In the highly competitive online environment where everyone is seeking to develop a niche market, Christian colleges appear to be gaining ground, according to Education News.
Schools like Grand Canyon University [1], forced to reinvent itself or go bankrupt a few years ago, went from 3,500 enrolled students in a traditional setting to 36,000 in its current online environment. And 90 percent of its students are “distance learners.”
Mid-Christian University [2] recruited some brains behind the online giant University of Phoenix [3] to develop an aggressive five-year strategy they hope will quadruple the size of the online student body. Meanwhile, Liberty University [4] boasts 45,000 online students, nearly twice the number that the school’s founder Jerry Falwell Sr. projected a few years ago.
Religious schools have become increasingly popular because of “America’s religious character” and the growing skepticism about agenda-driven secular schools, noted Regent University [5] president Carlos Campo, adding that the online education component has a built-in market of home-schoolers who can now attend college virtually, without leaving home.
Deborah Lambert writes the Squeaky Chalk column for Accuracy in Academia [6].