Enhancing the Promise of Online Education in Kentucky

The possibility of attaining a formal education online will be a key to the success of the Council on Postsecondary Education’s ambitious goals, but it raises the stakes in bridging the digital divide.

For Kentuckian Lisa Stewart, a married mother of three who works full-time, the Kentucky Virtual University (KYVU) provided an otherwise unattainable opportunity to earn a college degree, completing her coursework as her other responsibilities allowed.(1) What’s more, she went to college while staying at home. KYVU presents an online portal through which users anywhere in the world can take courses and earn degrees offered by universities, colleges, and technical schools located throughout the state. With its capacity to nullify geographic distance and enable students to “go to class” as their schedules permit, the success or failure of KYVU will help determine the success or failure of the Council on Postsecondary Education’s (CPE) goal to increase Kentucky’s postsecondary enrollment 50 percent by 2020. Moreover, as the Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center’s Education and the Common Good showed, people with higher levels of education tend to earn higher wages, participate more actively in their communities, experience fewer health problems, and enjoy a generally higher quality of life than their less-educated counterparts.(2) Thus, the ever-growing power to provide formal education anytime, anywhere over the Internet raises the stakes in the struggle to bridge the digital divide. For policymakers, it also raises two key questions: who is using the Web as a source of postsecondary education and who needs it the most.

Demographically, Kentucky appears an unlikely state to experience a high demand for online postsecondary education.

Kentucky’s history of low levels of academic achievement means the CPE’s work is cut out for it. About one in five adults in the state lacks a high school diploma or GED.(3) But the CPE faces some daunting demographic obstacles as well. Of Kentucky’s 120 counties, 98 are classified as rural, and rural residents lag behind urban dwellers in terms of education levels and earnings. Unfortunately for KYVU, living in a rural area, being poorly educated, and earning a low wage each are factors that reduce the likelihood that an individual will have access to the Internet.(4) In other words, the people who would stand to benefit most from online education are the least likely to be online. One might therefore expect KYVU’s enrollment to be concentrated in urban areas, but a look at the actual numbers offers some pleasant surprises.

Rural enrollment rates eclipse urban ones.

KYVU’s enrollment expanded from a mere 235 people in the fall of 1999 to 5,582 in the fall of 2001. Included in this virtual student body are students from every Kentucky county, 33 other states, and 10 foreign countries.(5) Though accessible worldwide, 94 percent of KYVU’s students live in Kentucky, and rural residents have dominated the demand (Figure 1). Though 82 percent of Kentucky’s counties are rural, residents of rural counties comprise only about 50 percent of the state’s total population. However, more than three fourths of the KYVU students who live in Kentucky reside in rural counties (Figure 2). The ratio of enrollees to residents in rural counties is more than three times higher in rural than in urban counties, and 5.5 times higher in the 10 rural counties with the highest enrollment compared with the top 10 urban counties (Figure 3). This dramatic divergence plays out at the regional level as well, with an enrollment rate in eastern Kentucky that is six times higher than that of the Urban Triangle (Figure 4). Though rural residents tend to be less likely Internet users than their urban counterparts, they clearly dominate KYVU’s rolls.

Figure 1: Enrollment in the Kentucky Virtual University, by County Type (Kentucky Students Only)

Figure 2: Rural and Urban Make-up of KY Population and KYVU Student Body Living in KY

Figure 3: Number of KYVU Enrollees per 10,000 Residents, Urban and Rural Counties

Figure 4: Enrollment per 10,000 Residents, by Region

Women comprise the majority of online students.

A look at the gender breakdown reveals yet further demographic lopsidedness. Though women comprise slightly more than half the state’s population and 57 percent of enrollment in Kentucky’s postsecondary institutions,(6) they represent approximately 70 percent of KYVU’s numbers. The Virtual University has steadily grown at an impressive rate since its inception, and it clearly fills a vital need as a provider of postsecondary education to rural Kentuckians—particularly rural women. But we can do better.

The devaluation of the Internet among offline citizens and the cost of computer ownership impede the success of KYVU.

Obviously, if more Kentuckians are to partake of online education, more Kentuckians need to be online. And it’s crucial they be online at home. The Center’s analysis of Current Population Survey data found that, controlling for several other factors, people with a computer and Internet connection at home are 4.3 times more likely to take a course online than those who do not have a home computer and Internet access.(7) But to get computers and the Internet into more homes, we must overcome two daunting obstacles: attitudes and cost. Nationwide, 54 percent of those not connected to the Web see it as “a dangerous thing,” and 51 percent of the offline population claim they feel they’re not missing out by not being on the Internet.(8) Though seemingly an uphill battle at times, organizations promoting the Internet as a facilitator of commerce, communication, civic life, and, yes, education need to continue efforts to overcome misconceptions and misperceptions about computers and the Internet. But even if all Kentuckians could be persuaded of the Web’s value, people will not get computers of their own if they cannot afford them.

To meet our goals for educational achievement, we must get more computers to the people who need education the most.

Between the cost of a computer, Internet service, and a high-speed connection that can handle multimedia, many disproportionately poor Kentuckians are priced out of the market. Among offline Americans, 39 percent say the Internet is simply too expensive.(9) If 39 percent feel they cannot afford the Internet, how many more lack the funds to get online and pay college tuition? For KYVU to reach its full potential—so it can help Kentuckians reach their full potential—it will be necessary to seek ways to ease the cost of home computers and Internet access. Tax incentives—perhaps a one-time tax credit for the purchase of a home computer, as suggested by the Task Force on Information Technology(10)—could help encourage would-be Net users to invest in computers of their own. By raising public awareness of the educational opportunities on the Web, we can also help encourage more people to take advantage of available incentives. Public-private partnerships should also be explored as a means to making computers and Internet service more affordable to low-income Kentuckians. Through such efforts, Kentucky can help cut the cost of Internet-based education for those citizens who need it most and help increase the likelihood that it will achieve the ambitious goals set forth by the Council on Postsecondary Education. In short, Kentuckians must be able to plug into the Web if they are to plug into its opportunities.

Footnotes

1. Kentucky Virtual University, “What Others Are Saying!” (2002) http://www.kyvu.org/news/testamonials.asp.   Return to text.

2. Amy Watts, Education and the Common Good: Social Benefits of Higher Education in Kentucky (Frankfort: Kentucky Long-Term Policy Research Center, 2001). Return to text.

3. Kentucky Council on Postsecondary Education, “Are more Kentuckians ready for Postsecondary Education?” (2002) http://www.kyvu.org/news/testamonials.asp. Return to text.

4. National Telecommunications and Information Administration and Economics and Statistics Administration, A Nation Online: How Americans are Expanding Their Use of the Internet (Washington: U.S. Department of Commerce, 2002) http://www.ntia.doc.gov/ntiahome/dn/anationonline2.pdf.   Return to text.

5. Kentucky Virtual University, “KYVU Facts and Figures” (2001) http://www.kyvu.org/news/facts.asp. Return to text.

6. Council on Postsecondary Education, “Kentucky Postsecondary Education Enrollment Summary for Fall 2000” (2000) http://www.cpe.state.ky.us/facts/enrollment/enrollmentsummary.pdf. Return to text.

7. The Current Population Survey is a monthly survey of about 50,000 households conducted by the Bureau of the Census. Refer to http://www.bls.census.gov/cps/cpsmain.htm for detailed information. Model specification and parameter estimates are available at http://www.kltprc.net/policynotes/pn10techinfo.htm. Return to text.

8. Amanda Lenhart, Who’s not online: 57% of those without Internet access say they do not plan to log on (Washington: Pew Internet & American Life Project, September 2000) http://www.pewinternet.org/reports/pdfs/Pew_Those_Not_Online_Report.pdf. Return to text.

9. Amanda Lenhart. Return to text.

10. Task Force on Information Technology, Report on House Concurrent Resolution 113 (Frankfort: Legislative Research Commission, October 1999) http://www.lrc.state.ky.us/lrcpubs/RM484.pdf. Return to text.