It’s difficult to gauge the most popular choices among online schools because it is no longer just a reporting contest among the for-profit schools.  Traditional universities have made an important beginning in distance learning and some, like Penn State, are well beyond the seminal stage.  And many students at traditional colleges now enroll in a class or two online and engage in blended learning programs that confuse the ratings game further.

The big online players in the for-profit educational sector are easily identified and it is fair to say that they retain their market share not just with advertising dollars but also with the delivery of a quality product.  Those that slip into mediocrity are usually caught up by the public complaints of unhappy student/customers and work at regaining their academic polish.

The listings of traditional schools here include a few that have launched ambitious online programs and that have very large campus populations, but the use of these relatively new online programs at this point is mostly conjecture.  But education has its learning curve too, so the universities that have opened up diverse and interesting academic programs in the distance learning modality today will be leading among the larger group of traditional schools involved in online distribution a few years hence.  Here is a collection of online schools with well established student flow and with programs that are rapidly driving increased student traffic.

1. American International University operates campuses on three continents – a school that is truly international in scope.  The AIU online program has a decent selection of bachelor and master degrees in business administration, criminal justice, education, design, and information technology.
2. Argosy University has an online program in education that offers both Masters and EdD programs.  IN addition there is a school of business, a school of health sciences, a school of psychology & behavioral studies, and a school of undergraduate studies.
3. Ashford University has one of the most impressive arrays of online degrees to be found among any of the universities currently providing distance learning.  Their MBA program alone offers fourteen areas of concentration, or majors.
4. Ashworth College is a veteran in the career college wars but has survived with an online program that shows a comprehensive selection of undergraduate degrees, graduate programs, certificates and now a high school completion option.
5. Capella University has twenty one undergraduate majors available online and eight masters degree options available in information technology alone.  It is a full service university online.
6. DeVry University is probably the second largest school of its type in the nation.  Their online program is clearly designed to emulate the classroom experience and the number of academic options available online matches those of an established brick-and-mortar college.
7. Everest University online offers programs in accounting, business, criminal justice, homeland security and paralegal.  Everest College is a sister ship operating out of Arizona that has its own regionally accredited set of online programs in similar areas, substituting business administration and criminal investigation for homeland security and paralegal.
8. Herzing University’s distance learning program has several vocational type options in its undergraduate portfolio, but also includes an MBA program and a Master of Science in Nursing course of study.  It’s a well balanced program.
9. ITT Tech operates over one hundred campuses in the United States and cumulatively serves over seventy thousand students.  Their educational divisions and degrees are divided among the School of Business, School of Information Technology, School of Drafting and Design, and School of Criminal Justice
10. Kaplan University is owned by the Washington Post media company and has served as one of the profit centers keeping a sinking newspaper empire afloat.  It is respected for the quality of education offered and the range of degrees available online.
11. Liberty University Online offers more than 35 degrees, from associate to doctoral, and 90 specializations, with about 32,000 online students currently enrolled.
12. Northeastern University is the most impressive online effort by a traditional university in New England.  Northeastern has brought a lot of credibility to the distance learning field by virtue of its tremendous academic commitment to an excellent online catalog.
13. Penn State World University is still leading the way among traditional schools that have gone into distance learning with a program that includes over seventy degrees and certificates.
14. Penn-Foster is a large operator of campuses in the for-profit educational world.  Their online options are limited to associate degrees and bachelors degrees, as well as a high school program for students who have some credits to complete.
15. Strayer University operates several campuses but displays an uncommon commitment to online education as well, which is why even though they are a moderately sized multi-state academic operation they have over 40,000 online students.
16. State University of New York operates the SUNY Learning Network, which is a distance learning collaborative operated by the school administration but driven by course and degree programs contributed by one of the two dozen or so campuses in the state university system.  The result is a complicated enrollment process and a terrific selection of distance learning options at public university prices.
17. University of Florida has built its distance learning operation up to the point where it has an impressive selection of Master Degrees and Certificate options.  As with most traditional schools the undergraduate program is impeded by the admissions conundrum, but UF is one of the more proactive universities in the distance learning in the South.
18. University of Illinois Online has been in operation since 1997 and must be enjoying some success, as their catalog now lists 107 degrees and certificates.  The distance learning program is a collaboration between the campuses in Chicago, Champaign-Urbana and Springfield.
19. University of Maryland University College has what is easily the most comprehensive online education program in the northern Mid-Atlantic area.  Their undergraduate distance learning choices alone include thirty majors and another forty options as minor programs.
20. University of North Carolina Online brings the academic resources of sixteen campuses together to a single website.  The variety of programs is impressive, reflecting the various academic cultures shared by schools as diverse as UNC Raleigh/Durham, Appalachian State, and East Carolina State.
21. University of Phoenix has been the biggest and most successful player in the for-profit education business, currently claiming in excess of 400,000 enrolled students between the 200 campuses and the online program.  Their academic options in the online catalog are well thought out and will change as academic trends and job market shifts alter the dynamic of educational interests.
22. University of Texas TeleCampus is a centralized organization that works with the fifteen UT campuses in assembling online courses and degrees to be distributed through the TeleCampus distance learning apparatus.  The current undergraduate choices include completion programs for transfer students and a few four year courses of study.  Graduate programs include Master’s Degrees in Nursing and Education, among others.
23. Walden University has built an educational enterprise based almost entirely on its distance learning programs.  The school has an excellent reputation for academic quality.  It is one of the only distance learning schools to tackle the Master of Education degree program designed to prep students for teaching careers.  They do so despite the requirement for local student teaching hours, working with the student on obtaining the clinical classroom time necessary.
24. Westwood College runs its distance learning program in conjunction with a seventeen campus cluster of brick and mortar institutions.  Academic disciplines are divided into the Schools of Business, Healthcare, Justice, Design, and Technology.  The design school is almost entirely focused on digital graphics, animation, graphic arts, etc.