More and more adults are going or want to go back to school.
Already one in four Americans three years or older are studying something somewhere. That number is predicted to grow by as much as 20% per year for the next 8 years.
Kaplan and University of Phoenix are more than happy to accomodate these new students.
Kaplan offers test preparation, an online university, specialized curricula and other educational services that when added up will make MORE than all the $3.6 billion the company makes elsewhere.
University of Phoenix had nearly 240,000 students last fall according to www.post-gazette.com which was three times the number of students of the Penn State University system.
University of Phoenix had revenues of $2.3 billion in 2005 and will do better this year.
Education is big business.
what do you think?
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At an annual spend of $7 billion US dollars per year, education is the second largest GDP expenditure after health care. Of that, the fastest growing segment is higher education for adults.
For all the issues surrounding for-profit schools, I think an important theme is that the for-profits have been extremely responsive to the needs of adult learners and other traditionally underserved populations.
Online education, with its flexibility and convenience, is simply the latest innovation to meet the needs of older students who require just-in-time, career-focused education vs. a well-rounded, broad-based liberal arts education. (The caveat being that education delivered online has been designed using sound instructional design methods.)
Just my opinion.
Is it for everyone? Certainly not. But it is a very exciting possibility for many who have had to turn their backs on college for a variety of personal and/or professional reasons.
Posted by: Search for Accredited Online Education | September 15, 2006 8:13 AM | Permalink to Comment