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Aslanian eLearners Poll

What Did We Learn in August, 2011?


Each month hundreds of thousands of prospective online learners visit eLearners.com to find schools that can meet their needs. We survey a sample of them nationwide to learn who they are, what they want, what their personal views are about online learning, how they select schools, and a host of other topics of interest to schools that want to attract them.  Each month, the questions change as does the sample. 

In general, this is what we learned in August as we focused on questions dealing with the cost of enrolling in an online program.

  • About 75 percent of prospective online students expect the cost of an online program to be lower than the cost of a classroom-based program of a similar length and content. Another 20 percent expect both formats to cost the same.
  • Close to 50 percent said it was “somewhat  difficult” to find out the price of most online programs by looking at the schools’ websites, and 15 percent found it “very difficult.”
  • When considering the cost of online courses or programs, more than 65 percent of prospective online students said that they think of cost in terms of the total cost to complete their intended program – far more than those who think in terms of either cost per credit or cost per course.
  • We asked about their willingness to pay higher tuition for a particular course or program if certain college or program features were present. Below are the percentages who said they would pay either "a little more" or "a lot more" for each feature:
The school or program is highly ranked among others like it:  53%
The program can be completed at an accelerated pace:  51%
One-on-one tutoring or support is available:  49%
I’d never have to visit a campus:  37%
The school has a campus or center in my area:   36%
The school has been in existence for more than 50 years:  33%
  • 80 percent of those polled plan to apply for financial aid to pay for their courses or program.
  • 60 percent expect that the total cost of their courses or program will be covered by financial aid, and another 30 percent expect that financial aid will cover up to three-quarters of the cost.
  • Among the methods respondents plan to use to pay for their courses or program, these are the most frequently mentioned:
Government grants                                       70%
Money I earned or saved                              57
Student government loans                          56
Student private loans                                    41
Personal credit cards                                   21
Tuition reimbursement from employer     21
Borrowed money                                           18 

Read July poll results here.
 
What would YOU like to know?

We welcome suggestions for questions to ask in future polls. Please send us an email with your ideas: marketresearch@educationdynamics.com.