“As long you don’t force them into it, I think that students should have the option,” she said.
Florida is a national leader in using online university classes, with 158,000 students enrolled in online classes in the fall of 2015, trailing only Texas, with 197,000 students, according to the new report.
Undergraduates who took between 41 percent and 60 percent of their classes online were more likely to earn their baccalaureate degrees faster than students who took no online classes, the report showed. The online students graduated in an average of 3.95 years compared to 4.47 years for non-online students.
Students who solely took online classes tended to be older, with 30 years as the average, compared to the 23-year-old average for students taking a combination of online and standard classes or no online classes at all.
“Older students are more likely to be place-bound, working fulltime and/or supporting families, making distance learning an ideal way for them to complete their degrees,” the report said.
