Today, college students exist in all age groups. Fortunately, with the improvements in technology and communication, online courses keep getting better and better. Students who need to balance their jobs, family life, and school find the flexibility that online colleges provide is ideal. Whether taking class at five o'clock in the morning before anyone else wakes up, using lunch hour as a school hour, or taking courses in the evening or even in the wee hours when everyone else has gone to bed, students who are ready to earn their degree are able to find the time and customize their school schedules to suit their particular needs.

David Washington, research editor at OnlineCollegePlan.com, investigated to find out which online schools were the best to attend with criteria including technology used for course delivery, flexibility of classes, average cost of attendance, and academic offerings. The product of his research is the ranking, "The Top 100 Best Online Colleges" (http://www.onlinecollegeplan.com/best-online-colleges/).

The top 10 schools in the ranking are as follows:

10. Lewis University - Romeoville, Illinois
9. University of Alabama at Birmingham, UAB Online - Tuscaloosa, Alabama
8. Florida State University, Office of Distance Learning - Tallahassee, Florida
7. Fort Hays State University, Virtual College - Hays, Kansas
6. University of North Dakota - Grand Forks, North Dakota
5. Arizona State University, ASU Online - Tempe, Arizona
4. Indiana University, IU Online - Bloomington, Indiana
3. Northeastern University - Boston, Massachusetts
2. Oregon State University, OSU Ecampus - Corvallis, Oregon

1. University of Minnesota Crookston - Crookston, Minnesota