As educational institutions extend their campuses, as the population ages, and as the advance of technology requires a greater need for worker retraining, colleges increasingly have to cater to a different type of student in order to stay ahead and serve their communities. They require flexible learning schedules . They demand professional development opportunities and classes to help them keep up with today's ever-changing work environment.
Students come to college for various reasons.
They could be interested in changing careers or they might simply want to expand their knowledge base for work or personal reasons. They might want to expand their cultural background, learn a new language, or start a degree program that was postponed due to family or career needs. Their main reason for choosing distance education as a delivery method is that they want to learn at their own pace, and at a time and location that is convenient to them . A majority of distance learning students are female and many are single parents who want to stay close to home for various reasons. They might not be able to afford child care or must care for a confined relative at home.