Who Is Enrolling in Online Education? The typical online learner is not a recent high school graduate experimenting with digital formats. Most are what NU calls ANDers: working adults balancing careers, families, and education. This demographic shift is reshaping how institutions will deliver instruction.
As of Fall 2023, approximately 54.3% of all U.S. college students took at least one online course, up from 37.2% in Fall 2019, representing a structural “new normal” well above pre-pandemic baselines.
In Fall 2023, nearly 3.9 million undergraduate students were adult learners aged 25 or older, representing 24% of the total undergraduate population.
69% of adult learners (students aged 25 and older) were employed either full or part time while pursuing their degrees in 2022.