Question:
How many postsecondary schools offer distance learning programs?

Response:

During the 12-month 2000�01 academic year, 56 percent (2,320) of all 2-year and 4-year Title IV-eligible, degree-granting institutions offered distance education courses for any level or audience, (i.e., courses designed for all types of students, including elementary and secondary, college, adult education, continuing and professional education, etc.). Twelve percent of all institutions indicated that they planned to start offering distance education courses in the next 3 years; 31 percent did not offer distance education courses in 2000�01 and did not plan to offer these types of courses in the next 3 years.

Public institutions were more likely to offer distance education courses than were private institutions. In 2000�01, 90 percent of public 2-year and 89 percent of public 4-year institutions offered distance education courses, compared with 16 percent of private 2-year and 40 percent of private 4-year institutions.

College-level, credit-granting distance education courses at either the undergraduate or graduate/first-professional level were offered by 55 percent of all 2-year and 4-year institutions. College-level, credit-granting distance education courses were offered at the undergraduate level by 48 percent of all institutions, and at the graduate level by 22 percent of all institutions.

Fifty-two percent of institutions that had undergraduate programs offered credit-granting distance education courses at the undergraduate level. Further, college-level, credit-granting distance education courses were offered at the graduate/first-professional level by 52 percent of institutions that had graduate/first-professional programs.

SOURCE: U.S. Department of Education, National Center for Education Statistics. (2003). Distance Education at Degree-Granting Postsecondary Institutions: 2000-2001 (NCES 2003-017), Executive Summary.

Related Tables and Figures:  (Listed by Release Date)

• 2006, Condition of Education 2006, Distance Education by Postsecondary Faculty
  
• 2004, Condition of Education 2004, Distance Education at Postsecondary Institutions 181KB
  
• 1998, Number and percentage distribution of 2-year and 4-year postsecondary education institutions that offered distance education courses in 1997-98, by institutional characteristics
  
• 1998, Percentage distribution of 2-year and 4-year postsecondary education institutions offering distance education courses in 1997-98
  
• 1998, Percentage of instructional faculty and staff at degree-granting institutions who taught distance classes, by institutional type: Fall 1998
  

Other Resources:  (Listed by Release Date)

• 2007, 2004 National Study of Postsecondary Faculty (NSOPF:04) Institution Data Analysis System
  
• 2007, Profile of Undergraduates in U.S. Postsecondary Education Institutions: 2003-04, With a Special Analysis of Community College Students
  
• 2005, Distance Education at Higher Education Institutions: 2000-01 (PEQIS 13): Public-Use Data Files and Documentation
  
• 2004, Remedial Education at Degree-Granting Postsecondary Institutions in Fall 2000
  
• 2002, A Profile of Participation in Distance Education: 1999-2000
  
• 2002, Distance Education Instruction by Postsecondary Faculty and Staff: Fall 1998