Study: Fear of H1N1 leads some to consider online education

Study: Fear of H1N1 leads some to consider online education

A new study conducted by EarnMyDegree.com, a web-resource of Education Dynamics, which connects prospective students with online degree programs, finds that people are now taking extra precautions to avoid getting sick.

The study found that a majority of Americans admit that they have let the H1N1 virus, also known as swine flu, affect their daily lives in some way.

In addition to washing their hands and cleaning their homes more frequently, some participants said that they are considering online education to avoid classroom germs.

"Surprisingly, we found that 6 percent of people are now considering or have already started online classes because of H1N1," said vice-president of marketing operations Terrence Thomas.

"Many people don't want to take any risks and are turning to online education to avoid potentially getting sick from classmates," he added.

Today, over 3.5 million students are taking online courses and earning online college degrees. At the secondary school level, over 700,000 high school students are taking one or more courses online and nearly 40 states have established state-led virtual schools.