The variety of online courses offered through community colleges and universities has grown exponentially, providing opportunities to receive multiple degrees exclusively online.
Between 2011-2012, 3955 students at Citrus College enrolled in an online class provided by the college. Between 2018-2019, 9088 students at Citrus enrolled in an online class. Of the 9088 students who take online classes, the average number of online units per student is 7.37.
Online classes are deemed to be convenient by students, but one student at Citrus said he doesn’t believe he is learning enough through online courses.
Though he enjoyed creating his own schedule with an online class, Joseph Cruz took an administration of justice class and found the lack of instant communication with the professor made the class much more difficult.
“It was hard because the quizzes were a bit more difficult without the teacher’s explanation there for you,” Cruz said.
He said he also missed the community aspect of on-campus classes.
“I learn more in the classroom when I have people to talk to and have another explanation,” Cruz said.
For another student, the ability to get a degree online is appealing.
Adrianna Torres is a runner on the cross country team. Online classes have helped her finish her degree in a timely manner while also being a collegiate athlete.
“It’s a lot more convenient because I travel a lot with my mom and being in sports too we go on trips and I don’t want to miss class, so I’m able to bring my computer to wherever we go and do my work there,” Torres said.
Despite the debate on whether online classes are better than on-campus classes, another issue is on the table.
How online classes financially affect a college
Dean of Enrollment Gerald Sequeira said that offering online classes actually lowers the amount of funding given to the school.
“There’s formulas that were created by the chancellor’s office for both the daily and semester courses for online. And neither one pays the same amount as a class that meets everyday or, you know, a certain number of days and times. So we actually lose a little bit of apportionment when we offer classes that are online,” Sequeira said.
An attendance formula for on-campus semestral courses differs from a formula for on-campus courses that do not meet regularly.
Examples of courses that do not meet regularly are all courses offered during summer and winter sessions. Courses such as these fall under a formula for daily attendance. Everything that is not categorized as semester attendance or daily attendance gets tracked by the number of hours a student completes for a course.
Neither one of these formulas are applicable to online courses, Sequeira said.
The difference between the apportionment the school receives for an online course and an on-campus course depends on the number of units or hours needed to complete that course.
But no matter how many hours and units an online or on-campus course needs, online courses lowers the amount of apportionment.
Why Citrus offers online courses
Sequeira said that Citrus has seen a decline in enrollment in the last few years. To compensate, he said the school followed the demand for online courses based on the increase of students enrolling in online classes. Although offering online classes does not benefit the school, it maintains the percentage of student enrollment–that is important to the school.
Online degrees and certificates offered at Citrus
Not only are more classes are being offered online, but different degrees and certificates are attainable online as well. Citrus offers certificates in accounting, administrative office occupations, criminal justice and writing competency.
In addition, Citrus also offers associate degrees in administrative justice, business, history, language arts, liberal arts in humanities, social and behavioral science and sociology.
