The National Center for Education Statistics, a branch of the U.S. Department of Education, also found that the total enrollment in distance learning courses across all post-secondary degree-granting institutions roughly doubled -- from 754, 000 to 1.6 million -- from 1995 to 1997-98.
The award ceremony - appropriately, for students who had studied a masters course in distanceeducation - is expected to be the first of a series as more and more courses are delivered through the internet.
According to an International Data Corp. study, the number of college students taking distance learning courses will triple to 2.2 million by 2002, or 15 percent of all higher education students.
Concord Law is fully accredited by the California Bar Association and the DistanceEducation Training Council, the industry's national standard bearer, and most of Kaplan College's other online courses also are accredited through their associations and boards.