The Online Degree Dorm Room

Associate Online Degree Programs | Has the growth of online degree stalled?

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

As I mentioned yesterday, there’s a new study out sponsored by the Alfred Sloan Foundation. It’s the 4th yearly report obout the condition of online learning in U.S. higher education.

One of the questions this survey and report tried to answer was:

Has the popularity of getting an education online grown or stalled over the last few years?

Here is what they found - I think it’s very important:   

First of all, for several years the number of people enrolling in online degree programs have been growing much faster than the overall higher education student body.  But the results from last year’s study. although reporting that the raw increase in numbers was the same from the previous year, also showed a lower percentage growth rate. 

Was that an early sign that online enrollment growth has finally begun to plateau?

Well, according to this year’s report, the answer is an overwhelming NO…

Here are the facts:  the growth of online enrollments has not leveled off. In fact, institutions of higher education reported a record online enrollment growth on both a numeric and a percentage basis.

Ya-hoo! Great news for everyone in the online degree dorm room!

Here’s even more information - In 2005 there were 2.3 million people taking at least one online course during the fall term. That number has now grown to nearly 3.2 million. A hugh increase.

Also, more than 800,000 new online students were taking classes in 2006 which is more than twice the number added in any previous year.

So there’s absolutely no doubt about it - online education is growing, and growing fast.

Ben