by Steve Kolowich, Inside Higher Ed
The biggest factors holding back the expansion of online programs at the 183 responding colleges? Lack of instructors and support personnel (61 percent) and budget cuts (56 percent). In a presumably related pattern, 67 percent reported having growth plans fettered by “[s]tudent demand for online courses which exceeds capacity to provide these courses.” In other words, the pace at which colleges expand their online arms now depends largely on internal politics and how much money administrators can wrangle from their depleted coffers. Many institutions see online expansion as a good way to increase tuition revenue in light of reduced giving, shrunken endowments, and stingy statehouses. Online programs will still keep growing; 96 percent of respondents said they expected their institutions would expand their Web-based offerings over the next three years. The question is how quickly. Growth appears to be slowing slightly: over the last three years, 27 percent of colleges saw their online programs grow by 20 percent or more; only 13 percent predict that level of growth over the next three years.
http://www.insidehighered.com/news/2010/11/12/online
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