One company has produced a report about online college students. While the study isn’t entirely free of suspicion—sponsors include Education Dynamics, a company that sells consulting services to colleges creating online strategies, and Learning House Inc., which helps universities to construct their own online programs—it provides some interesting information.
According to here by Steve Kolowich at Inside Higher Ed:
The average student pursuing a postsecondary credential completely online is a white, 33-year-old woman with a full-time job and a household income around $65,000 per year, according to a new survey sponsored by two companies involved in online consulting.
The student is also likely studying business.
Perhaps the most interesting thing this study reveals is that students at for-profit schools are actually the minority here. Only 35 percent of those studying online attended proprietary institutions.
It’s also interesting to note that, while it’s unsurprising that most people studying online were older, nontraditional students, students studying in order to obtain a better job look to be doing so internally. In other words, since most students already have full-time jobs, it doesn’t look like they’re trying to get a degree and then apply to new jobs.
What seems more likely is that students are employed in the sort of jobs where they become eligible for promotions and pay raises upon attaining another degree. This explains the extensive presence of people who already have jobs, and relatively well paying jobs at that.
Read the report here here .
