The U.S. continues to lead in her adoption of online learning. According to Galway Academy, since online learning has a broad reach catering to all kinds of students, its popularity might continue to increase.
E-learning started gaining popularity in the early 2010s, but its popularity skyrocketed due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Most schools opened their classrooms for students to learn remotely during the pandemic, and ever since, they have been enrolling new students in distance learning courses.
Galway Academy could confirm that most college and university students in the U.S. take at least some classes online. As an online student, your peers can include working parents, military service members, lifelong learners and established professionals.
According to the National Center for Educational Statistics (NCES), many online degree seekers attend traditional schools, but as of 2020, about 15% of all U.S. college students attended primarily online institutions.
The NCES further described primarily online schools as institutions that enrol 90% or more of their study body in distance education. About 422 US institutions – colleges and universities, representing 11 per cent fall into this category.
Online Degrees over the Years
Online schools cater to a racially diverse student body. Galway Academy could also confirm that more than 50% of the online learners identify as non-white.
Similarly, the NCES also reported that primarily online schools award thousands of degrees each academic year.
For instance, in the 2019-2020 academic year, online schools awarded:
While male students earned about 37 per cent to 39 per cent of these degrees, female students earned 61 per cent to 63 per cent.