CIW Certification and Web Technologies Diploma: Worth it?

I'm graduating next year with my AA in College Transfer. I've done quite a bit of Web Authoring, and am familiar with the HTML/XTHML/CSS markup languages as well as a tiny bit of Java and ASP/JSP. I was told that since I had taken so many Web classes while I've been at my local community college (used the classes to train myself to be able to get my CIW Associate certification, check it out <a href="http://www.ciwcertified.com">here</a>.), I was only six to eight classes away from getting my Web Diploma, which is just under the Web Tech degree. My question is, is the rough schedule worth it? By worth it, I mean, when I go out to find a job by the time I'm done at a four-year school, is that Diploma going to be able to land me a decent job in Web design? I had six classes left to get my AA, which puts me at a grand total of 12-14 classes to finish in two 16-week semesters. I've done that load before, but is the diploma worth the extra work? Thanks!

It's industry accepted and is very much worth it, yes. However, when you are trying to land a job, especially in this industry, a lot of the companies/individuals won't care about the certification you have and will not use it as the core reason for hiring you. It can almost definitely guarantee that your resume won't be thrown in the garbage with the other knock-offs, however, what you need to show them is that you have experience. They're going to ask you for samples of your work, and unless you show it to them, there's still doubt. It's like a drivers license, really.

Build a portfolio-there's no substitute for experience. If you really want to boost your credibility, do a job in exchange for a letter of recommendation. Every small stride goes a long way.