My grandfather earned his college degree via mail order around 1900, and liked the idea so much he spent the rest of his career as a salesman for college correspondence courses. He met my grandmother via selling her engineering courses. (I always laugh when people tell me women couldn't be engineers in those days.)

He started his career as a coaler on a steamship, probably one of the worst jobs at the time. Correspondence courses were a way up for people who could not afford attending college.