Hi,

I am 38 years old with family of two kids. Withstanding with my
situation I have applied for a Phd by Distance Ed or off-campus(self-funded) in a reputable uni in Australia. I've got an offer last week and I might start soon, the residency and on-campus supervision will be only once per semester.

Anyone would like to share or advice me on how to successfully finish the PhD? Would off-campus equipt me with a necessary training and confident like the regular PhD? or this is just a tactics from university to attract self-funded working students? would they care
to finish the PhD on time or just for a business sake?

Personally, I'd be wary of any course that is billed as 'distance learning'. First, I'd want to know if my PhD cert. would have such wording on it, as this would possibly reduce it's worthiness.
Second, as lots of people are doing PhDs away from their university campuses anyway, and are registered on normal PhD programmes, I can't really understand the point of a 'distance learning' programme.