Participating in distance education may allow nontraditional students to overcome some of the difficulties they encounter in coordinating their work and school schedules or in obtaining the classes they want.

• Moderately and highly nontraditional students are more likely than other students to participate in distance education.

In 1999–2000, 8 percent of all undergraduates participated in distance education at the institution in which they were enrolled or at both the institution at which they were enrolled and somewhere else (table 5 and indicator 38). Among those who participated, 29 percent were enrolled in programs available entirely through distance education. Moderately or highly nontraditional students were more likely than either traditional students or minimally nontraditional students both to participate in distance education and to be in programs available entirely through distance education.

Among all students who participated in distance education, 60 percent participated via the Internet, 39 percent through prerecorded television or audio, and 37 percent through live television or audio. There were no statistically significant differences between traditional and nontraditional students in the mode they used to participate.