Degree and Certificate Programs

While taking individual courses through distance education has the potential to increase access to postsecondary education among those who traditionally have not had access, it is the possibility of completing degree and certificate programs solely through distance education that offers the potential for the most dramatic changes in access and opportunity. This chapter presents information about the prevalence of distance education degree and certificate programs in all postsecondary institutions by institutional type, level of the degree and certificate programs, and general field of study. Trend analyses for the subset of higher education institutions can be found in chapter 7, Changes in Distance Education Since 1994–95.

Institutions Offering Degree and Certificate Programs

In 1997–98, 8 percent of all 2-year and 4-year postsecondary education institutions had any college-level degree or certificate programs that were designed to be completed totally through distance education (table 13).¹⁴ Among the 34 percent of institutions that offered any distance education courses in 1997–98, 25 percent had any college-level degree or certificate programs that were designed to be completed totally through distance education. Among all institutions, public 4-year institutions were more likely than the other types of institutions to have distance education degree and certificate programs; 30 percent of all public 4-year institutions had any distance education degree or certificate programs, compared with 8 percent of public 2-year and 6 percent of private 4-year institutions. Degree programs were more prevalent than certificate programs; 22 percent of the institutions that offered distance education courses offered degree programs and 7 percent offered certificate programs. Both degree and certificate programs were more likely to be offered at the graduate/first-professional level than at the undergraduate level (31 percent compared with 13 percent for degrees, and 9 percent compared with 4 percent for certificates).

Table 14 shows the percentage of institutions that offered distance education courses in 1997–98 that had degree and certificate programs designed to be completed totally through distance education, by field of study and instructional level of the distance education degree or certificate program. Overall, distance education degree and certificate programs were not widely offered in most fields. Graduate/first-professional degree programs were most likely to be offered in business and management, the health professions, education, and engineering, although the percentages of institutions offering programs in these fields were still quite low.

Number of Degree and Certificate Programs

In 1997–98, 2-year and 4-year postsecondary institutions offered an estimated 1,230 collegelevel degree programs that were designed to be completed totally through distance education (table 15). There were a larger number of degree programs at the graduate/first-professional level than at the undergraduate level (720 compared with 500). Public 4-year institutions offered twice as many degree programs as private 4-year institutions, which in turn offered more degree programs than did public 2-year institutions. Particularly notable are the 520 graduate/firstprofessional degree programs offered by public 4- year institutions, which constitute approximately 42 percent of the total 1,230 distance education degree programs offered. There were also an estimated 340 college-level distance education certificate programs offered in 1997–98, with 160 at the undergraduate level and 170 at the graduate/first-professional level. Information about certificate programs is not presented by institutional characteristics because there were too few cases for reliable estimates by institutional characteristics.

The number of distance education degree programs cannot be estimated for most of the fields of study because there were too few cases for reliable estimates for most fields. Of the estimated 500 undergraduate distance education degree programs offered in 1997–98, there were an estimated 120 undergraduate distance education degree programs in business and management, and 70 in liberal/general studies, which is a common degree area at community colleges (table 16). The number of undergraduate distance education degree programs could not be estimated for the remaining fields. Of the estimated 720 graduate/first-professional distance education degree programs offered in 1997–98, there were an estimated 210 programs in engineering, 140 in business and management, 110 in education, and 100 in the health professions. The number of graduate/firstprofessional degree programs could not be estimated for the remaining fields. The number of distance education certificate programs could not be estimated for any of the fields.

Summary

In 1997–98, degree and certificate programs designed to be completed totally through distance education were offered by 8 percent of all 2-year and 4-year postsecondary education institutions and by 25 percent of the postsecondary institutions that offered distance education courses. Degree programs were more prevalent than certificate programs and were more likely to be offered at the graduate/first-professional level than at the undergraduate level. Public 4-year institutions were particularly likely to have distance education degree and certificate programs. Overall, distance education degree and certificate programs were not widely offered in most fields of study. Graduate/first-professional degree programs were most likely to be offered in business and management, the health professions, education, and engineering, although the percentages of institutions offering programs in these fields were still quite low. There were an estimated 1,230 college-level degree programs and 340 college-level certificate programs designed to be completed totally through distance education.

¹⁴ For this survey, institutions were instructed to include only degree or certificate programs based on credit-granting courses. They were also instructed to include programs that may require a small amount of on-campus coursework or labwork, clinical work in hospitals, or similar arrangements. An example of this type of program would be a nursing program where students receive all their coursework through distance education and then complete their clinical work in hospitals located near their homes. Institutions were also instructed to include baccalaureate degree completion programs, which are programs where students enter an institution with an associate's degree (or the equivalent number of credits) and then complete their final 2 years of coursework at the new institution. These are sometimes structured as articulation programs between community colleges and public 4-year colleges in the state, with students completing the first 2 years of coursework on campus at the community college, and then receiving the last 2 years of coursework through a distance education baccalaureate completion program offered by the public 4-year college.

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