by KYW's John Ostapkovich

More and more people are taking college courses online, sometimes from Internet-only schools, and sometimes from those with real-world campuses that end up competing with themselves. 

  
Ask your web browser for online college courses and you'll get a long list from top-flight schools to something like the University of Fred. Dr. Emily Richardson, Dean of University College at Widener, has seen the number of online courses offered nearly quadruple in four years to about 40, compared to 100 offered face-to-face. She says online education's main draw seems to be its flexibility:

 

"Particularly, the adults students have lives that are so busy that they have trouble committing one specific night a week to go to class or even a weekend day to go to class."

 

Dean Richardson says online and face-to-face education can co-exist because many students want the on-campus experience or simply don't have the focus to study when there's no class to attend.