At the University of Georgia, we are committed to raising the bar for higher education, and statistics show that master’s degree programs have grown increasingly popular, especially online.

Master’s degree programs are also becoming increasingly more expensive, with net prices having risen faster than bachelor’s degrees. This is why recently, more and more people have chosen to pursue an online Master’s degree to forgo additional institution costs that are associated with being on-campus. During the 2015-16 academic year, about 785,000 master’s degrees were awarded in the U.S., a rate of about two master’s for every five bachelor’s degrees awarded. The rate of enrollment in online master’s courses or programs has increased substantially, and an analysis found that 31 percent of students enrolled in master’s degree programs in 2016 reported that their program was entirely online, with 21 percent reporting that they took some, but not all, classes online.

Over the past two decades, master’s programs have gradually enrolled a larger share of students from underrepresented racial and ethnic backgrounds. The share of African-American and Hispanic students has nearly doubled over the past 20 years. During the same time, master’s programs themselves have gotten more diverse with more specialized offerings and a wider arrangement of courses offered. At the University of Georgia Online, we offer 17 master’s degree programs and 12 graduate certificates. Additionally, we offer a post baccalaureate certificate and two undergraduate degrees.

Online education is particularly well suited for students in master’s programs because these students typically tend to be proactive and self-motivated learners who are more likely to be previously educated and employed. Online master’s degrees also offer more flexibility to the students, allowing them to make their own schedule and complete work on their own time, within deadlines. 

This article was adapted from Inside Higher Ed.