I am a Senior Software Engineer in my mid thirties doing an Online degree at a local university of applied science in Germany. I am doing most of the work at home and just go there 4 times per semester and once for exams, but i have a lot of deadlines for assignments during the semester, while i work a fulltime job obviously. As far as i can tell, they apply the same standards to exams and grading than they do for normal on-campus students and I need to go much deeper into subjects than i would if i would self study for fun, to get good grades. I also need to study stuff that might not be on my list if i would only self-study, but in the end often is really valuable.

Maybe some people can go really deep into topics when learning by themselves, for me the fact that i need to pass an exam and want a good grade helps a lot to go the extra mile on some of the harder stuff.

So when someone says an Online degree equals "I read some books and here's a good portfolio of personal projects" i honestly get mildly offended.