You've posed a bunch of heavy questions, some requring more professional help than you're gonna find on-line.

First, go to www.abet.org. Check out ME and MET programs available in Fla. ABET approved two year programs are listed as well as four year programs.
Listings for ME and MET programs are seperate so you'll have to do two searches. Don't mess with non-ABET programs, as attractive as they might look.
Once you find an attractive program, you can go to the Institution's website and determine whether they have any "alternative delivery" offerings which is academic buzz mumble for on-line or off-site classes.

You can get a lot of the pre-requisites out off the way at JCs––math, physics, chemistry. You need to have in mind, however, the institution you're eventually going to transfer to, and check with their registrar AHEAD OF TIME that they will accept your transfer credits.

Good luck my friend. You have a long road ahead of you.

Check out the University of Florida (GO GATORS!!!!). I know they had a ton of online courses (even a good selection at the graduate level) in the electrical engineering department. I think the online stuff was being offered throughout the entire college of engineering. It may be a viable option for most, if not all, of your course work.

As already mentioned, be really careful with where you take what. For general education requirements you have more wiggle room than you will for core course requirements.

You could knock out most of your first two years at a good CC, many offer some ME core classes.
I seriously doubt you will find any ABET ME degree program that will allow many online classes after the first 2 years. I was able to take my humanities requirements online and that was all. Mechanics of materials is kind of a big deal with that degree and there would be lab work that goes along with it. Add to that a handfull of additional labs for chem, physics, EE core classes, and you will encounter even more labs dependant on your area of concentration.
Many classes require some pretty expensive software, in my case I used ANSYS, Catia, Labview and Matlab pretty heavily my last two years. Most programs now have a few team design projects that not only require "in-class" time but a decent amount of outside time. My senior project was a team project for 2 semesters.
The job market for ME / AE isn't like it used to be either. Many jobs have gone to cheaper locations like India, CZ, and Mexico. Many unemployed ME's = lower starting pay.
I would do it over because its what I like to do, but make sure you can stomach a good amount of calculus, diffEQ's and many sleepless nights pulling your hair out of your head trying to figure out homework problems.
Good luck.

Truth.

I've never heard of a purely online, ABET-accredited (<–– research ABET, degree is basically useless without it) ME program. Having said that, I don't know that I would take the online route anyway. I'm a junior in ME, and the program is tough enough when you have resources immediately available for help. Without these resources, it would be impossible for me. As was also noted, these design projects are an integral part of your engineering education, primarily your senior design project. This will require extensive group-work outside the classroom. If you can find something, pursue it with everything you've got, but you've got a tough road ahead. Good luck bud



ETA: After reading more in the OP, allow me to offer a suggestion. Go here first: http://www.fafsa.ed.gov/. This is FAFSA, which is the Free Application for Federal Student Aid. This is the route through which grants and student loans are to be had. In your current situation, you may be able to get some grant money (doesn't need repaying) to supplement student loans, in order to help support your family. This will give you an idea of where you can stand, financially.

I don't know, Boeing set up an in-house MET program for their employees at their facilities in the Seattle area. I believe the program is totally funded by Boeing at no expense to their emloyees/students.

Agree. The Technology grads do just fine based on the data I see, and I see a lot of data.

The Tech grads I know are job hunting (most of them).


Here's something I posted a few threads down:

"I very strongly disagree with this. Maybe before the recession this was true. However, employers can be a lot more picky in this economy. I graduated with my BS Mech Engineering last spring. Barely any of the tech majors had jobs lined up before graduation. Almost all the ME, CE, and EE did. Those that did get jobs didn't have as many offers and certainly didn't get the pay.

A lot of companies wouldn't give the tech majors an interview.

...

At my school, the data they passed out to students/prospective students was old. They were pre-2008 surveys. The simple fact of the matter is that there are enough unemployed engineers these days that companies can hire real engineers at low enough rates that there is no reason to bring on someone that isn't willing to put in the additional effort to get the real degree.

Again, a lot of companies wouldn't give tech majors an interview. Eastman Chemical, one of the big ones in Longview, Texas where I went to school is one of them. They brought in mediocre engineering students as interns, but wouldn't even consider techs.

MOST of the tech majors (and engineers with low grades and/or couldn't pass the FE Exam) that I know are STILL looking for engineering jobs. I graduated last May. Compare that to those of us that put in the effort to get decent to good grades, found internships with real experience, took and passed the FE Exam, and put out a strong effort in general to get the coveted recommendations of the faculty."




YMMV

That's not an across the board statement. Worked for one company that hired the "T's" more than ME, EE and CE because it meant they had more labs and less of Cal III and Cal IV which we all know we never use. Basically I was told it creates a more well rounded hands on engineer.

If your referencing BSEET;
I have 13years engineering (design) experience in the telecom and wireless communications fields. In my opinion, there really has not been any corporate differential or preference between the two degrees. This includes hiring preference and salary. The difference in knowledge/performance is more personality based than the "T". As far as in a interview; it's more who you know and where you have been.

This is true, I can't walk down the halls without being laughed at. The real ME's sit in their offices while us field guys drive around all day in, well, fields. Its a damn shame.

OP- T or no T, you'll be better off than 95% of the public.

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Depends on the community college and the university. I've had professors say that calc classes at certain community colleges are more difficult than the calc classes taught at the majority of universities.

University of North Dakota has an ABET accredited ME program. I'm currently in it. I have a Bachelor's in Computer Science but the stupid company that I work for stripped my engineer title because I don't have an engineering degree yet didn't change my responsibilities or pay. So they are paying for this round of schooling... They also won't hire anyone with a technology degree as an engineer. Seems like more companies are becoming strict on this.

It's a good program so far. Youll have to travel to campus once a year for the labs for your physics and chemistry. The nice part is the flexibility of when I watch lectures and stuff. Just requires a little more diligence to do but it is worth it in the end.

I hope you do well on that placement test. At the university I'm attending, calc (all of them) are pre-req's for just about every class in your second two years. If you place in calc at all, you will not be able to take very many classes. Statics, dynamics, thermo, mechanics of materials, and many other basic engineering classes require calc as a pre-req.

Out of curiosity, what CAN you use a calculator for in calc? We were never allowed to use them in tests, but even on my homework, they wouldn't have had any application. The sole exception would be a few topics in calc II.

What engineering classes can one take before or concurrently with calc I? I'm planning to double major in ME and EE and want to declare by the end of this semester so I can start taking core classes next semester. I took algebra and trig this semester because I needed to beef up my math (I graduated HS in '04, so I was out of practice). I will pretty much be finished with my gen-ed's after the current semester, so I need to know what I can take next (I plan to talk to an academic adviser soon, but if anyone can share any insight, that would be helpful).

On another note, should I take pre-calc before calc I? I don't have any prior exposure to calculus. I'm kind of trying to avoid taking summer classes, but if I need pre-calc first it would almost be necessary for me to take classes over the summer, as I think I am already behind on my math classes. I would like to just use the Khan Academy over the summer to give myself an intro to calc if that's feasible. As it is, my school doesn't give credit for pre-calc to students who have completed both college algebra and trig. That would suggest to me that perhaps it's not all that necessary. For reference to my understanding of math, I do well in algebra and better than average in trig.

Calc 1 over the summer was another question I meant to ask. Looking at the course catalog, calc 1 seems to be the most time consuming math class in the engineering strand. Would trying to absorb all the material in a five week summer session be a bit much?

As a lot of other people have posted... knock out as many of your core classes as possible at a CC. Math up to Calc 2 (3 if offered), Gen Eds, PE classes, basic Chem and all that Humanities bullshit. It will save you considerable time and money.

Once that's done jump into an ABET accredited university. This is critical as any program that offers an engineering degree that isn't ABET accredited is a total waste of time. You really need to be part of the ABET club to get anywhere with your degree. It basically keeps the status quo set regarding the level of education and concepts covered.

As far as the ME/MET thing goes... you can argue that a lot of different ways. Getting and MET degree can be rewarding and I've had many friends do this but it comes at a cost. While you might get to work in a lab/test cell/R&D shop ll day long and do sweet hands on work... your degree will cap out quick and you'll sit stagnant at around 65k. Not bad but something to consider.

The ME degree overall is pretty board and you can go a lot of ways with it. I for one recommend this over an MET degree for the advancement opportunities and higher potential pay scale. Be warned that you very well may end up in a cubi-cell if you go to work for Corporate America. ME's are like sheep in this regard so do some research on what exactly you want to do and what companies offer in terms of employment. The oil fields are notorious for being hands on but hard to have a family life due to the insane hours they work. Fat pay checks though.

Another thing to consider, and I highly advise new ME's to do this, is to pick up an EE minor if it's offered at your university. I myself did this and employers flip shit when they see this as the two fields are so interconnected now and EE's and ME's are generally polar opposites in terms of problem solving. Nice feather to have in your hat.

I'm in my 8 year of college studying Mechanical - BS and then grad school. If you have any specific questions shoot me an IM on here and I can give you more info. I took a break from my current project and found this thread.... now back to Matlab.

You'll have plenty on your hands trying to do one or the other in 9 semesters. Doing both in 9 is a suicide schedule.

You'll be completing with 102912018278423 other fresh engineers once you graduate. You want something to put yourself a step a head of them and make you more valuable than the cookie cutter ME. A Minor in any field will help and for the love of god join a project team of some sort while you're there. You don't really get any officially "hands on design" until you're senior year but groups like FSAE, Mini-Baja, EcoCAR look stellar and employers eat that shit up. I did EcoCAR myself and had people called me asking if I was looking for a job. Actually landed an internship at SpaceX last summer due to this. These things help and are very worth your while.

Also helps when you apply to Grad school which I highly recommend. A BS in engineering isn't going to go as far as it did 20 years ago and a LOT of current and displaced engineers are heading back to school in either the traditional sense of some sort of online distance program. Work hard, distinguish yourself, learn some skills and you can walk into a lot of programs which will fully fund you. Two years, albeit it's hell sometimes, and you'll come out with an MS and an additional 15K on top of your starting salary. 70-75K starting for a little over 6 years of school isn't bad and unless you want to go get a phd and you're done with school.

^^ This ^^

Although as stated by others, a minor in anything scientific is good. At the local research university up here, a math minor is 3 courses beyond what is required for an engineering degree, and the extra math will help a lot if you decide to go to grad school. A comp sci minor might not be bad either, depending on the job you take upon graduation. If you are considering anything nanotech related, a chemistry minor makes sense as well (or a ChemE minor, if such a thing exists at your school).

Agree––to imply there's a real or imagined salary cap on ET grads reflects a lack of understanding and/or experience in the engineering employment marketplace.
There may be individual employers who limit opportunities for graduates of certain programs or even institutions, but in my 40-odd years of experience, its apparent that individual performance and ability far outweigh any initial advantage an individual might have because of their degree title.