The Effects of Distance Education of Degree Acquisition for Women and Minorities Since 1999
Brownson and Harriman (2000) reported that distance education has become a convenient alternative for students in the twenty-first century. While distance education has been offered by colleges for over 100 years, it is only recently becoming popular. Early distance education used to be referred to as correspondence courses; the term distance education reflects the flexibility of the current trend. Students are able to complete their education from their home with a computer or the postal service. Managers and other professionals are finding that they need to advance their education or earn a graduate degree in order to maintain their current position or their license, or to advance their position. For this reason distance education is becoming more popular with adults. Adults need to work to earn a living and may have expenses associated with raising a family. Adults cannot spend all day in a traditional school situation. Distance education is flexible and can be arranged around busy schedules and differing obligations. Modern technology with the addition of the fax machine and the computer have expanded the possibilities in distance education. It is expected that the use of distance education will continue. Some colleges are marketing themselves in this regard, stating that they offer Internet degrees and other colleges are offering online components which are expected to increase over time. Students communicate with their school and professor by computer, fax, or mail. Studies have shown that distance education students do as well or better than students from traditional classrooms indicating that this type of education is effective. Laughlin (1997) pointed out that distance education has resulted in new audiences being served with increased enrollments in graduate programs. Since women and minori
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