Growing distance education universities in the USA

Distance education is a method of earning your degree from your own place. You can take up the classes whenever you want without traveling to the campus.

It is to let a student get connected to a teacher that is in a very far geographical part of the world. This assists a person to attend a regular class at a scheduled time, without letting them miss their work unlike old methods of taking classes.

The U.S. news listed a report on rankings for online graduate programs which are based on an individual’s excellence through online programs.

Student excellence is taken into account when they enter an online program that has proven aptitudes, ambitions, accomplishments, that aids them to deal with the rigors of online learning.

Table of contents

• Distance education?
• How to apply for financial aid for online college
• Standpoint on Distance Learning over time
• Figures resulting in Postsecondary Enrollment Patterns
• eLearning statistics and facts
• Why do distance education in the U.S.?
• Courses in modern distance learning
• Open universities
• The growing popularity of online learning in the U.S.A
• Who joins online degrees at American universities?
• Top paying online degrees
• Online degrees in demand
• What is the next step?

Distance education?

“Distance education” or “distance learning” is a form of education that uses advanced and multiple methods of technologies to solve student’s education-related problems, especially for those students who could not attend colleges with time and distance issues.

The types of students who missed regular and substantive interaction from the educational class.

It is of no surprise that multiple numbers of college students are enrolling themselves in online degree programs or distance education.

These students are more comfortable with distance and time by communicating through technology and managing their educational learning without having to be in a particular location or spot physically anymore and anywhere in the nation. These students are often more mature in handling their responsibilities.

The National Center for Education Statistics Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) analyzed that 70.7% of public granting colleges offer some online courses. Since the start of 2003, students are shown to show great interest rates in taking at least one online program. And by 2009, it had a slight decline rate of 3.7%.

How to apply for financial aid for online college

Note the steps cited below

• Submit the FAFSA

Apply for FAFSA first in order to qualify for financial aid. It is the first and foremost important step. It is available online on Oct 1 every year. Students should update themselves with the date, time, details, and criteria under the FAFSA application.

Give your correct details and updates, certified documents, etc.

Undergraduate students under 24 years old, unmarried people, active military members, veterans will have to file as dependent with their parent’s financial status.

• Try for other financial options and scholarships

Many colleges have their own way of offering financial aid through grants, scholarships, and loans. Additional forms are required for this.

Students can also search for online scholarships within their schools or from affiliated organizations to their schools. Online learners can also get additional scholarships in comparison with on-campus students.

• Recheck the FAFSA Student Aid Report

Applicants after filling the FAFSA should receive a student aid report from the federal student aid office after some days. This report restates the information that applicants have put on the FAFSA, you can correct your information or make changes in the details like adding or removing colleges.

• Compare the awards

Compare the award packages that you receive depending on your eligible financial aid, like the tuition and other costs.

• Reapply for financial aid each year

Refresh your FAFSA form and fill out the FAFSA each year on specific deadlines, especially if you are planning to study for a longer period. This will help you to ease some of your burdens on the financial crisis or for costly tuition and fees.

Standpoint on Distance Learning over time

A survey by Babson Survey Research Group reported that, in 2016, more than 30% of students enrolling in the online program increased for the fourteenth straight year for a distance education course.

Also, Julia Seaman, the co-author, the research director of the Babson Survey Research Group stated that “the growth of distance enrolments has been relentless. They have gone up when the economy was expanding, when the economy was shrinking, and when overall enrollments were growing, and now when overall enrollments are shrinking.”

Figures resulting in Postsecondary Enrollment Patterns

Despite the old traditional method of studying and attending schools/colleges/universities, students in the 21st century have been showing an increasing amount of interest in choosing online programs and classes that support them to form an all-in-one balance to school, work, and life.

The data of the age distribution of students enrolled in postsecondary education in the nation shows an increasing portion of traditional students (around 14-24 years) attending college.

It has been estimated that from the year 2015-2026, the total number of old students will grow by 14.44%, accounting for almost 2.0 million students.

Meanwhile, the overall number of non-traditional students (25 years and older) will grow at a steady rate of 8.2%, enrolling 664,000 students in it. Thus, by 2026, assuming traditional students to make up to 61% of enrolling in colleges.

Another enrollment change is the progress of the change of part-time students to full-time students. The number of part-time students is estimated to grow at a faster rate, according to the NCES.

estimating future targets since 2015-2026 for full-time enrollment to grow by 12.3% with 1.5 million students, and 14.9% is expected to add 1.2 million students in part-time enrollment.

eLearning statistics and facts

Referring to the eLearning statistics and facts, here are some insights that will prepare you for 2020 cited in the following.

1. It is estimated that eLearning will reach $325 billion by 2025 globally.
2. The self-paced e-learning market in the US has a budget of $15 billion in 2021.
3. Students of the US were found utilizing online learning is better than traditional education.
4. Comprehensive training programs took higher revenue per employee.
5. The eLearning market is more than 22 years old.
6. Most of the students are unaware of MOOCs.
7. eLearning makes a student learn multiple times better with more material for every hour during training.

Source – Forbes and Statistica

Why do distance education in the U.S.?

Valid reasons maybe if you;

• Try to look and list the university rankings if you are interested in applying. You can also be astounded by the various accredited universities offered by the U.S. higher education system. The cool thing is that about 2,613 accredited four-year colleges and universities are active in the U.S. according to the Association of American Colleges and Universities.
• The secondary schools in the U.S. are divided into various categories such as; community colleges, liberal arts colleges, vocational schools, research universities, etc. depending on your college preference, they offer different programs or services.
• Suppose, if you are seeking international education, a bachelor’s or master’s degree program, then you should right away apply for a research university or a liberal arts college.
• Students from all over the world are welcomed at any university in the U.S., plus classes are all taken in the English language. Despite Americans speaking English in the majority, there is no official language.
• Extra guides and assistance are provided to a non-citizen of the U.S traveling from other countries.

Courses in Modern distance learning

Some of the courses are as follows

Web-based courses

With the developing 21st century, more than half of all two-year and four year-degree granting institutions of higher education in the U.S. have offered distance education courses via an online program (through the internet).

More than 1000,000 different online courses are there, and one-quarter of American students took at least one course. A student usually focuses on learning on professionals seeking recertification, employment skills, a person with disabilities, and active military personnel.

Web-based course management systems incorporate reading materials digitally, podcasts (recording classes for viewing, electronic listening), e-mail, linked discussion forums, video conferencing, chat rooms, test-making, or test-giving in virtual (computer-simulated) classrooms pattern. E.g. using Zoom, canvas, meeting owl.

It allows students to live video, audio and shared information via electronic files or documents at the preferred time. They can share social spaces in the form of wikis, blogs, and edited documents in educational settings but to a lesser degree than similar spaces present on the internet.

Web-based services

Web-based services or facilitated personal educational services with e-mentoring, e-tutoring, and research assistance have aided institutional distance learning. The use of web-based services is common among parents who encourage homeschooling for their children.

Many schools/colleges/universities offer online tutoring services for assisting in basic mathematics, reading, writing, mentoring doctoral interns or candidates through the dissertation process. Web-based personal-assistant companies provide services for aspirants who want to continue their studies or professional fields.

Open universities

It is a type of educational institution that utilizes distance learning is the open university, which means a university that is open, enrolls nearly any adult. The open university movement has gained a lot of importance since the 20th century, by focusing on access to higher education by various constituencies, adding non-traditional students, for persons with disabilities, military personnel, and prison inmates.

The growing popularity of online learning in the U.S.A

Online classes have increased by about 5% in 2015-16 as compared to the past years of 3years.

Most American students prefer online degree programs and online classes because of their flexibility, reduced price, convenient time and place, anywhere at a scheduled time.

More than 6.3 million students choose online courses through public and private universities, but the highest enrollment was at public universities in 2016.

Who joins online degrees at American universities?

A student applying for online degrees join normally because of the reasons below;

• Most of the students are preoccupied with their work. There are more than 36% of online students switching their careers, and more than 34% of students trying to advance their careers.
• The average online students are almost 30 years old, whereas, the age of the distance learner is 32 years. This means that, even if you are a parent, an industry professional, or anything, you can continue to study.
• Most of the online graduate courses are taken by graduate students.
• If you have completed an undergraduate degree, there are high chances to get a good online graduate course. There is about 22% of degree students in the U.S. study online as compared to 11% of undergraduate students.

Top paying online degrees

The best paying Jobs highlights petroleum engineers who design equipment that extracts oil from reservoirs earns an approx salary of $137,170 in 2018.

Those who are into IT make a median salary of $139,220. This degree course is available for graduate and undergraduate levels online.

Business and management degrees can be earned online with a good income package. The median wage for chief executives is approximately $189,600 in may 2018 report by the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. General and operations managers earn $100,930 approx salary.

The marketing manager earns approximately $132,230 salary, the sales manager with around $121,060, the financial manager earns approx $125,080, according to the U.S. news list.

Online degrees in demand

The U.S Bureau of Labor Statistics reported that in 2018, the fastest-growing occupations were in health and related industries. It is amazing news because the programs are available online for both graduate levels or undergraduate levels.

This increasing demand and popularity are because of the aging people and rise in chronic illness, leading to a rise in health aids and categories in related fields.

Computer and mathematical occupations may require taking an online degree in engineering or information technology. Application software developers have a good advantage as the demand for their role is expected to increase by 25.6% between 2018 and 2028.

Online security and protection patterns are also rising to a good amount of demand for people with cybersecurity experience and knowledge. And for jobs such as information security analysts, employment is estimated to rise by at least 31.6% by 2028. (refer to table 1)

Table 1: Best growing fields

What is the next step?

It is no surprise that eLearning and distance education will rank in the coming future.

In developing 2020 year, the best online bachelor’s programs are ranked on four general categories. It comprised about 35% of each school rank.

A degree program that uses strong online teaching processes and methods so that they could save time and bring improvisation to students’ education careers, by getting them enrolled and making them graduate in an efficient and enrolling manner.

They comprise 20% each of school rank as faculty credentials and training, estimating the degree to which online instructors reflect those of on-campus faculty.

This category also counts the results of the resources being used to train or guide instructors. The United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) 2020 National Conference is a premier event that is for professionals it.

This 2020 event will be held from May 18, 2020- May 21, 2020. Its aim is to deliver an action-packed agenda that will help bring together practitioners from across the country to Nashville, Tennessee.