Old Dominion Distance Learning Profile Expands as National Recognitions Accumulate
April 09, 2015
Old Dominion University is the only Virginia college or university to be included in a recently published national guide of institutions that offer the best values in online education.
Old Dominion placed 16th nationally in rankings that were released April 7 by Value Colleges. The rankings considered 20-year net return-on-investment, cost of attendance and other national rankings compilations.
"With some 70 programs to choose from, Old Dominion probably offers the widest variety of online degrees out there, including many majors not usually accommodated online, such as civil engineering, health and human services, or dental hygiene," Value Colleges wrote in its assessment.
Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University, whose administrative offices are in Daytona Beach, Fla., took the No. 1 spot. The full rankings are available at the Value Colleges website.
Old Dominion's Distance Learning program is one of the largest in the country. Students in the University's online program account for almost a third of all its 25,000 students. Value Colleges calculates the average return-on-investment from an Old Dominion online program to be $305,000.
To complete its national rankings, Value Colleges compiled information from PayScale.com, U.S. News & World Report, the Integrated Postsecondary Education Data System and schools' own websites. To qualify for the rankings, each school had to be a private or public college in the U.S., regionally accredited and offer at least three online bachelor's degree programs.
This ranking is just the latest in a series of national honors received by Old Dominion's Distance Learning programs.
"These national rankings, particularly this latest ranking by Value Colleges, are recognition of the significant effort put forth by University administration, faculty in every Old Dominion college, staff in Distance Learning and others across campus," said Andy Casiello, associate vice president for Distance Learning. "ODU online offerings allow people of the Commonwealth and beyond access to the great academic programs and content of Old Dominion University, at affordable tuition rates and at the highest quality of instructional design approaches."
Other recent accolades for Old Dominion's Distance Learning program, include:
- In the recent U.S. News Online Education rankings, Old Dominion was ranked 31st in online bachelor's degree programs, 39th in its online graduate nursing program and 42nd in its online graduate education programs;
- Affordable Colleges Online ranked Old Dominion third among the list of most affordable online colleges or universities in Virginia;
- SuperScholar ranked Old Dominion's engineering management program fifth among online schools nationally;
- In the GetEducated.com "Best Buy" rankings, ODU's BS of science in nursing ranked 9th, the MS in nursing ranked 13th, its BS in psychology and BS in human services were ranked 18th and the BS in criminal justice was ranked No. 12 in the country;
- In the SR Education Group's Most Affordable Online Programs ranking, Old Dominion's online human services program was ranked 8th, and its online counselling program was ranked 12th;
- Best Counseling Degrees ranked Old Dominion's school counseling and college counseling specializations fifth in the country for most affordable online master's degrees;
- College Choice ranked Old Dominion fifth for most affordable online colleges of bachelor's degrees; and
- Military Times and Military Advanced Education rank ODU very highly in top colleges for military education and military friendliness.
Additionally, Casiello was recently among eight authors who produced a guidebook of "Hallmarks in Excellence in Online Leadership" for UPCEA, the leading association for professional, continuing and online education in the United States. The Hallmarks were unveiled last week at UPCEA's 100th Annual Conference in Washington, D.C.
The guidebook will inform institutions and online leaders about best practices in online program development and leadership, and has been endorsed by ACE, NACUBO, NASPA and Quality Matters - the other online education associations in the U.S. ODU's association with this effort further expands the University's national reputation in online leadership.
To see the Hallmarks document, see the UPCEA website.
Old Dominion University is one of the largest providers of distance learning degree programs in the country. The University serves students online and at over 40 partner locations in Virginia, Arizona and Washington, in addition top military personnel taking classes while deployed around the world.