It used to be the case that you needed to be in the right place to study at the best universities, so that meant you needed to live in a university town to benefit from its education.  If you are lucky enough to live in a good university town, then that would be fine. Otherwise you were obliged to move there and take a room nearby.  And that all costs money.  You would also only be able to work part-time, meaning your income suffered during the course.  Thanks to online degree courses all those vagaries have become irrelevant and thousands of people of all ages and backgrounds are now working towards their life-changing qualifications.  Whether you want to attain an online IT degree or an MBA, there are plenty of respected programs to choose from.  And of course you can continue to work at your day job while you study.  A degree level qualification coule now be yours if you so wish.