Skip to main content
Add as a preferred source on Google


Online U Research: Popularity of Online Universities Rising

  • By Paul McCloskey
  • 07/31/07
Half of a group of prospective college students who said they would be interested in taking an online course in the next 12 months also said they would like to enroll in a completely online degree program, according to a recent survey conducted by the American InterContinental University Online.

The survey also showed that 32 percent of the respondents favored a degree program that was mostly online but included some campus-based courses. Ten percent said they wanted a program that was primarily on campus, the survey showed. Eight percent wanted half online; half on campus.

Citing research by the Sloan Corsortium, AIU said that by 2006, about 3.2 million college students were enrolled in at least one online course, up from 1.6 million in 2003. Eduventures, an education sector research firm, said that by next year, one in 10 college students will be enrolled in an online university.

Read More:

About the Author

Paul McCloskey is contributing editor of Syllabus.

Featured

  • glowing brain above stacked coins

    The Higher Ed Playbook for AI Affordability

    Fulfilling the promise of AI in higher education does not require massive budgets or radical reinvention. By leveraging existing infrastructure, embracing edge and localized AI, collaborating across institutions, and embedding AI thoughtfully across the enterprise, universities can move from experimentation to impact.

  • programming code and digital gears

    NVIDIA Intros Open Source Tools for Building and Deploying AI Agents

    At its recent GTC 2026 conference, NVIDIA rolled out a new open source software package designed to help organizations build, deploy, and manage AI agents.

  • abstract colored blocks

    OpenAI Drops Sora Short-Form AI Video Platform

    OpenAI is reportedly dropping Sora, its generative AI model that creates short video clips from text prompts, images, or existing video inputs. The move upends the company's December partnership with The Walt Disney Company.

  • Blue metallic mesh fabric folds

    Microsoft Acquires Osmos for Agentic AI Data Engineering

    In a strategic move to reduce time-consuming manual data preparation, Microsoft has acquired Seattle-based startup Osmos, specializing in agentic AI for data engineering.