Market snapshot
Education
Courses, languages and online learning. The figures below are the headline numbers from 1 datasets, 47 verified figures in total.
Headline figures
- 54.7%In fall 2024, 54.7% of students at US degree-granting colleges took at least one distance education course, according to NCES IPEDS data summarized by the Postsecondary National Policy Institute (PNPI).Postsecondary National Policy Institute · Online Learning Statistics
- 26.5%In fall 2024, 26.5% of US college students studied exclusively online and 28.2% mixed online and in-person courses, per PNPI's summary of IPEDS data.Postsecondary National Policy Institute · Online Learning Statistics
- 103%UPCEA and IDEBP report that exclusively online enrollment at US degree-granting colleges rose 103% between 2012 and fall 2024, from 2.6 million to more than 5.3 million students.UPCEA and International Distance Education Benchmark Project · Online Learning Statistics
Charts
- Online Learning Statistics
US college students taking at least one distance course, by sector, fall 2024
Share of all students at US degree-granting institutions, NCES IPEDS fall 2024 enrollment data as summarized by PNPI.
- Private for-profit81.9%
- Public55.2%
- Private nonprofit46.2%
Source: Postsecondary National Policy Institutetable
Private for-profit 81.9% Public 55.2% Private nonprofit 46.2% - Online Learning Statistics
Out-of-state exclusively online students by sector, fall 2025
Share of 1,898,386 out-of-state exclusively distance education enrollments reported by SARA institutions; tribal institutions under 0.1%.
- Private nonprofit46.5%
- Private for-profit29%
- Public24.4%
Source: National Council for State Authorization Reciprocity Agreements (NC-SARA)table
Private nonprofit 46.5% Private for-profit 29% Public 24.4%
Datasets
- Online Learning Statistics
In fall 2024, 54.7% of US college students took at least one distance education course and 26.5% studied only online, according to IPEDS data summarized by PNPI. NC-SARA counted 4,657,856 exclusively online students at participating colleges in fall 2025, up 4.9% in a year, and Eurostat found that 16% of EU adults did an online course in 2025.
47 figures · 14 publishers · csv
Rankings
- Best Online Learning Platforms
No. 1: Coursera (9.1)