[Sly Fox]

Yet another reason I'm a DLP-backer at LU:

LU online student enrollment up

Ron Brown
rbrown@newsadvance.com
March 3, 2007

Liberty University’s distance learning program is on pace to exceed its 2006-2007 revenue projections by more than $13 million.

And the program, which allows students to enroll at the university and take college courses via the Internet, is taking in almost 10 times more money than it was just six years ago.

School officials said distance learning, which has a lower overhead than traditional residential education, could eventually enable the 36-year-old school to build an endowment once the university reaches a self-imposed cap of 25,000 residential students.

Currently, money gleaned from distance learning students helps pay for infrastructure - such as parking lots, roads, dorms and dining halls - to support LU’s booming residential population.

At its current growth rate, the Lynchburg school would have 20,000 students on campus by 2020.

Originally, the Rev. Jerry Falwell, LU’s chancellor and co-founder, set a goal of having 25,000 students in both residential and distance learning programs.

Last year, the federal government changed its guidelines, enabling LU and other schools to build an unlimited distance-learning enrollment. Previously, distance-learning enrollments could not exceed a school’s residential enrollment.

For-profit colleges, like the University of Phoenix, now have several hundred thousand distance-learning students enrolled.

This year, LU’s distance learning programs will net about $21 million compared to $12 million in school year 2005-2006.

Gross revenue has increased from $30.4 million last year to a projected $54 million this year. Budget projections last spring predicted the program would bring in about $40.8 million.

“Older schools have an endowment that generates income,” said Jerry Falwell Jr., LU’s vice chancellor. “With Liberty, we have a distance learning program that helps generate additional income to help close the gap between what it costs us to educate a student and what we receive in tuition and fees.”

On the other hand, the distance-learning program is enhanced by its association with a fully accredited university with a growing residential population, Falwell Jr. said.

Distance learning students benefit by getting a college education at far less cost than that of a traditional residential education.

Ron Godwin, LU’s executive vice president and chief operating officer, said the surge in revenue mirrors increases in both the number of students and the number of credit hours students take.

LU’s distance learning program had 12,852 students enrolled in school year 2005-2006 compared to a projected 16,400 this year.

This year’s enrollment represents a 28 percent increase compared to a 13 percent increase last year. The enrollment has more than doubled since 2003.

Last year, distance learning students paid for roughly 134,000 cumulative credit hours of work compared to a projected 200,000 hours this school year.

“In every category, we’re experiencing very dramatic growth,” Godwin said.

Godwin said the program now has complete degree programs, which have courses following each other sequentially to allow students to make unimpeded progress toward a degree.

“We previously sold a lot of individual courses,” he said. “But we didn’t sell programs of courses.”

Don Moon, LU’s chief financial officer, said improved degree offerings have helped with student retention.

“They set the student on a degree course, which keeps them moving along,” he said. “That reduces the recruiting cost because you keep that person on board. You don’t give them lag time, where they might lose interest. It helps keep the students focused.”

In order to make the degree programs work, the university had to convert 84 traditional classroom courses to the distance learning format.

“With those changes, we went from offering two programs of study in distance learning to over 30 full degree programs,” Godwin said.

The next challenge was to find 120 adjunct professors to support the degree programs.

Godwin said he contacted a Liberty graduate who was a partner in an employment agency in Atlanta.

“We asked for the professors to share our faith and practice as well as have degrees in their particular discipline,” Godwin said.

The employment agency received about 1,000 applications.

“We redesigned our catalogs to reflect our broader array of offerings,” Godwin said. “When we put more products on the shelves, people started buying them in much greater numbers.”

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[Fumblerooskies]

One thing the university has done, is elevate Dr. Ron Hawkins as VC Distance Learning. The whole system is becoming more standardized, with more degree routes. I was always skeptical about the academic value of DLP course delivery, but after taking several, if done right, they are great.

[Cider Jim]

I'm on board with it, too, Fumble: the bottom line is that it pays the bills. And going to an 8-week format really seems to be working for them.

[Sly Fox]

The 8-week format has created new momentum in an increasingly more competitive DLP marketplace. When Godwin began the old LUSLL it was among just a handful of such arrangements int he country. Now it seems every school has a DLP. For us to remain the standardbearer among Christian schools we have to remain progressive.

[thepostman]

Just kind of a funny random thought about the DLP program...I was on this wrestling news site the other day and what do I see on the top of the page??? An ad for Liberty University Distance Learning....I thought it was really funny

This program is good for a lot of people. They only problem I see at this time is that it seems to stretch some professor's too thin...but the fact they are trying to bring in adjunct professors, well that is a good move...

[Fumblerooskies]

postman...
...you have no idea HOW MANY adjuncts they are trying to bring on board for DLP...and new programs at the Masters level are strongly encouraged.

[El Scorcho]

I can tell you all about how many adjunct professors we have, because my co-workers help them with their computer problems. There are a lot. A LOT. I don't want to guess a number, but I'm shocked at how many staff accounts we have these days.

[PeterParker]

As in other posts about DLP, I'm cool with DLP as long as it doesn't get to a Capella University/Phoenix online, etc. type of thing that begins to water down the academic reputation that the resident program is trying (or should be trying) to obtain among the general public.

The external arm provides a viable outlet for non-traditional students (given that the admission standards are to focus on only qualified applicants) and makes sense from a business-model standpoint of dollars & cents. I also see how it is beneficial for adjunct professors who may be retired or wish to supplement their income to teach these courses. From an all around perspective it is a boon to the university given it complements the resident program well (academically and financially) and doesn't supercede it.