What do you want to do with your degree? If you\'re looking to practice naturopathy in a licensed state, you need an on campus degree. For better or for worse, CNME accredited schools have a monopoly on licensing. California, I believe, is the only licensed state that allows unlicensed practitioners to call themselves naturopaths.

In an unlicensed state, anybody can call themselves a naturopath. But their practice is limited to counseling clients on self care. Any type of diagnosis or prescription constitutes the practice of medicine and is illegal unless you hold a valid medical or advanced nursing degree (ie. MD, DO, ARNP, DC, DPM, DDS, ND, PA).

The gist of what I\'m saying is (and I haven\'t checked out websites for any distance schools) if the school promises that you will be able to diagnose patients, perform acupuncture, physical medicine (including massage in many states), minor surgery, or any other treatments that include touching clients or prescribing treatment, you\'re being misled. It doesn\'t matter how many years it takes or if you do 1000 hours of mentored experience.

If you want to study naturopathy to learn to better care for yourself then a correspondence course is probably a MUCH better value then on on campus school.

Please don\'t take what I\'m saying as a value judgement. I\'m just stating facts. You may spend 3-4 years and however many dollars and find out that your degree will not allow you to practice as you expected.