Dive Brief:
- A new study on online education shows that 34% of all college students are taking at least one online course, which is an all-time high, and online enrollment is growing more than five times faster than total enrollment.
- According to the Boston Consulting Group report, 15% of all higher education students are learning primarily through online courses, studying in a program that is at least 80% online. That figure was 6% nearly a decade ago.
- Students from high schools and colleges who were surveyed, as well as parents, showed positive attitudes toward online courses, but some skepticism remains about online-only degree programs. For example, parents were 13% more likely to withhold financial support for their children’s pursuit of online degrees than traditional or hybrid degrees.
Dive Insight:
The report, called "The Five Faces of Online Education: What Students and Parents Want," states that online learners fall into one of five categories: true believers, who take most or all of their courses online; online rejecters, who have tried online courses, but decided not to take more of them in the future; experience seekers, who don’t care about the online-vs-traditional classroom distinction, as long as they get their degree; money mavens, who are motivated primarily by the financial outcomes of an education; and open minds, who will become true believers if their experience with online courses meets their high standards. Boston Consulting surveyed more than 2,500 students in high schools and colleges — two-thirds of whom had at least some online learning experience — and 675 parents in the U.S.