University Business - February 2010 - (Page 31)

CHAPTERS Leveraging Technology to Increase Enrollment, Capacity, and Revenues Online education experiences and truths By Arthur F. Kirk RE YOU WATCHING ALL THE FOR PRO fit universities’ stocks soar as their online programs grow by double-digit percentages? Have you been reading about private equity firms buying failed private colleges and “preserving the mission,” but developing online programs? Do you wonder how the University of Phoenix grew to more than 400,000 students? Do you believe that you could develop online programs, market them nationally, capture a small share of those online students, and add millions to your bottom line? In today’s economy—such thoughts are understandable. Colleges need more students and cash and lucrative online programs to grow. Why not go for it? Forget it! You are far too late, and likely much too small, to think big now. But, you do have opportunities, just probably not big ones. You also have imperatives. Big may be out, but online is in. Saint Leo University (Fla.), my school, enrolls more than 3,000 undergraduate students exclusively online. Another 5,800 of our undergraduate students (mostly adult students) take from one course to 50 percent of their courses online. We also have 1,000 graduate students fully or partially online. Our online tuition and fees generated $56 million last year and will grow again this year. But it is highly unlikely you can ever match even our modest (compared to the for-profits) totals. According to “Staying the Course: Online Education in the United States, 2008,” a report from the Babson Survey Research Group and The Sloan Consortium, “[t] he majority of recent growth in online enrollments has come from schools most engaged in online education. These institutions are larger and more established [online], so they are in a better position to ‘scale up’ their online offerings.” Sloan found that most of these schools started such programs prior to 1999. But you need online courses and online programs. Traditional and non-traditional students increasingly demand—and often require—them. The time may have passed for the “big growth” strategy, but if you want to protect what you have and hopefully universitybusiness.com Arthur F. Kirk, president, Saint Leo University (Fla.) grow it, you need to be online, now! Since 2002, online education grew by a compounded annual rate of 19.7 percent. It grew 12.9 percent in 2007, according to Sloan data. During that same period, overall collegiate enrollments grew at a 1.6 percent annual rate. Sloan reports that the number of students taking at least one online course increased to 21.9 percent of all students by 2007, up from 9.6 percent in 2002 (or to 3,938,111 students in 2007, up from 1,602,970). More than 80 percent were undergraduates. The Sloan/Babson research confirms that adult students favor online courses. Meanwhile, research from American Intercontinental February 2010 | 31 http://www.universitybusiness.com

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of University Business - February 2010

University Business - February 2010
Contents
Editor’s Note
Behind the News
Viewpoint
Internet Technology
Independent Outlook
Universities Go to School
Leveraging Technology to Increase Enrollment, Capacity, and Revenues
Meet Me Online
College Index
Company Index
Advisory Board
What’s New
End Note

University Business - February 2010