The Online Degree Dorm Room

Associate Online Degree Programs | Are we really non-traditional?

Posted by bposton on November 26th, 2006 — Posted in associate online degree programs

I really dislike the “labels” that some people give others.

One “label” I really don’t like is the label called non-traditional…the one that all of us in the online degree dorm room seem to get.

That’s because everyone beleives that we’re not the typical college student.

Well, that may be true, but here’s what the latest Sloan Foundation report found:

There’s a lot of information to suggest that online degrees appeal to a different type of student from those who go with face-to-face classroom instruction. 

Online students tend to be older, and often hold additional employment and family responsibilities, as compared to the more traditional student.

OK - you got me - that description fits me to a T

However, do those differences mean that online students are taking different types or levels of courses or are they studying at different types of institutions?

Accord to the study, the the general population of online students is a close match to the overall higher education student body, but the mix of schools where they study is not.

Students getting their degree online, like the overall student body, are overwhelmingly undergraduates.  And the amount of graduate-level students is a little higher in online education relative to the overall higher education population.

Now, who was it that said online eduction is not for undergrads? A dean from Stanford, I beleive. - HA! - take that, Stanford!

One difference the study did find is that online undergrads are more likely to be studying at Associates institutions than are their face-to-face contemporaries.

More on that later…

Ben