Online education is growing by leaps and bounds, but so is the number of dropouts from the online stream of learning. Vicky Phillips, founder of Geteducated.com, a consulting agency for distance educators, estimates that around 35 percent of online students drop out of college. The average attrition rate for college freshmen at U.S. universities is around 20 percent. Various reasons are attributed to this high dropout rate:

• The learning program does not fit the student’s needs.
• The student has gained what he/she wanted out of the course, and sees no further use in continuing the same.
• The high level of discipline and commitment needed to cope with the demands of an online degree.
• The distractions of everyday life like television, family, work, children, and other commitments.
• The lack of online instructors’ personalized interest in the progress of their students.