While online education is a relatively new industry, it has already made great strides in the past decade, attracting more students than ever before. The economy had a large part to play in the revolution of the online college community, as many online universities have found ways to attract students who have recently been laid off and cannot afford the average expense of college. With advances in technology additionally playing a role in the online education community, more and more traditional schools have also begun to offer online classes for a fraction of the cost of traditional classroom studies.
Online colleges have therefore revamped their programs in recent years to attract a certain type of student to their school. While previously the most common student of online education was the older student who was going back to school, online education has expanded to include students of all ages, and of all degree types. Therefore, schools have become more competitive with their degree program offerings and their prices, making it essentially a “student’s market”. After 2006, online education truly took off, after receiving Congress’ blessing through its approval of the federal student aid bill which thus allowed online schools to receive federal funding (which they previously did not have access to). After this point, online schools were able to attract more students to their programs due to the increased financial aid offerings which previously had not been part of the online education industry.
Additionally, the increased demand of various degrees has led to a greater competition between for-profit online colleges. While traditional schools can try to compete in this realm, they typically do not offer as many degrees (even online) as top online colleges. As a result, online colleges have tread into an area where traditional schools have not been able to go, and have thus been able to offer hundreds of different degree programs to prospective students, ranging from certificates to doctoral degrees. The economy has provided online colleges with an influx of students who need quick and easy degrees, typically in the certificate realm, and many online colleges have thus tweaked their programs to cater more to this type of student. Year-long certificate and associates degree programs have become increasingly popular within online colleges in recent year because of these transitions.
Finally, the advancements that have taken place in technology have increased the popularity of online colleges even further. Most of our lives are now conducted through the internet (banking, email, finances, etc.), and it is no surprise that school joined this trend as well, through advances in web cams and social media programs. Online colleges have altered their programs so that students are not missing out on the traditional college experience, despite the obvious drastic difference between the two realms.
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