Rural students responsible for big increase in enrollment in online college courses in Kentucky

In rural counties without a college, especially a public one, online courses are often the key to getting a higher education. Online enrollment is booming in Kentucky, which recorded "a nearly 25 percent increase in students taking online classes over the last year," reports the Lexington Herald-Leader.

"That's twice the rate of increase for colleges nationwide, according to survey figures from the Massachusetts-based Sloan Consortium, which tracks distance-learning trends," higher-education reporter Ryan Alessi writes. "The 10 counties with the highest percentage of their college students enrolled in online courses were all outside major urban areas."

"The stereotypical student in online courses is a 37-year old mom from a rural area," Allen Lind, vice president for information and technology at the Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, told Alessi. Online students tend to be "older than the fresh-out-of-high-school crowd and are balancing work, school and family," Alessi reports. (Read more)