The Digital Divide: Online Education at Minority-Serving and Predominantly White Institutions

• In Event: Sociology of Education Section Roundtables
  In Refereed Roundtable (60 minute): Table 4. Contemporary Dilemmas in Higher Education

Abstract

US universities and colleges are expanding their online course offerings. However, little attention has been paid to the patterned ways in which this expansion is happening. As higher education institutions expand their online course offerings, it is important to understand which institutions are expanding online course offerings and why. Prior research has established that higher education online programs target historically marginalized students, and further shows that online college attendance is associated with worse outcomes in terms of learning, retention, graduation, and student debt. As certain institutions expand their online course offerings faster than others, this paves the way for widespread difference and potential inequality in how students are receiving higher education today. This paper examines how Minority-Serving Institutions invest in online courses differently than Predominantly White Institutions. Quantitative analyses using data from 801 U.S. universities and colleges show that there are long-standing differences in how Minority-Serving Institutions vs Predominantly White Institutions invest online. From 2012-2020, PWIs enrolled larger shares of students taking online courses. After 2020, MSIs increased their use of online courses, while PWIs scaled back their remote courses.

Author

• Kea Saper, University of California-San Diego