U. of Pennsylvania Says It Will Be First Ivy to Offer Online Bachelor’s Degree

Scott Spitzer

Starting next fall, the University of Pennsylvania will offer what it says is the first online bachelor’s degree at an Ivy League college, an illustration of the growing credibility and popularity of online education.

Designed for adult learners, the program will confer a bachelor of applied arts and sciences, and will enroll students through the School of Arts and Sciences’ College of Liberal and Professional Studies, which serves working adults and other nontraditional students.

Nora E. Lewis, vice dean of professional and liberal education, said that while roughly 500 adults are earning bachelor’s degrees part time through the college, Penn realized it could do more to serve nontraditional students. Only 30 percent of adults over 25 hold a bachelor’s degree, she noted.

“When you’re working and raising a family or you’re part of the sandwich generation,” Lewis said, “it really makes it very difficult to get through the 30 to 36 courses needed to get an undergraduate degree. And it’s not terribly affordable.” The question, she said, then became: “Can we leverage all the advances in technology, in online learning, in the experiences our faculty have had in developing MOOCs, and put it to good use?”

Lewis estimates the new program could serve thousands of students. It will differ in focus from the College of Liberal and Professional Studies’ on-campus B.A. degree, which it will replace, through an emphasis on interdisciplinary learning and on connecting the liberal arts to professional and career development. The college is working closely with an employer advisory board as it develops the program. The cost per course will be $2,250, down from the $3,212 per course charged in the on-campus program.

The move, announced on Tuesday, follows the news this summer that Penn’s School of Engineering and Applied Science would offer the university’s first online degree, a master of computer and information technology, at about a third of the cost of the program’s on-campus version.

Richard Garrett, chief research officer at Eduventures, a consulting company, said he’s curious to see how this new degree fits into Penn’s broader online strategy and the programs it designs for the adult-student market. “The more interesting story may be that this means you can get a bachelor’s from Penn at a much lower price,” he said.

It also makes sense that the degree is aimed at adults, Garrett said, given that traditional-age students have shown little interest so far in fully online programs. “It’s hard to be sure on the numbers,” he said, “but about 80 percent-plus fully online bachelor students are over the age of 25, and most of the rest are 22 to 24. There are very few who are 18.”

According to U.S. Education Department data, about 13 percent of undergraduates in 2016 studied fully online, compared with more than a quarter of graduate students.

The new program will have two residency requirements. The first is a writing course, which Lewis said would be designed to be completed over a weekend early in the program, and would include meetings with advisers and participation in campus events. The second would vary based on students’ interests and academic focus. Natural-science courses may require more time on the campus, she said, but the college is working to find ways to put all content online.

The university will join a growing number of traditional higher-education institutions offering online degrees at both the undergraduate and graduate levels. Penn State World Campus, for example, enrolls nearly 20,000 students in more than 150 degree and certificate programs taught by Penn State faculty members.

Penn may be the only Ivy League university to offer an online bachelor’s degree, but Lewis expects that will change. “It’s coming, it’s definitely coming,” she said. “There’s a real commitment and understanding of the need to have broader inclusion and access, and be able to reach learners around the world. So I think it’s just a matter of time.”

Beth McMurtrie writes about technology’s influence on teaching and the future of learning. Follow her on Twitter @bethmcmurtrie, or email her at beth.mcmurtrie@chronicle.com.