online programs will never be as good as in person. There is so much learned by being in the same physical location and meeting classmates. Going to physically talk to the professor during office hours. Physically reacting when something doesn't make sense. Also, you just focus so much more; especially with a masters program, you'll be learning so much that you really should be treating it full time...
I feel like PhDs and Masters have been sorta bastardized over the years, they aren't just a way to get promotions and raises, they are for you to MASTER the material. Which takes a lot of time and effort
Most of the content in a master's program can be found online (or otherwise in the relevant textbooks) -- if you're paying to do it as a class, you're paying for structure and the piece of paper, and that's about it.
PhDs are start-level research jobs. You'll probably learn things (equivalent to a master's) during your first year or two, but you'll become an expert in your field via a PhD because of the fact that no one else is working on the topic to the same degree of depth that you will be.
(In fact, the fact that this comment conflates PhD with masters makes me suggest that the poster doesn't actually interact enough with folk that have either to have internalized the distinction.)