Today's distance learners, using computers and high-speed transmission lines to virtually connect with professors and other students from around the world, owe a debt of gratitude to the farmers of the past.

That's because the development of distance higher education came about as a way to give rural learners better access to higher education.

That's right - distance learning has a long history. In fact, college level distance education in the USA is more than 100 years old.  What's new about distance learning is not the idea, but the type of student it serves and the number and type of higher education institutions that are using it to reach new types of students.

Ivan Sanchez is two months behind on his online college student loan repayments. He owes $1,400, and soon will owe nearly $2,000. He has a new baby—his third—at home, and just $300 in the bank.

Five years ago, Sanchez earned an online associate degree in networking and security from EPCI College of Technology plus an online bachelors degree in management from the University of Phoenix Online, in hopes of advancing his IT career. While his employer chipped in $15,000, Sanchez was left owing college debt of $45,000.{{LeftSponsor46}}

Sanchez was promoted, but his $10,000 raise wasn’t enough to keep up with his online college student loan payments.

Sanchez is not alone. Nearly half of all students graduate from online college degree programs with unmanageable student debt, according to Marc Scheer, author of No Sucker Left Behind: Avoiding the Great College Rip-off.

The big question: Will online student loan debt be worth the final price of an online university degree?

“Help! I called an online school to ask about their degree program in healthcare and now they won’t stop calling me. They’ve called like five times this week. Now they have my cell number and want me to sign student loan papers. I feel like I’m being harassed by a bill collector.”

Incoming Email
Potential Online Student

Students often complain to us that they’re getting a hard sell from admissions reps at for-profit online colleges and schools. We’re not surprised. Over the last few years, several class-action suits have found for-profit schools guilty of employing aggressive and misleading tactics to rush online students toward enrollment.

Under scrutiny, many for-profit online universities have cleaned up their acts. But a select few still use hard-sell tactics to lure students especially when it comes to getting students to sign loan paperwork.