutions view online degrees as inferior.

The good news is: that's starting to change. As online education expands rapidly across the world, acceptance and respect are starting to grow.

From Top Tech News:

The number of college students earning online degrees has exploded in the past few years, but the legitimacy of a virtual education is still uncertain in the business world and traditional academia, experts say.

About 5 million college students are taking courses online, according to some estimates. Enrollment in the Colorado's state community-college system's online program, for example, quadrupled from about 4,000 five years ago to almost 16,000 in 2005.

Online-education leaders across the country report a growing acceptance among professors, even those who looked down their noses when mainstream universities began expanding online-degree programs five years ago. They say the courses fill a niche and are as rigorous as traditional ones.

The online experience doesn't compare to traditional education, said Adams, who taught online courses for six years at the University of Massachusetts. "It's not equivalent to the rich experience that you can get by coming to school on campus."

Adams said he tells students it's OK to take one or two electives online, but not core requirements.

Yet recent graduates of online programs in Colorado say the value of their degrees hasn't been questioned. In some cases, employers wouldn't know if a student earned a degree online because many mainstream universities don't differentiate that on transcripts.

What do you think? Should traditional and online degrees be given the same value, or is there a difference in quality?