EDITORIAL: UHCL offering more online classes could be its saving grace

As UHCL continues to expand into a more traditional university, it finds itself still struggling with enrollment while also in the midst of a budget crisis that has plagued the campus for three years now. If UHCL wants to help both its budget and enrollment situation, the university should consider providing more online courses for first-and-second-year students.

UHCL has been dealing with a budget deficit since 2016 because of a decline in international student and graduate student enrollment. With this in mind, many methods have been taken to increase enrollment and help the budget crisis. While overall enrollment met a record high this year, with a recorded 9,084 students, UHCL’s international and graduate enrollment continues to struggle.

While efforts to change this are no doubt underway, another solution could be to increase undergraduate enrollment. Nearly all lower-level courses are required to be taught face-to-face, and generally in the morning, something that can be a struggle for students who may not be able to work these specific time slots into their schedules. Increasing online basics courses for freshmen and sophomores will attract more students to UHCL, increasing enrollment.

In the Houston-Clear Lake area, UHCL faces competition for first-and-second-year college students from nearby community colleges, like the San Jacinto Community Colleges (San Jac), which offer what students consider to be more affordable tuition, as well as a greater variety of first-and-second-year courses throughout the day and online. It is for this reason that many high school graduates and returning college students attend San Jac instead of enrolling at UHCL.

Online classes have become a greater phenomenon in higher education in recent years, something that InsideHigherEd and other college data sites have noted. In colleges like the central campus of the University of Houston and Texas A&M Commerce and community colleges like San Jac, the amount of students enrolled in online courses has greatly increased in the past few years and is expected to continue increasing annually.

Scholars and data specialists have pointed to the various reasons for the growing popularity of online classes. These include a greater choice of topics, the growing technological literacy of college students, as well as the fact that online courses allow for a greater flexibility in one’s schedule. A study by The Learning House showed that 44 percent of online students reported improvements in their employment standing, by obtaining a full-time job within 12 months of graduation for example, and 45 percent reported a salary increase.

The growing appeal of online classes partially explains why some students prefer nearby community colleges over UHCL for their varied selection of online courses. UHCL only offers four online degrees for undergraduates: Anthropology, finance, general business and public service leadership. This means that basics courses are only available to those wishing to obtain one of those four degrees. With just these options, it is easy to see why UHCL continues to face great competition from San Jac and other local community colleges, and, sadly turns out the loser.

With all this in mind, it is clear that by adding more online courses, the result can help UHCL in the long run. Despite this, there continues to be criticism from some in higher education about the legitimacy of online courses over traditional classes. Many point to concerns about whether students will pass such classes and how the courses fail to provide the face-to-face interactions that are considered vital to one’s college experience. While the face-to-face interaction between students and teachers is definitely something that has always shaped the spread of knowledge and nature of higher education, this was and has been, for the most part, only a means to an end. That end being students obtaining their higher education. It should be students’ choice how they choose to learn, and online classes can benefit a student while challenging him or her just as a traditional classroom would.

With online enrollment on the rise every year, it is clear that online courses are proving to be appealing to students and the growing numbers are showing that such concerns may not be as big as one might think. Students enroll in college for their own individual experience and advancement in life, while also being able to learn and utilize colleges the best way they see fit for themselves. Many students, especially non-traditional students, find themselves having trouble keeping up in traditional courses due to schedule conflicts with other commitments.

With UHCL still being a largely nontraditional college, it is easy to see how online courses can benefit those who are not straight out of high school but also those who are. There has always been concern about students passing classes and flunking out of college even before online classes were such a thing. With this in mind, the concern should not be any greater regarding online classes than it should for traditional courses, and with UHCL in its current budget situation, the campus should be willing to give students as many options online as they do on campus to further attract more enrollment. The university could even consider creating more hybrid classes if such a level of concern is that high.

Students of UHCL deserve the option of being able to take their basic courses online, and as UHCL continues to expand with new buildings and even new minors, it is only logical that this growing university expands virtually as well, helping both students, the university and thus its entire student body. While this is not something that can easily happen overnight, it is a process very much worth investing in if UHCL wants to become the traditional university it has wished to become for years now.

Also published on Medium.