The Web: Become a Harvard man -- online

CHICAGO, March 1 (UPI) -- You may not be able to relocate to Cambridge, Mass., but these days you can still earn a diploma from Harvard University's extension school -- thanks to distance learning on the Internet. Harvard, one of the nation's premier universities, and other elite educational institutions, like Stanford University and Seton Hall University, are offering courses of study leading to degrees and diplomas online, embracing the once-controversial mode of Internet learning, experts tell United Press International's The Web.

These are not the diploma mills of the early days of the Internet - slapdash sites where individuals desperate for status and career credibility could obtain "law degrees" online, in a few months, take the bar examination and then "practice law." Rather, these are high-quality, nationally accredited programs whose graduates are often coveted by employers. By Gene Koprowski