Most schools for higher education offer different forms of distance learning, most of those are online programs which makes online degrees a highly popular option for prospective students. In this section we aim to provide details regarding the online education industry so that you understand the way it has evolved and grown over the last decade.
Online education is often interchangeable with the term distance
learning. The National Center for Education Statistics groups online
education into the larger distance learning bucket when compiling
statistics on postsecondary education. Here are some interesting
statistics that they have put together:
- In 2006-07, 66% of the Title IV post secondary
universities offered some sort of distance learning education, including
89% of public 4 year colleges and 70% of private 4 year
colleges.
- 66% of institutions had undergrad programs
available for online learning versus 60% for graduate programs
- There were approximately 12.2 million
enrollments in college-level distance education courses in 2006-07. Of
the 12.2 million enrollments, 77% (or about 9.4 million) were in online
courses.
- In the 2006-07 school year, there were roughly 11,200 college level
programs that were designed for distance learning
- In the fall of 2006, the school with the highest number of total
enrollments was the University of Phoenix Online Campus at 165,373 -
more than three times that of Ohio State University's main campus
program!
Other interesting statistics provided by Sloan-C's "Staying the Course: Online Education in the United States, 2008":
- Over 3.9 million students completed at least one
online course during the fall 2007 term, a 12 percent increase over the
number reported the previous year.
- The 12.9 percent increase for online enrollments well exceeds the
1.2 percent growth of the overall higher education student
population.
- Over 20 percent of all U.S. higher education
students were taking at least one online course in the fall of
2007.
- Institutions that offer programs to serve working adults are the most positive about the potential for overall enrollment growth being driven by rising unemployment
Clearly, online education programs are in the mainstream and an integral part of today's higher education environment in the United States.