distance ed would be biggest bludge...
going to uni is way better, mad bunch of new friends 
i was too afraid to do my first subject by lonesome distance anyway, so i chose chem, as the other uni melb subjects i wanted to do were more than once a week (psych was 3!)
what are your thoughts on doing uni maths by distance?
how hard would it be?
It would be do-able. Assuming you are meaning Monash maths, the content is quite understandable, just from reading the notes and text. But the one thing offered in a class, is the teacher's skills and, of course, actually seeing and hearing someone who knows what they are doing work through problems. But that shouldn't be too major a hassle. There are only 3 assignment per semester and also one exam per semester, so there isn't really that much required.