8.5 Undeniable Facts and Statistics About Online Education that you must see and understand if you want your school to survive (and actually thrive) in the coming years

FACT #1: Over the next few years there will be over 2.3 million US students taking distance learning courses. That's according to the United States Distance Learning Association (USDLA) and the Sloan Foundation. Growing at over 30% per year, eLearning was a $34.3 billion business in 2005. Similar growth is expected through the end of the decade. The market for online higher education is expected to exceed $69 billion by 2015.

FACT #2: Over 85% of four-year colleges already offer online courses, including Ivy League schools such as Harvard, Columbia and Cornell, as well as Penn State, Boston Univ., Villanova, Purdue, McGill, Syracuse, Texas, and Univ. of Maryland. (There's even a 100% online law school!) Why are such prestigious institutions (and so many of them) committing major resources to online education? Simple. Because demand is accelerating and the quality of online courses is now on par with offline classes. Demand is also exploding at community colleges and career colleges, as the need for skilled workers explodes.

FACT #3: Online learning got a huge boost on April 1, 2006 when Congress passed legislation removing the so-called "50-percent rule," which required colleges to deliver at least half of their courses face-to-face to qualify for federal student aid. The move is a boon for fully online degree-granting institutions. Now, these schools will be able to attract students who otherwise might not be able to afford a higher education. The change reflects the growing importance of virtual instruction as a means of reaching today's students, especially busy professionals who don't have time for—or easy access to—campus-based instruction.

FACT #4: The University of Phoenix has over 115,000 distance learning students. Anthem College starts over 500 new online students every month. The State University of New York has 2,000 online faculty. This year, SUNY is expected to reach 20,000 online enrollments for summer courses alone. In less than 10 years, SUNY online has grown from 119 students to over 100,000.Have your on-ground enrollments grown by a factor of 1,000 in the last decade?

FACT #5: Contrary to what many have been led to believe, retention in online courses is up to 50% higher than traditional classroom courses. Online students cost less to acquire, less to enroll, less to educate, less to retain and less to graduate, plus are more likely to continue their education.

FACT #6: According to a 2001 “No Child Left Behind” report, 36% of public school districts have students in distance education (46% of rural districts). 72% of K-12 schools offering distance learning plan to expand their online courses. In the Florida public school system, the Florida Virtual School has grown from 30,000 to 50,000 enrollments in the past year alone. When you consider that over 95% of teenagers are online and m any of these students prefer virtual learning to traditional learning, it's undeniable that a significant part of the future of education is online. Many of these students will look to online options first as they continue their education.

FACT #7: A U.S. Department of Labor report states that 80% of jobs in 2010 do not exist today. How will these new skills be learned? A large percentage will be learned online.

FACT #8: A recent ThinkEquity Partners study looked at the worldwide potential of US online education and found:

• For every foreign student studying in the U.S. , there are three to five students who would consume U.S. education online, if they had the access or the resources.
• Potential of 1.6 million international distance learning candidates.
• In the next 20 years there will be 36 million additional skilled white collar workers needed in Asia and globally.
• Global demand for higher education will top $215 billion by 2025 .

FACT #8.5: According to a recent survey, over 50% of career colleges say they are exploring eLearning options. At the same time, evidence is mounting that the window of opportunity may soon be closing. Some schools that have been sitting on the sidelines are finding it harder to catch up. Plus, the giant conglomerate schools have their sights set on dominating the online space. Schools that don't establish at least a toehold in this space within the next 1-2 years will likely face stagnating growth, as a larger percentage of education revenue shifts from on-ground courses to online courses.

About the Author

Paul Jacobelli is founder and CEO of EdTek Services, Inc. He has been “in the trenches” of online education since 1996. He was both a client and a Regional Director during the explosive growth of eCollege. After helping to launch some of the biggest players in distance learning, he now works exclusively with small colleges, career schools and non-profit organizations. His varied client list includes the Allen School , Bay State College, Green Mountain College , the Canadian College of Naturopathic Medicine, the U.S. Office of Personnel Management, West Suburban College of Nursing and Ethicon Endo-Surgery. Products and services provided by EdTek include Learning and Course Management Systems, curriculum, online faculty and faculty training, 24 x 7 x 365 Help Desk and technology support, and enrollment marketing.

If you are considering a distance education program for your institution or entity, EdTek offers a complimentary 17-Point Online Opportunities Analysis, including recommendations on which courses to offer. If you are already online, EdTek Services offers a free Online Program Audit that can help you determine if you’re overpaying and by how much. Contact the EdTek office toll free at (866) 644-2450 or at info@edtekservices.com.