The results of a recent survey of online students and faculty by the Myrddin Group in San Antonio point to some interesting trends in the world of online education.
The fastest growth in this medium over the past five years has occurred in the group of for profit schools that has been delivering high profits to their investors and a low-overhead education to mid-career adults seeking college degrees.
The Bad News About Online Universities
This survey shows the signs of a fraying business model though as educators and students indicate the pressure for profits has eroded academic quality. For example, faculty members at some schools have indicated that they are now responsible for calling each student before the start of every session to show their personal interest. Their comments indicate it is the school’s unstated concern for lost revenue that is the true driver for this requirement.
For-profit universities rely more on part-time instructors than other institutions. While this is regarded as a positive among adult learners who show a preference to learning from a practitioner rather than an academic, it has led to lower ratings among those schools with high levels of faculty turnover. This is a problem because accrediting bodies like institutions where the faculty is stable. High turnover is never a good sign for any organization.
Since instructors in each of these schools were carefully certified, the generally positive experiences related by the students in this survey was not surprising. The difference in responses with traditional universities could be a lesson for the latter to bring in more active practitioners to their faculty.
Some Concerns About Continuing Adult Education
Another problem area is graduation rates at these for profit schools are woefully low compared to the more traditional schools. This raises the question of how students are encouraged to step into and perhaps continue in a situation that quite frankly is over their head. The temptations of federal aid may account for this difference between the for-profit and traditional universities.
With the recent decline in stock values, Wall Street has put the for-profit schools under increased pressure to keep up the profits and they may have succumbed to that from what this survey has revealed.
Students said they liked recruiters’ descriptions of the classes, but after enrolling concluded that they were paying too much. Many who quit say they were left with huge debts. Many students accused recruiters of misleading them and in 2003, two enrollment counselors at the University of Phoenix in California filed a whistle-blower lawsuit in federal court accusing the university of paying them based on how many students they enrolled, a violation of a federal rule.
After the lawsuit was filed, the Department of Education sent inspectors to California and Arizona campuses. The department’s report, which became public in 2004, concluded that the university had provided incentives to recruit unqualified students.
The Good News
On the plus side though many top corporations are staffed by graduates of these schools and are willing to pay for employees to attend these universities. Something has to be going right for this practice to continue in these times of corporate belt tightening. Not all students are critics and common comments show they love the online environment with its convenience and ability to fit their busy schedules as working adults with family responsibilities.
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