Enrollment has remained at about 6,000 students for OU's online programs.
This is the second article in a series of three examining Ohio University’s enrollment.
With consistently increasing enrollment on Athens' campus, Ohio University officials are looking to online programs to help meet student needs.
Enrollment for OU’s online programs, also known collectively as eLearning, has held steady for the past three years. Online enrollment typically remains at about 6,000 students, after having seen increases comparable to those nationally in the years before.
For Spring 2015, which is the latest semester with data available, OU had about 6,100 students participating in eLearning programs.
OU students are not the only ones taking more classes online. In 2011, about 32 percent of all college students in the United States were taking at least one online class, according to U.S. News and World Reports.
“A trend within higher education may be focused on online for undergraduate and graduate programs,” OU’s Budget Director Chad Mitchell said.
Craig Cornell, senior vice provost for Strategic Enrollment Management, said the majority of OU’s online programs are degree completion programs, where those taking classes have usually completed at least an associate's degree.
“For these particular programs, students that normally wouldn’t be able to come have a great opportunity to do their learning online,” Cornell said. “Some start to work as professionals in whatever field they are in … and they really don’t have the ability to move to Athens.”
Though that is the way most students earn an online degree, Cornell said there are three options total — degree completion programs, graduate online programs and online classes, as opposed to an entire program.
Undecided freshman Ellen Michelich said she is taking a management information systems course this semester because it was not offered at the Athens campus.
She said she likes having the option to take online classes because it gives her more time to work her two jobs.
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"The pros of taking an online class are that you have more time in the day and more flexibility," Michelich said. "You have more flexible hours with online classes, and it's harder to move work around."
The university offers seven online bachelor's programs and five associate's programs, in addition to multiple graduate programs.
“There are now multiple ways by which a student can choose to get their degree from Ohio University,” Cornell said. “We want to meet students where their needs are.”
Cornell said one of OU's nursing programs, which helps registered nurses earn their Bachelor of Science in nursing (BSN) degrees, is by far the most popular online program.
“It’s often a mix bag of who we see in online programs, but usually these people are working professionals or students,” Cornell said.
He said graduate programs have about 50 percent of students taking classes on campus and about 50 percent taking them online.
Cornell said when a program is first being created, the university has a goal enrollment that it hopes to meet.
However, he said he did not expect any of the other programs to see such an abrupt increase in enrollment, as the BSN program did.
The university has begun pushing its online marketing and has had the first campaigns for undergraduate completion programs, Cornell said.
He also said the university has signed agreements with most of the community colleges in the state to let prospective students know how they could finish their degrees.
Jennifer Kirksey, OU President Roderick McDavis’ chief of staff, said she thinks though the Athens enrollment has been steadily increasing, that doesn’t speak to the overall enrollment, including the online programs.
“We’re looking at the specific places where there’s room for growth, such as eLearning and online growth,” she said.
Mitchell said the university is also looking at specific colleges and the demographics within them to see where they would like to continue their growth.
“We’re also potentially looking at our Dublin campuses and the different types of enrollment growth within certain colleges,” he said.
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