Aslanian eLearning Poll Finds Prospective Students Fail to Consider Workplace Tuition Reimbursement

HOBOKEN, NJ, July 14, 2011 (Press-News.org) Survey results released by eLearners.com today indicate that two-thirds of prospective online learners that work full-time are not taking advantage of workplace tuition reimbursement programs available to them. Among the survey respondents, 55 percent replied that they plan to rely on government loans to pay for school, 45 percent plan to use funds they have earned or have saved for their education and 40 percent will seek grants through the government. The aggregated results come from the June Aslanian eLearning Poll, which asked participants about their motivations for taking online college courses and how they plan to pay for their education.

The Poll found that of the participants with access to workplace-based tuition assistance, about 70 percent of their employers offered reimbursement after the completion of a course and 25 percent provide assistance at the time of registration. The prospective online learners replied that it was their opinion that employers offer assistance for three major reasons: to help employees advance to higher positions, to help employees be better at a current job and to make employees happier therefore increasing their propensity to stay at their current job. However when asked how they planned to pay for school, participants replied that they were planning to use funding avenues other than employer-based tuition assistance.

"Tuition is often a significant obstacle for adults weighing the decision to go to school. People's first instincts seem to drive them to government loans or using personal funds. These are great options, but employer tuition assistance programs can be a great resource too," said Carol Aslanian, adult education expert and Senior Vice President of Aslanian Market Research, which conducted the Aslanian eLearning Poll with eLearners.com. "Further, if a tuition assistance program is available through one's employer, not taking advantage of it is like automatically forfeiting a portion of your paycheck each month."

Other results from the Poll showed online degree programs continue to attract more women than men. Additionally, online degree seekers are equally interested in online masters degrees and online bachelors degrees.

The Aslanian eLearning Poll was conducted during June 2011 and respondents represented a sample of prospective online learners who registered with eLearners.com during the month. View the complete results of the June eLearning Poll.

For more information about online courses and degree programs, prospective students should visit elearners.com, or for tips and advice related to online education, they should go to the Back to School Survival Guide at http://www.elearners.com/back-to-school/.

About eLearners.com
Since 1999, eLearners.com has been successfully connecting prospective students interested in online degree, certification and training programs with a wide selection of online accredited colleges and universities. eLearners.com offers a powerful search engine that indexes thousands of program offerings online, as well as a variety of educational evaluation tools and financial aid resources. eLearners.com offers schools seeking prospective students a low-cost, performance-based method to gain national exposure and increase enrollments in their programs.

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Communications Strategy Group
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