The table compares student enrolment at three types of institution in 2000 and 2020, while the pie chart illustrates why students chose to study online in 2020.
Overall, enrolment rose at all three types of institution, with online study growing the fastest, although public universities remained the most popular. In addition, flexibility and cost were the main motivations for studying online.
In 2000, public universities enrolled 420,000 students, considerably more than private universities (130,000) and online providers (20,000). By 2020, public enrolment had climbed to 610,000, an increase of roughly 45%. Private enrolment more than doubled to 290,000, whereas online numbers rose ninefold to reach 180,000.
Turning to the pie chart, flexibility was the most common reason for choosing online study, accounting for 38% of responses, followed by lower cost at 27%. Work commitments made up one fifth, and the remaining 15% gave other reasons. Thus, almost two thirds of online students cited flexibility or cost, which may help explain the rapid growth of this sector.
