Online education has undoubtedly made its way into our collective psyche and culture in ways and numbers seemingly impossible to predict as little as 20 years ago, thus ushering in a new age in higher education.  Exponential advances in technology, especially computer technology, has not only made it possible to receive a top-notch college education online but has made it increasingly a first-choice option for thousands of students.  Many of these students and potential students who had been previously unable to attend a traditional college due to time, work, family, and other more pressing concerns, now are able to have the freedom to attend in huge numbers at both the undergraduate and graduate levels.

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For example, the University of Phoenix currently has over 250,000 students enrolled, in essence making it the largest university in the United States simply in terms of student enrollment.  Several other online educational institutions, such as Walden University, Capella University, and DeVry also report increases in enrollment.  Details excerpted from an 8-K SEC Filing, filed by DEVRY INC on December 6, 2007 indicate that their total number of online undergraduate and graduate course-takers in the November 2007 session increased 28 percent to 41,128 compared with 32,123 in the same term in 2006.  Another up-and-coming online institution such as Andrew Jackson University in Alabama has an enticing “Sponsored Tuition Program,” which is also becoming a major factor in the business of online education.  Overall, online university enrollment is currently growing by approximately 20 percent per year.  Compared with the nationwide enrollment at traditional institutions, albeit with substantially larger student populations, which is only increasing enrollment by approximately 2 percent annually, online colleges are growing at a rate that indicates a significant paradigm shift in the higher-education market.

Desire for more flexibility in balancing life/work responsibilities, the freedom to maximize one’s time, and opportunity to reduce a host of energy costs have contributed to this trend of seeking college degrees in an online setting, according to informal research conducted by FirstBloom Consulting.  These online students also gain an added benefit in that many online colleges offer programs with classes/semesters that are significantly shorter in duration than the typical drawn-out 16 week schedule found in most conventional colleges.  In many cases, course curriculum is approximately 50 percent the duration of colleges employing conventional modes of instruction—mainly the “Sage on the Stage” approach within the confines of the traditional classroom setting.  Clearly, online education is rapidly becoming the new age in higher education.  

Students of all ages have embraced the concept and practice of higher-education degree completion while attending classes in the comfort of their own homes or other equally convenient locales.  Given this apparent need for enhanced educational opportunities, combined with obvious concerns regarding time and finances, online higher-education has become a force to be reckoned with and is currently a multi-billion dollar industry with no end in sight.  Some moderate predictions indicate that this movement will continue unfettered until its likely conclusion, being that the number of students enrolled in online educational programs, including those taking at least one course online, may someday outpace the number of students enrolled in conventional institutions of higher education.

Even as traditional college enrollment remains stable, it is apparent that these entities recognize the value of online learning as they now regularly offer distance education/online options for their students.  Most institutions are also providing technological alternatives to support learning, such as podcasts, blogs, and audio-visual response systems for use both within and beyond the traditional classroom setting.  Although many students seek the structure provided by the brick and mortar classroom, oftentimes these same students avail themselves of online instruction options for selective coursework.  As more students are responsive to non-traditional educational opportunities, more institutions are compelled to make online educational technology a priority for their strategic growth initiatives. 

One vitally important issue making online education even more attractive is that online classes cost the student less overall than comparable classes taken on-site.  This is due in large part to the reduced costs of operating an online educational entity.  Students attending classes on-site at colleges and universities across the country, in essence, pay up to 70 percent more than their online counterparts for what amounts to the same coursework and degrees conferred.  In addition, the extra costs related to transportation, housing, food/drink, and other assorted obligations are becoming even more prohibitive for the traditional on-site college student.  Even so, student enrollment at colleges around the country has been on the upswing.  Although reports indicate that at this time online graduates are generally not yet as well paid as graduates of conventional college programs, trends indicate that this disparity will be corrected as more business owners and managers become graduates of online programs gaining a greater understanding of the inherent value in online degrees and in the special students that have the drive and discipline to achieve them.

Finally, it cannot be overstated that we will see an unprecedented increase in online student enrollment in the near future, especially as the diversity of program options available online grows to meet the equally diverse needs of potential students and as students attending on-site colleges more frequently enroll in online courses to augment and accelerate their traditional education.  Moreover, as online educational options expand in depth and scope, these programs will become even more appealing to older adult learners who have previously shied away from continuing their education at more traditional institutions.  This group is a vast resource from which substantial growth in enrollment is currently seen and expected to grow rapidly as the average age of our population rises.

Overall, it is already clearly apparent that online educational programs are viable alternatives to traditional colleges with both growing in number of students enrolled.  As these online institutions become more popular they have correspondingly become more profitable with stock prices in many cases more than doubling within one or two years.  This profitability no doubt adds enhanced stability and staying-power to these entities as major players in the educational market and, in the context of business and investment, well worth exploring further as we enter this new and exciting age of higher education and investment opportunity.

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