Rising above the rest
Liberty University receives No. 1 ranking for online school programs in Virginia
Liberty University Online (LUO) has been ranked Virginia’s No. 1 online school for 2016 by onlinecolleges.com.
Liberty University was No. 1 over 74 other schools in Virginia, including both 4-year and 2-year schools.
OFFICE — The Liberty University Online building has moved from River Ridge (above) and is now located on Graves Mill Road.
Photo Credit: Michela Diddle
According to Katherine Rainey, a data editor for onlinecolleges.com, 48 of those schools are 4-year intuitions.
Rainey said the colleges are narrowed down and ranked based on material provided by the National Center for Education Statistics’ Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System (IPED).
She said IPED provides data for more than 7,500 schools.
However, Rainey said raw data is not everything.
“While we are looking at raw data for the ranking, we chose to use data points that reflect a broad experience at the school and not just look at the number of programs they offer,” Rainey said.
She said the reason Liberty did so well in the rankings had to do with the school’s variety of degree programs, services provided, and percentage of students enrolled in the online school.
According to Rainey, Liberty was ranked first both overall and among the 4-year schools for the number of distance education programs, third in both for the percentage of students participating in the online program, and 14th overall and 13th among the 4-year schools for total electronic library facilities.
She said, among the 4-years schools, Liberty ranked 26th for in-state tuition and No. 15 for average out-of-state tuition.
“While Liberty’s online component is key to its No. 1 ranking, we’re also impressed by the student services and flexible credit offering that shows Liberty cares deeply about the quality of education and the experience that they offer to their online students,” Rainey said.
Currently, there are more than 95,000 students across the nation and in other countries enrolled in LUO.
Dr. Steve Peterson, vice president of admission, said about 100,000 students were enrolled in LUO at the start of the semester.
He said that does not include the students who have signed-up for online classes since.
LUO also offers more than 250 degree programs.
Peterson said the degrees are designed to be flexible for distant students.
There is a variety of resources and services that online students can access, such as an online library database, career services, online tutoring, online student communities, military and veteran services and spiritual resources.
Peterson said LUO strives to include online students in the community.
He said they have opportunities to serve in ministry through the office of Spiritual Development and to study abroad.
“We’re trying to offer services and opportunities that develop a community just like a student would experience in the residential environment,” Peterson said.
LUO has a dual enrollment program known as Edge, which allows high school students to gain college credits that can also count towards earning high school credits.
The credits earned through these classes can be transferred toward the college of the student’s choice should they choose not to attend Liberty.
Peterson said students also have the option to earn their associates of art while still in high school.
Online classes are also an option for residential students, and Peterson said most of the classes are eight-weeks long.
He said it is common for students to take general education courses online because they take less time to complete.
Peterson said the residential campus strengthens the online experience.
He said Liberty wants its online program to have the same quality as the residential program.
“Our online program is an extension of our residential campus,” Peterson said.
“It provides our students with quality, rigorous
academics.”
Kehrman is a news reporter.