New Data Shows Online Enrollment Has Settled Well Above Pre-Pandemic Levels

Inside Higher Ed reports that newly released federal data shows online enrollment has leveled off well above pre-pandemic levels, with nearly 54% of college students taking at least one distance education course in fall 2024, compared to about 53% in 2022 and 2023 and just 36% in 2019. The Education Department’s IPEDS data shows enrollment remains far below the pandemic peak of 73.4% in 2020, but has settled into what UPCEA senior director of research and consulting Bruce Etter called a new “floor” rather than a temporary spike, reflecting learners’ view that online courses can still offer a high-quality, flexible experience. Private for-profit four-year universities continue to post the highest online enrollment, reaching a record 90.5% in fall 2024, while four-year public colleges have also sustained high levels, growing from 35% in 2019 to 54% in 2024, a trend Etter linked partly to schools looking to online options as their traditional-age student pool shrinks. Private nonprofit universities have grown more slowly, moving from 32% to 46% online enrollment over the same period, reflecting many private colleges’ emphasis on residential experience. Undergraduates have also nearly closed the gap with graduate students, who have long had higher online enrollment: by 2024, 53% of undergraduates were taking distance courses compared to 55% of graduate students, up from a wider 35%-to-42% gap in 2019, a shift Etter attributed to growing institutional interest in serving adult learners and offering flexibility even to traditional-age students.