CSC's online offerings continue to grow

“This is the way that more and more students are choosing to pursue their degrees,” said Tamsyn Carey, project coordinator for CSC Extended Campus Programs.

Proving the point, Carey points to data compiled by her supervisor, Steve Taylor, assistant vice president for extended campus programs. Reports indicate that the number of U.S. students who study solely online has risen from 780,000 in 2004 to 2.14 million in 2009, said Carey. That number is projected to grow to 4 million within the next few years.

“There is a tremendous market out there for us to grow,” she said.

The number of online courses offered at CSC has grown from 89 in 2006 to 255 four years later. The total number of duplicated enrollments in online courses has nearly doubled in four years, growing from 2,189 in 2006 to 4,342 last year, Taylor’s data shows.

In a time of increased operating costs and shortfalls in state support, the increased enrollment has been welcomed by CSC. Carey notes that every online graduate student who completes 36 credit hours generates $8,500 of revenue for the institution.

“Engaging in these programs has helped us leave our typical service region and into other parts of the United States and beyond,” Carey said.

She said CSC has special incentive to offer Internet instruction, considering its sparsely populated service region. CSC began offering courses online in the late 1990s when the technology was new.

“A lot of institutions with a 100-year history do not have the extensive number of degree programs online that we do,” she said. “When online education first came on the scene, there were a lot of traditional institutions that dismissed the notion.”

While many question the value of an online course over a traditional classroom experience, Carey said the results speak for themselves.

The Department of Education recently performed a study to determine which class format delivers best education. Courses that feature a mix of online and face-to-face instruction performed better than both of its counterparts alone.

Carey said the online programs’ text-intensive delivery, with required participation in forums and chats, helps students who struggle in reading and writing. With students enrolling from across the nation and abroad, students are exposed to discussion from a wide range of backgrounds.

She said the number of students between age 25 and 35 who are enrolling for courses at CSC is “exploding.” A specific area that has taken off is the online master’s degrees.

“Having the master’s degrees online makes sense. Most graduate students are adult learners who may be looking to advance in their careers,” she said. “Moving our programs online has allowed us to attract that audience.”

With an Internet connection and knowledge of basic computer skills, people seeking degrees now have the tools necessary to do it from their homes.

“Even five or 10 years ago, you would have had to consider uprooting your entire life, perhaps quitting your job, putting your house on the market and moving to a different state, to pursue that degree,” she said. “The beauty of online education is that it has made college accessible for more of those people who want to go back to school later in life.”

Internet delivery also has found popularity with the traditional-age college students.

“Even our on-campus students are choosing to participate in our online courses,” she said.

Many students enrolling at CSC having already taken online courses during high school, she said. Among students who find the courses convenient are those with hectic work schedules and athletes who spend time traveling and in practice.

During nearly 15 years of offering courses on the Internet, CSC has not only seen an increase in enrollment and offerings, but also competition from other education providers.

“The competition is fierce,” Carey said.

Taylor’s data shows more than 3,000 for-profit colleges and universities throughout the United States, many of which have robust online programs. Those institutions generate $12 billion of revenue annually.

“A lot of these institutions recognize the isolated rural areas of the Midwest and are actively mining our service region for students,” Carey said.

CSC has an advantage in that it’s less expensive than most for-profit universities. Carey noted that a degree from an established institution such as CSC will be more highly regarded by employers than one from a place regarded as a “diploma mill” – especially if the other institutions haven’t obtained the same rigorous accreditation standards. Students who enroll at CSC also will enjoy more attention from faculty and staff than that of many other institutions.

“You are not just a number, you are a person at Chadron State,” she said. “That’s a huge competitive advantage.”

“The admissions office has done a phenomenal job pounding the pavement in Nebraska, South Dakota, Wyoming and Colorado to maintain our on-campus enrollment,” Carey said.   CSC’s success in stabilizing the on-campus enrollment has helped it venture into the online market.

While some CSC on-campus students would like to take only Internet courses, Carey said advisors encourage them to study in a traditional classroom setting. After all, that’s why they enrolled at Chadron.

“Even though residential enrollments still remain the foundation of Chadron State College, with the overall growth of online programs, it is reasonable to expect that significant growth at CSC will also come from online programs,” she said.

More information about CSC's online offerings may be found at www.csc.edu/online.