HACC began offering online courses in the Spring of 1999. That semester 120 students enrolled in six courses. In the Fall of 2010, just 11 years later, HACC’s Virtual Campus enrolled 5,304 students from 40 PA counties, 11 states, the District of Columbia and 1 foreign country. These students could choose from over 120 different online courses!

Interesting Facts About Online Learning in the United States

The Sloan Consortium, in its latest publication Staying the Course: Online Education in the United States 2008 (http://sloanconsortium.org/publications/survey/pdf/learningondemand.pdf ) reports

Online enrollments have continued to grow at rates far in excess of the total higher education student population, with the most recent data demonstrating no signs of slowing:

• Over 4.6 million students were taking at least one online course during the fall 2008 term; a 17 percent increase over the number reported the previous year.
• The 17 percent growth rate for online enrollments far exceeds the 1.2 percent growth of the overall higher education student population.
• More than one in four higher education students now take at least one course online.