With economic insecurity and rising tuition costs for higher education, a recent study suggests a notable growth in online education enrollment.

According to a statement from the Sloan Survey of Online Learning, the number of people enrolled in an online education program rose 12 percent from 2007.

The study surveyed 2,500 institutions from a national pool, but according to Jeff Seaman, survey director for the Sloan Consortium, the specific schools involved were not released.

The survey was issued to the chief academic administrators from each school. Individual data was reported online and merged into a federal database.

Seaman said in the six years the survey has been conducted, there has been substantial growth every year.

“We have seen continual increase. For example, the number of students enrolled in at least one online course has jumped from 1.6 million to 3.9 million students in the past year,” Seaman added.

Alan Ng, faculty associate lecturer for the Division of Continuing Studies at UW, said although UW does not offer official credit courses online, the university does offer online programs for professional development and continuing studies. These programs serve mainly non-traditional students.

“There are more non-traditional students coming to the university in general,” Ng said. “What I’ve been surprised to notice is that there have always been a lot of older students taking these courses, dating as far back as the 90s.”

According to Seaman, although there is generally no difference in tuition for online and on-campus education courses, what differentiates the two programs most significantly are the differences in opportunity costs.

Seaman said online courses create opportunities for individuals who cannot be served by “traditional face-to-face courses.” Those who are unable to commute, have full-time jobs or experience other work and family obligations all benefit from the accessibility of online education.

Ng said in recent years there has “definitely been a rise” in online education enrollment.

“Online education is a good choice for people with busy schedules or people with jobs,” Ng said. “Also, as people become more comfortable with technology, there are a lot more people who have the private technology at home to take an online course.”

The study cites unemployment, economic downturn and rising fuel costs as additional factors that drive the need for online education programs.

According to Seaman, the institutions surveyed overwhelmingly agreed that current economic issues are going to drive future demand for online education.

“Clearly [the institutions] see that there is an increased level of competitiveness,” Seaman said. “Enrollment is still rising as fast as ever with expectations to grow further.”

Seaman added while universities are seeing “some kind of growth,” many have not developed strategies to address the issue of increased competitiveness in the future.

Seaman said each year institutions have predicted an increase in online education, consistently proving to be correct.

“Institutions do not predict that the growth has reached its plateau point yet,” Seaman said.