[troymc]

Bingo. Accreditation-on-demand is the second half of the puzzle.

One interesting solution is that offered by Western Governors University (created by 19 governors of western US states). It's non-profit, online, low-cost, and... "nationally, regionally, NCATE, and CCNE accredited."

They have a low, flat-rate tutition per term, regardless of how many courses or credits you take. Most interesting of all (I think), they mainly care about what you know, not how much time you spend with WGU: if you already know something, you can get "assessed" (e.g. tested) and move through the program faster.

http://www.wgu.edu/about_WGU/WGU_different