Go to online college

Oh, goodness, such a difficult question. The reality is that there aren’t that many reputable online options in these fields.

In reality, so long as your school meets my first two requirements, you’ll be hired mainly based on the quality of your portfolio. So based on all that, I can only recommend two online programs in your field:
- Savannah College of Art and Design (my preference, as is more reputable than…)
- Academy of Art University (which is a solid program, but SCAD has an edge over them in reputation)

Neither are exactly cheap. But they are far more worth their expense than the other schools you mentioned. And SCAD really is quite good.

To save money, can you study this at a local university instead? If you can do this via your local community college or state college, you’ll save money, and those are reputable options.

While you’re studying via distance, try to get yourself some real-world work in the field, which you can use on your resume and in your portfolio. Of course, as a distance student, you won’t be able to do an actual internship, and perhaps you’re working, so that may not be possible. But you could, say, volunteer to manage the website for your local figure skating club, or design a website for a local charity, or the local Cub Scout Pack, or something local, and of limited duration, but real-world. It’d be as if you’re creating your own internship, but having this sort of experience on your resume will really help you get an actual job in the field when you graduate.