U.S. News Data: Online Programs Attract Fewer Minority Undergrads

Although online students come from different backgrounds, statistically they tend to fit a certain profile.

They are often adults over 25 who balance school with work, family and other commitments. And like the majority of students pursuing higher education in the U.S., they are mostly white.

In 2014, nearly 70 percent of online students were Caucasian, according to a recent study by Aslanian Market Research and the Learning House, a company that helps colleges and universities develop and deliver online degree programs.

[Weigh the benefits of online education as a minority student.]

U.S. News data suggest that overall, minorities are enrolled in on-campus undergraduate programs at slightly higher rates than in online bachelor's programs.

During 2013-2014, for example, minorities made up an average 26.3 percent of the student body at the 193 online bachelor's programs that submitted the data to U.S. News. In contrast, they made up 29.5 percent of the student body at the 1,239 undergraduate schools that reported the data.

To put those percentages in perspective, minorities made up about 37 percent of the U.S. population at the time of the 2010 census.

The reason minorities were not better represented in online bachelor's programs is unclear. Few academics have published research on online education as it relates to minorities, says Ray Schroeder, associate vice chancellor for online learning at the University of Illinois--Springfield.

Below is a description of how various minority groups were represented in 193 online bachelor's programs and how those numbers compare to their representation at 1,239 brick-and-mortar schools, according to data reported to U.S. News by those institutions, for 2013-2014.

African-American Students

In 2013, African-American students made up an average nearly 15 percent of the student body at the online bachelor's programs that reported the data to U.S. News. Among the brick-and-mortar programs that submitted data, however, the percentage was 12.6.

Cristi Ford, director of the Research Academy for Integrated Learning at the University of the District of Columbia, a historically black university, says there will likely be higher numbers of African-Americans pursuing online learning as historically black colleges and universities make a greater push to expand their online offerings.

Currently, she says, the schools haven't enrolled online students in large numbers, though there's a demand and a need to so.

[Explore universities with the most ethnic diversity.]

At North Carolina A&T State University, 64.6 percent of the online study body was African-American -- the highest percentage of all programs that reported the data. Pennsylvania's Peirce College had the second-highest percentage, with black students making up 61.9 percent of online students. Rita Toliver-Roberts, vice president of academics for the college, says the school has always enrolled many minority students in all of its programs, both online and on campus.

At the University of West Alabama, where 58.8 percent of students were African-American, the percentage of minorities enrolled in online programs reflects the racial demographics of the local population, says Lisa Compton, director of online enrollment.

Asian Students

Asian students made up about 4 percent of the student body at the brick-and-mortar schools. In contrast, they make up an average 2 percent of the student body at the online bachelor's programs.

At California State University--Dominguez Hills, 22.5 percent of the online student body was Asian -- the highest percentage of all schools. University of Illinois--Chicago had the next highest percentage, followed by Illinois' Benedictine University.

Hispanic students

At the online bachelor's programs that submitted data to U.S. News, about 6 percent of students were Hispanic in 2013-2014. That's a lower percentage than at brick-and-mortar undergraduate schools, where Hispanic students made up an average about 9 percent at the 1,239 schools that reported the data.

Eight of the 10 online bachelor's programs with the highest percentages of Hispanic students were in California or the Southwest. The University of the Incarnate Word had the highest percentage of online Hispanic students -- at the Texas school, about 43 percent of the student body was Hispanic. The University of La Verne in California had the second-highest percentage, followed by California Baptist University.

Sonia Gutierrez-Mendoza, campus director of three of Brandman University's regional campuses, says there may be several reasons for the low representation of Hispanic students in online education.

English fluency may be an issue, she says, as well as a lack of computer literacy.

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But generally speaking, she says online education can provide great opportunities for Hispanic adults. For students who want to stay close to home, online education provides an opportunity to get a good education without leaving their families, she says. The mode of study can also give students working on their English a chance to study in an environment where they have more time to compose their thoughts.

"The benefit is that you have the element of time and you are not on the spot," she says. "You have time to read the material and consider it without everyone sitting around the classroom waiting."

Trying to fund your online education? Get tips and more in the U.S. News Paying for Online Education center.

Devon Haynie is an education reporter at U.S. News, covering online education. You can follow her on Twitter or email her at dhaynie@usnews.com.