A Pre-COVID Snapshot of Online Enrollment at U.S. Colleges and Universities

The global Coronavirus Pandemic has upended U.S. higher education, forcing thousands of colleges and universities last spring to unexpectedly cease face-to-face instruction and shift to online course delivery models. And as COVID-19 cases continue to rise in certain parts of the U.S., hundreds of postsecondary institutions are planning to turn to online instruction, fully or in part, in fall 2020 as a means to maintain enrollments (and revenues) and balance public health concerns.

Provisional data from the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPEDS) offer the most up-to-date national snapshot of distance education enrollments (from fall 2018) at U.S. postsecondary institutions. IPEDS defines distance education (DE) as “education that uses one or more technologies to deliver instruction to students who are separated from the instructor,” and the term is often used synonymously with online education or distance learning. Even pre-COVID, DE courses provided students access to postsecondary education in a manner more temporally and geographically flexible, but are now becoming even more important in the wake of COVID-related disruptions.

The following data visualizations highlight the variation in DE coursetaking by student level (i.e., undergraduate or graduate), institutional sector (e.g., public, two-year or four-year), and geographic location for the subset of students enrolled exclusively in DE courses.

Among the approximately 20 million students enrolled at U.S. postsecondary institutions in fall 2018, 17 million (85 percent) were undergraduates and 3 million (15 percent) were graduate students. DE coursetaking patterns varied by student level (figure 1). A majority (66 percent) of undergraduates did not enroll in any DE courses, 20 percent enrolled in both DE and non-DE courses, and a minority (14 percent) enrolled exclusively in DE courses. In contrast, graduate students were more than twice as likely as undergraduates (31 percent vs. 14 percent) to enroll exclusively in DE courses, though the majority (60 percent) did not enroll in any DE courses. Only 9 percent of graduate students enrolled in both DE and non-DE courses, suggesting an ‘all or nothing’ approach to their DE coursetaking preferences.

Figure 1: Enrollment, by Student Level and Distance Education Coursetaking: Fall 2018

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS, Spring 2019, Fall Enrollment (EF) component (provisional data). Note: All U.S. Title IV institutions regardless of degree-granting status are included in analyses. — **Source:** U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS, Spring 2019, Fall Enrollment (EF) component (provisional data). **Note:** All U.S. Title IV institutions regardless of degree-granting status are included in analyses.

The 17 million undergraduates enrolled at U.S. postsecondary institutions in fall 2018 were not equally distributed across institutional sectors, and DE coursetaking patterns varied by sector (figure 2). Most (77 percent) undergraduates enrolled in either public, four-year (44 percent) or public, two-year (33 percent) postsecondary institutions. Undergraduates within these two largest sectors demonstrated similar DE coursetaking patterns: a majority (66 percent within each sector) did not enroll in any DE courses and a minority (9 percent within the public, four-year sector and 14 percent within the public, two-year sector) enrolled exclusively in DE courses. In contrast, among the 586 thousand undergraduates enrolled in the private for-profit, four-year sector (4 percent of total undergraduate enrollment), a majority (67 percent) enrolled exclusively in DE courses, with an additional 13 percent enrolled in both DE and non-DE courses.

Figure 2: Undergraduate Enrollment, by Institutional Sector and Distance Education Coursetaking: Fall 2018

The 3 million graduate students enrolled at U.S. postsecondary institutions in fall 2018 were relatively equally distributed across public, four-year (49 percent) and private nonprofit, four-year (43 percent) sectors, and DE coursetaking patterns were similar between these sectors (figure 3). Approximately two-thirds (66 percent within the public, four-year sector and 64 percent within the private nonprofit, four-year sector) of graduate students did not enroll in any DE courses. And approximately one-quarter (25 percent within the public, four-year sector and 27 percent within the private nonprofit, four-year sector) enrolled exclusively in DE courses. In contrast, among the 243 thousand graduate students enrolled in the private for-profit, four-year sector (8 percent of total graduate enrollment), most (87 percent) enrolled exclusively in DE courses. For graduate students enrolled in this sector, DE is the primary course delivery method, with only 9 percent not enrolled in any DE courses.

Figure 3: Graduate Enrollment, by Institutional Sector and Distance Education Coursetaking: Fall 2018

Source: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS, Spring 2019, Fall Enrollment component (provisional data). Notes: PUB = public; PNP = private nonprofit; PFP = private for-profit. Institutional ‘sector’ is defin… — **Source:** U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics, IPEDS, Spring 2019, Fall Enrollment component (provisional data). **Notes:** PUB = public; PNP = private nonprofit; PFP = private for-profit. Institutional ‘sector’ is defined by IPEDS, which classifies community colleges that award bachelor’s degrees as four-year institutions, even if they primarily award subbaccalaureate degrees and certificates. All U.S. Title IV institutions regardless of degree-granting status are included in analyses.

Among the 3.3 million students enrolled exclusively in DE courses in fall 2018, 71 percent were undergraduates and 29 percent were graduate students (figure 4). DE course delivery ostensibly allows students access to postsecondary institutions regardless of location. But among the 2.3 million undergraduates enrolled exclusively in DE courses, a majority (63 percent) enrolled at postsecondary institutions located within the same state as their residence, suggesting that for DE-enrolled undergraduates physical location remains an important consideration. In contrast, among the 933 thousand graduate students enrolled exclusively in DE courses, a majority (53 percent) resided in a different state than that of their enrolled institution; however, more than two-fifths (44 percent) resided in the same state as their enrolled institution.

Figure 4: Exclusively Distance Education Enrollment, by Student Level and Location: Fall 2018

The data visualizations presented highlight the large role DE plays in U.S. higher education, particularly for graduate students and those enrolled in the for-profit sector. The effects of the Coronavirus Pandemic on fall 2020 enrollment remain to be seen, but the shares of undergraduate and graduate students enrolled in DE courses are likely to increase, even if overall enrollment decreases due to some students opting out of fall enrollment.