On first day of the fall semester 1,602 students were enrolled in the University of Wisconsin Colleges Online, a dramatic increase of 19 percent over the previous fall.
“Online education continues to be the fastest-growing part of higher education because it meets the needs of non-traditional students, particularly those who have jobs or families and cannot attend classes on a university campus,” said Ray Cross, chancellor of UW Colleges and UW-Extension.
Online students are not traditional college students. The typical student at UW Colleges Online is a woman in her 20s or 30s. For the past several years, 71 percent of UW Colleges Online students have been women and 71 percent have been 22 or older. Current year data on age and sex is not yet available.
Enrollment at the 13 UW Colleges campuses will be tabulated on the tenth day of classes, which falls on Sept. 19. Administrators expect modest enrollment gains.