Community college offers new online courses and degrees

Community college offers new online courses and degrees

As the national trend in online education continues to grow, many community colleges are integrating web-based programs into their degree offerings. By including online education, schools can access more nontraditional students, such as those with full-time jobs or parents.

In an effort to bring more convenience to education, Danville Community College (DCC) in Virginia is offering new web-based degree programs, The Star Tribune reports. The school's online offerings now include an associate's degree in e-commerce, a specialization in DCC's marketing program and a certificate in website design. Also, DCC's engineering degree curriculum will now include online courses such as engineering mechanics, computer programming for engineers and mechanics of materials.

Many adults choose to enroll in community colleges for their often low tuition rates, small class sizes and online programs. Recent estimates from the Pew Research Center suggest that community colleges enroll close to half, or more than 6 million American undergraduates. These institutions are often a convenient alternative to traditional four-year institutions.

Nontraditional students are not the only online school attendees, as more than 4.6 million learners nationwide were enrolled in web-based courses during the 2008 academic year, according to a recent report by the Babson Survey Research Group and the Sloan Consortium.

By Mark Danson