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Deep Dive
Gen Z Takeover: Could online colleges gain traction with young students?
A considerable number of traditional-age learners are favoring colleges
with flexible, remote degree options over residential campuses.
Natalie Schwartz
April 3, 2020
Editor:
This story was largely reported before the coronavirus disrupted the
academic year, driving instruction online. As a result, how younger
students perceive online programs may change. Nonetheless, we think the
trends outlined in this story are important for all types of colleges
to be aware of and understand how they are impacted.
Four-year universities have long encouraged students coming straight
from high school to enroll in their campus-based programs while guiding
older learners to their online divisions, creating a divide between the
two groups.
But Generation Z, whose members were born in 1997 or later, may prove to be the force that can break down those barriers.
At Western Governors University, an online institution that targets
adult learners for self-paced programs that begin each month, students
average 37 years old.
Yet Gen Zers are the university's fastest-growing demographic. Students
between the ages of 18 and 22 accounted for 8.4% of students who began
programs this February, up from 5.1% in January of 2018, according to
data provided to Education Dive. That trend coincided with a decline in
the share of new students who are 43 and older.
Western Governors has company. Other large, online-only or
online-focused colleges that cater to working adults told Education
Dive that Gen Zers or young millennials are accounting for a larger
share of their student bodies.
Though the increases are small — sometimes just one or two percentage
points — Western Governors and its peers each enroll tens of thousands
of students, suggesting a considerable number of traditional-age
students are eschewing residential campuses in favor of more flexible,
online options.
That's the case for Nehemías Olvera-Novack, a Western Governors student
who was born in 1997 and is studying software development. Although he
originally enrolled in a community college in Washington state, he
struggled to juggle classes and a full-time job with odd hours.
"Sometimes the class I would need to take that quarter would be only
available at 7 a.m., but I wouldn't be able to leave work until
midnight," he said in an interview with Education Dive. The need for
more flexibility was one reason he looked into other colleges.
Financing a degree without debt
Working while in college may be an attractive option to many Gen Zers,
who are more debt-averse than previous generations. Experts say these
attitudes are likely due to watching millennials put off key milestones
like getting married or buying a house in order to pay off their
student loans.
In a 2019 survey of around 500 high school students, 46% of Gen Zers
said they might take out student loans, down from 65% the previous
year. At the same time, it found that 89% of younger learners planned
to work while in school.
For Olvera-Novack, affording college meant getting an entry-level warehouse job with Amazon.
His experience is similar to that of many other students. In 2017, 43%
of full-time and 81% of part-time undergraduates were working while in
college, according to federal data.
And other research has found that around half of working learners are
low-income students who rely on their jobs to help support themselves
throughout college. Although federal data shows that a slightly higher
share of students were working while enrolled in college in 2005 than
in 2017, observers say people are becoming more open to online options
for education.
"There was a long period of time when the message in this country was
just, 'Go to college,'" said Marie Cini, president of the Council for
Adult and Experiential Learning, in an interview with Education Dive.
"But that front-loaded education, where you go for four years, you live
on campus, you have the college experience — increasingly, we're seeing
people say, 'That's not the college experience I necessarily want.'"
This trend is blurring the lines between who is considered an adult
learner and a traditional-aged student, Cini said. Many younger
students have the same needs and responsibilities, such as a job and a
family, as older students.
Western Governors isn't the only college that is focused on working
learners and seeing an uptick in younger students. At Southern New
Hampshire University, undergraduates ages 18 to 23 accounted for about
16% of online undergraduate enrollment in 2016. This year they inched
up to almost 19% of the college's some 104,000 online undergraduates —
about doubling in their numbers to nearly 20,000 learners as the
school's enrollment swelled.
Lower costs may be one of the main reasons younger learners are seeking
out online-only programs, said Corey Seemiller, a researcher who
studies higher education and Gen Z.
Two-thirds of surveyed Gen Zers rank paying for college as their top
concern, according to research conducted by David and Jonah Stillman,
co-authors of a book about Gen Z in the workplace.
Instead of paying for the added costs of a residential program, some
Gen Zers may be looking to online programs as a way to save on housing,
transportation and other expenses associated with attending college,
said Jim Fong, director of the Center for Research and Strategy at the
University Professional and Continuing Education Association, in an
interview with Education Dive.
Gen Zers may be savvier consumers than previous generations when
selecting colleges, he said. "That's fueling some of the diversion to
online providers."
For instance, Western Governors is priced lower than many residential
four-year universities. Its published tuition and fees add up to around
$6,500 annually, compared to an average of $10,440 for in-state public
four-year institutions and $36,880 for private schools, according to
data from the College Board.
Tuition at the University of Maryland Global Campus — which offers
mostly online programs — starts at around $7,000 annually for full-time
students, making it one of the state's lowest-priced four-year options.
It, too, has seen a small increase in the share of undergraduates who
are ages 21 and younger, from 7.5% in 2015 to 8.7% in 2019. It enrolled
71,905 undergraduates that year, a 12.6% increase from 2015.
However, its figures include students who are enrolled at other
institutions and taking additional credits that they plan to transfer.
Some online-focused colleges are making a play for students by more
aggressively undercutting their competitors on price. Southern New
Hampshire recently struck a deal with Pennsylvania's community colleges
that allows their transfer students to count up to 90 credits toward a
bachelor's degree online and gives them a 10% discount on tuition.
That rate — which translates to $288 per credit hour — is lower than
what students would pay at nearly any other public four-year
institution in the state. Analysts said the move could harm
Pennsylvania's four-year colleges and drive up competition for students
in the state.
Even campus-based institutions are wading into lower-priced online
undergraduate degrees. The London School of Economics recently
partnered with 2U to offer seven online bachelor's degrees that will
cost around $26,000.
Tuition as a benefit
Officials at ASU Online said its partnership with Starbucks is likely
bringing in younger students. The coffee chain's employees are eligible
for free tuition at the online arm of Arizona State University.
About half of the roughly 14,000 students enrolled through the program are 25 or younger.
Overall, some 30% of ASU Online's 45,000 students are 25 or younger, up
from 27% in 2016. The institution has also seen a small dip in the
share of students between ages 30 and 39.
"This population has come out of high school and is not a traditional
educational population," said Casey Evans, senior director of strategic
learner and program mobilization at EdPlus, Arizona State's internal
teaching innovation unit, in an interview with Education Dive. "They're
deciding to proceed with a career and go to get a good job at Starbucks
to take advantage of an educational benefit that enabled them to get
pretty much a free education."
A similar partnership with ride-sharing service Uber may also help.
Drivers can get free tuition for either themselves or a family member.
"From the research we've done with Gen Z, the price matters," Seemiller
said. "There are many potential students opting not to go to college if
they have to foot the bill."
That's why tuition benefits can be a potent enrollment driver. "When
you're in that situation, you're going to probably choose the free or
subsidized college options," she added.
Tuition-benefit programs, which employers are increasingly using to
help retain workers, particularly those on the front lines of retail
and foodservice operations, may lead more Gen Zers to online
institutions.
Guild Education, which helps companies offer employee education
benefits through online colleges, says a quarter of students accessing
its programs are under age 25. Its partner schools include Southern New
Hampshire, Brandman and Wilmington universities.
Education is becoming more "intertwined throughout one's career and
lifetime," Guild President Josh Scott told Education Dive in an email.
As a result, he added, Gen Z members are expecting their employers to
provide them with more training and education opportunities.
Other online-focused institutions view employer-sponsored education as an opportunity to draw younger students.
Though Brandman University, an online-only institution based in
California, hasn't seen a notable increase in its Gen Z population, it
is hoping to make inroads with younger students through recent
partnerships.
The nonprofit College Together places students in jobs at Philadelphia
restaurants and allows them to earn a degree from Brandman without
taking on debt. Gary Brahm, the university's chancellor, said the
program targets students coming out of high school.
In the meantime, the university plans to keep playing up the
flexibility of its programs. "Time will tell what the digital native
students ... feel is the most appropriate way for them to earn their
education," he said.
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