Online education is gaining in popularity, but could this spell the end of traditional “brick and mortar” colleges?

Imagine that you are training to become a nurse. You can do that online at the University of Phoenix, which has a highly acclaimed distance education program. Opportunities like this certainly seem promising, especially considering that online degree programs allow you to study at your own convenience and tend to be less expensive than the typical 4-year ground college. But should these traditional universities be worried about the rise of online education?

Many people think they should, including Kevin Carey, the Policy Director for Education Center. In an article he recently published in the Washington Monthly, he compares traditional colleges to magazines and newspapers, which have lost significant funds due to the rise of the Internet.

The statistics seem to back up his claim: out of all the college students in the US, four million took at least one online class in 2008, and about one in ten were enrolled in completely online programs.

The Distance Education at Postsecondary Institutions study found that 66% of degree-granting postsecondary institutions in the US had offered online and partial online distance courses in 2006-2007 academic year. Why such a high demand for online education? Two main factors are affecting this trend: students’ need for flexible school schedules that allow them to work while attending class, and the fact that online colleges offer more educational opportunities to a broader range of people.

These students are defined as “non-traditional”—people who do not want a typical undergraduate experience due to family, work, or other circumstances—but they are quickly becoming the norm. These students, who are not the typical 18 to 22 year-old students, tend to be more mature and focused than their younger undergraduate counterparts, which makes them ideal candidates for online education.

A report by the US Department of Education concluded that, “on average, students in online learning conditions performed better than those receiving face-to-face instruction”.

The University of Phoenix, one of the most acclaimed online schools out there, published its ground-breaking Annual Report in 2008. The University of Phoenix was the first accredited university to provide online education in the US, and is currently the largest private university in North America. Its report reveals that Phoenix students frequently perform better than students at elite universities. Data also shows that online students outperformed their traditional counterparts in online and ground programs.

President Dr .William Pepicello also mentions the fact that, as a private university operating in the public sector, Phoenix “pays back monies to taxpayers for every student it educates as opposed to the costs accrued to taxpayers by its tax-exempt public and non-profit counterparts in higher education”.

With facts like these, it is no wonder that online education programs have grown exponentially in the past 10 to 15 years. However, not all online colleges are alike. Unlike Phoenix, Kaplan University, or Everest University, some institutions like StraighterLine are not accredited and don’t offer degrees. Instead, it offers a few courses that are connected to degree-granting colleges. What appeals to most StraighterLine students is the cost: as little as $99 a month in tuition fees.

How is online education so cheap and accessible? In order to study online, all you really need is internet access. All course content is electronic, meaning that expensive textbooks aren’t always a necessity. This presents a problem to brick-and-mortar colleges, which make a good deal of revenue from enormous introductory courses. When similar intro classes are offered by online colleges at a fraction of the price, it gives them less of a competitive edge.

Carey explained that, “If enough students defect to companies like StraighterLine, the higher education industry faces the unbundling of the business model on which the current system is built.”

Although we can’t really predict if the end is close for the traditional colleges, experts all agree that the face of higher education is rapidly changing.