Type of College

better to talk to the companies around your area.
what schools diploma do they prefer to see in a cv?

it changes in every city.

major universities and colleges are far better than any other degree.
the night school/business school is really not worth it, most of the time.
these schools are a business, aimed at making money by selling as many people as possible on getting educated there, not on getting thier students educated.

I agree with what Jaqui has posted. But there are many good quality schools that may not be familier names. The most important thing is to make sure that the school is accredited by the state.

I myself got a BS from one of those Colleges that does not hold any classes themselves. But the school was fully accedited by the state of NJ. I did find that although I had a BS it was not as well respected outside of NJ where nobody had heard of it. But it did allow me to enroll in an MS program at an internationally recognized university.

There are approximately 3,500 colleges and universities in the US. With the exception of about 50 of them you get about the same quality education in all of them.

At the undergraduate level having a marquee school on your diploma doesn't really help very much. There's an old, old truism that's still true today...it doesn't matter where you get your bachelor's degree from as much as it does that you have one, and it doesn't matter that you have a master's degree as much as it does where you get it from.

It can actually hurt you. I know of many companies that won't hire people from schools like Stanford, Dartmouth, or Columbia because they figure the candidates are really looking to get into investment banks or technology start-ups, and are just looking for a place to park themselves until something "better" comes along.

As a matter of fact, there's an interesting new educational trend developing the last five or seven years. Parents have figured out that little Johnny and little Janey spend the first two years of whatever college they attend just taking liberal arts prerequisite classes. Why do that at an expensive four year university? Mom and Dad send Johnny and Janey to a two year J.C., then have them transfer to Harvard or Yale to finish up. Nice way to save a lot of money.

The University of Phoenix is a good alternative only if you have no other alternative. The jury's still out on how valuable distance learning is for earning college degrees. As a hiring manager, that's one of the few questions I'd have in looking at a candidate's credentials.

Get your undergrad anywhere you want. If you want to stand out, get a graduate degree from a name school and in a discipline other than IT. I wouldn't waste time pursuing an MS in any technology program unless you want to teach. Get an MA or an MBA.

Usually when you apply for a large company it matters. Grades are important too. Plus the networking connections(alumni) you make while going to school are critical these days.

You have two of the most important qualities to be successful in IT, or in any profession...positive attitude and work ethic. Keep doing what you're doing. You're on the right track, and you'll be all right.

As a manager with direct hiring / firing responsibilities, I would be the first to admit that nine times out of ten a school that a particular candidate attended has no bearing on my decision.

The only exceptions are candidates that attended military colleges / academies (I attended The Citadel, myself...).

In the end, if you have a degree in CS, I don't care where you got it from... you still have a degree in CS.