Credit: (AP Photo/Jay LaPrete)The number of students planning to attend an online university has more than doubled since before the pandemic, according to a survey conducted in 2020 by National Student Clearinghouse.
In the thick of COVID-19 lockdowns, schools transitioned to fully-online models, exposing students to a new way of education, said Dr. Rebecca Watts, regional vice president for Western Governors University, a private online school based in Utah. And for many students, it worked, and they didn’t want to stop, she said.
Enrollment by New Jersey students in WGU increased by 57% this year compared to the 2017-2018 school year. In New Jersey, 2,636 students applied in 2017 to WGU. In 2022, that number jumped to 4,570, according to Watts. And this trend is mirrored across the U.S., with a nationwide increase in online university enrollment.
Enrollment trends are not just changing for online schools. In-person college enrollment dropped by 6.5% nationally in the first two years after the pandemic started, according to National Student Clearinghouse, a nonprofit which collects education data. Specifically, enrollment in college dropped by 1.5 million since before the pandemic, according to an article in The Wall Street Journal.
Big difference in price
A correlation can be made between the two trends, Watts said, because current college-age students, 18- to 20-year-olds, spent the last two or three years of high school in an online or hybrid setting.
“For some people they actually found [online education] to be a really great way for their own learning style. So, I think you probably can, not just draw the correlation there, but I think we can look at the root causes and experiences of these students over the past couple, three years,” said Watts.
But it’s not just traditional-age students who are utilizing online education.
As high school seniors grew accustomed to virtual learning and decided to continue with it, some adults were noticing that far more can be done online effectively than previously acknowledged, said Isaias Rivera, a graduate of Western Governors University.
That’s because of cost and efficiency, Watts said. The average yearly tuition price for a bachelor’s degree at Western Governors University is $7,452. The average price at a public, four-year college was $28,000, according to the federal Department of Education’s College Scorecard for 2019-2020.
Watts said that many students are drawn to online universities because they provide a quality education for less money than a traditional, private university and with the freedom to work a full-time job at the same time.
Full-time work still possible
The pandemic brought on economic hardship for some families, including loss of work and subsequent loss of income, said Watts. So the ability to work full-time and go to school is a large factor drawing people to online education.
At many online universities, courses can be taken at any tim instead of the set in-person schedule of traditional universities. For many, including Rivera, the allure of online school was time. He said working full time, raising a family and attending college at the same time is difficult or even impossible for some when in-person attendance is mandatory.
Rivera recalled a moment during his online education when his two-year-old son woke up and asked, “Papa, what are you doing?” He replied, “Papa’s in school.”
At 1 a.m. Rivera was in class. He finished his MBA in 11 months, working for five hours a day after his son had gone to sleep.
As a single mother of two with a full-time job, Dr. Roberta McNeill said returning to school in person was not an option for her. She put off graduate school for 10 years before deciding to attend WGU. The pandemic hit and she figured there was no better time to start. “It is absolutely the time management,” said McNeill. “I can do my studies at night … and it doesn’t take away from my day job.”
— Graphics by Genesis Obando
