Perhaps one of the biggest assets of internet-based schools is that they are far more flexible in terms of working around your schedule. With a brick-and-mortar school, all of the students and the professor must meet at the same time. Most online classes require assignments to be completed at a certain time, but the student can work whenever is most convenient. People with job or child care responsibilities may find it difficult to attend classes and meet other obligations at the same time.
Generally, student interaction is simpler and more efficient in a physical classroom setting. Often, if you have a question for the instructor of an online course, you must wait hours or even days to get a response via email, while asking a question in a physical classroom generally yields an immediate response.
Schools with physical campuses also have active student communities surrounding them. Online schools don't have football games on Saturday afternoons in the fall, and for some, campus life outside the classroom is as important as what happens inside the classroom.
The program you want to study may not be available in your area. If you are willing to attend an online school you can live in Florida and get a diploma from a school in Idaho. Some students may not be able to relocate their lives in order to attend a particular school.
Online schooling tends to be less expensive than tuition, as the university has less overhead when it comes to maintaining a physical campus and all its associated costs. Additionally, by forgoing commuting costs, online schooling can save the student money spent on transportation to and from campus.
Nearly all colleges and universities in the United States are now offering some online or distance learning courses. By combining physical and electronic classes, a student may be able to leverage the best components of both a brick-and-mortar and an online school.