The Dept. of Ed. v. Online Learning
William J. Bennett
November 2, 2023
The Biden administration’s move to change the rules for online program managers threatens to walk back online learning opportunities and limit educational access, William J. Bennett writes.
It won’t surprise many readers of Inside Higher Ed that online learning has become a fixture of higher education. In fact, most college students today probably can’t imagine not taking courses online. Six in 10 undergraduates enrolled in at least one online class in 2021.
Evidence shows students are overwhelmingly satisfied with distance learning options: a remarkable 98 percent of students in online programs and 96 percent of graduates say they would recommend online education to their peers. In 2021, enrollment in online and blended courses increased at a higher rate than in-person classes among both traditional-age and older adult students. And as Inside Higher Ed reported in August, two-thirds of universities plan to add new online-only programs, though many lack the in-house capacity: fewer than a quarter of chief online learning officers surveyed say the majority of their faculty has the expertise to design digital courses.
It will surprise readers, then, that President Biden’s Department of Education is now seeking to crack down on the businesses that help universities develop, implement and deploy online programs. This regulation in search of a problem threatens to stifle innovation and make higher education less accessible, especially for minority and economically disadvantaged students.
