Featured Articles on OnlineEducation.com

The master of fine arts (MFA) degree is surprisingly agile for an octogenarian concept. From its origins as a creative writing program in Iowa, first offered in 1940, the MFA is now available from over 250 institutions across the United States. The spread of online learning has made it more accessible than ever.

People pursue master’s degrees for the same reasons they always have: their profession requires that level of education, or it will help them reach the next pay grade in their current job. That said, the way in which students can complete a graduate-level program has changed, and traditional on-campus degrees are no longer their only option.

The National Association of Social Work Professions (NASW) describes the primary goal of careers in social services as enhancing the well-being of the most vulnerable and oppressed members of society. These 14 social work professors have demonstrated expertise gained through years of professional field experience and academic scholarship.

This guide profiles 15 outstanding members of faculty from three universities with fantastic speech pathology programs.

Learn about three first-rate university psychology programs and 15 phenomenal faculty members that shine in the classroom and beyond.

CIOs play a vital role in the modern economy, guiding companies in all different industries towards the right strategic information technology investments. The CIOs on this list are active C-level officers who are also engaged on Twitter.

After the Biden Administration had wiped out $109 million in student loan debt during the third quarter of 2023, the U.S. Department of Education now finds itself under pressure from congressional Democrats who want tax relief for their constituents.

Being a distance-based student is an investment of time and money. Choosing an accredited school with support from faculty, a student-focused learning experience, career-based networking opportunities, and accommodating academic schedules is critical to making the most of an online educational experience.

Millions of Americans may soon see another shakeup in the federal student loan system. The U.S. Department of Education confirmed in August it will begin transferring an unspecified number of accounts currently serviced by the Missouri Higher Education Loan Authority (MOHELA) to other contractors by the end of 2025.

For more than 18 years, the Department of Education’s Income-Based Repayment (IBR) plan quietly helped millions of borrowers qualify for student loan forgiveness. For borrowers who’ve made 300 monthly payments over about 25 years, the plan cancels their outstanding balances and considers their repayment obligation to be satisfied.

Probably the best that one could say about the changes to federal higher education finance policy signed into law July 4 with the One Big Beautiful Bill Act is that the sweeping legislation didn’t do as much damage as it could have done. The House version was one of the least popular reconciliation packages in the past 60 years and only passed the chamber in the middle of the night by a single vote.

The Trump administration’s 2025 executive order restricting Harvard’s international student visas has jolted the foundations of American higher education. The measure threatens an estimated $7 billion in annual revenue and roughly 60,000 jobs across the sector, exposing how dependent many universities have become on full-pay international enrollments.

Proposals for student loan forgiveness have been debated for years. They have come under increased attention with the financial impact to student borrowers struggling to make ends meet during the novel coronavirus period.

The rise of generative AI tools like ChatGPT has sparked a transformative shift in higher education. These tools are reshaping how students learn, how instructors teach, and how institutions navigate the complex intersection of technology and pedagogy. But while much of the discourse has focused on challenges such as academic integrity, there is a growing need to move beyond surface-level debates and adopt a more scientific approach to understanding the impact of these tools.

Making physical spaces and products more accessible and inclusive is important. The Center for Applied Special Technology (CAST) created the Universal Design for Learning (UDL) framework and guidelines to support the process of making learning transformative for all students.

When the typical cost of enrolling an on-campus student at a state university is less than $300, why would a public university division spend more than $34,000 to enroll a single undergraduate from Facebook? Or more than $33,000 to enroll a single graduate student from LinkedIn? Or more than $11,500 on average to enroll undergraduates from its top five online sources?

Although the UC System has never officially offered undergraduate programs available completely online, savvy students could cobble together enough of the online versions of the university’s courses to satisfy degree requirements without attending any of those classes in person.

The University of California System will launch a new initiative to offer online undergraduate courses for free to low-income high school students nationwide starting early in 2024. In collaboration with the National Education Equity Lab (NEEL), UC will start by offering two of its existing courses in high schools but plans to add more classes in the coming months. Students will earn both high school and transferable UC college credits for each class.

In one of the fastest-moving stories we’ve ever covered here at OnlineEducation.com, a legal memorandum by the Idaho Legislature’s counsel marked a turning point in the battle over the University of Idaho’s proposed acquisition of the online, for-profit University of Phoenix.

In September 2023, the Biden administration announced that it would approve $37 million in student loan cancellations for more than 1,200 former students enrolled at the University of Phoenix between 2012 and 2014 who essentially claimed that the for-profit school scammed them.

In August 2023, the University of Texas launched an expanded microcredential program designed to better prepare UT students and alumni for changing workforce demands within the State of Texas. Part of the UT system’s initiative known as Texas Credentials for the Future, the new program will provide 240,000 students from the nine UT campuses with access to Coursera’s Career Academy at no additional cost.

Educators have been innovative in their response to the massive move to online learning, whether exploring digital theatre arts or blockchain models in education. In particular, the use of games to support education and create a third-place, digital space for students to learn has emerged as an innovative model.

Keep reading to explore the most pressing challenges online students face, what meaningful support looks like, how educators can foster community in digital spaces, and how the future of online learning may evolve when well-being sits at the center.

The hottest story in online education right now involves a potential deal in which the University of Arkansas System would acquire the University of Phoenix as a nonprofit affiliate. Such an acquisition would continue a controversial trend in which state universities have recently bought for-profit schools, despite substantial risks to those public institutions’ brands, rankings, and reputations.

Since the outset of the pandemic, educators globally have responded creatively to ensure access to education for students when countries implemented stay-at-home orders in efforts to limit the spread of the novel coronavirus. And while the rapid move to online education options this year by many traditionally brick-and-mortar institutions has been lauded by the broader public, there continues to be somewhat last-minute-planning by institutions grappling to navigate online, offline, and hybrid program offerings.