Thoughts on international options in general?

Due to glancing at a few things in particular here, I'm somewhat reconsidering some of my preconceived notions.

I had figured with distance learning in particular, it would be best to generally stay within one's own country. In contrast to going to a foreign brick-and-mortar classes, an international DL student wouldn't get the overall broadening benefit of living in the other country.

I figured that individual classes from a different country might be harder to get credit for in a person's home country. And unless it's from a "name" school, an international degree might be given less credence.

Elsewhere, I think I've heard of U.S. students getting a medical degree in another country because they didn't qualify in their own country, and that some of those schools are at least questionable, and I think that is part of what has tainted my view.

Should I be more open-minded about considering international options?

In case it matters, I'm focusing on geographic information systems (essentially analytical mapping), especially in relation to emergency management, humanitarian work, data analysis and the Internet, roughly in that order.

Thanks.