Online Education's Reputation Jumps, Survey Says

For six years New America has been collecting data on Americans’ views about higher education for its Varying Degrees survey. Surprisingly, despite significant social, cultural, political, and economic changes, there was remarkably little change in views on the value and opportunities provided by higher education. One area that did change was the perception of online education.

47% of U.S. adults believe online education is relatively equivalent in quality to in-person education, which is a sharp increase compared to last year when approximately a third said the same. However, four out of five respondents also believe the cost of an online education should be lower than for in-person.