Funding Model Changes for Distance Education

When full-time, on-campus students registered for fall 2012 Distance Education (DE) courses, for the first time in more than a decade they didn’t wince at the additional cost. For them, the price tag for taking their class in a lecture hall or taking it online was exactly the same. As a result, the percentage of the on-campus student population taking one or more online courses increased by one-third, jumping from 18 to 24 percent of the student population. Looking just at the undergraduate population, there was a startling 44 percent increase in the number of full-time, degree-seeking students who enrolled in a DE course.

Blurring the Lines: Examining the Impact of the DE Tuition Change