Online learning is making its way into the strategic plans of a growing number of education institutions, whose administrators find its profit margins compelling. According to The Sloan Consortium (2006), 56 percent (2,320) of all 2-year and 4-year degree-granting (Title-IV eligible) institutions offered distance education courses. The increase in offering "anytime-anyplace" learning has provided nontraditional students access to higher education, a path that many say was once not available to them. Online schools are seeing tremendous growth in enrollment, outpacing enrollment in traditional colleges and universities. Moreover, Congress has recently lifted a restriction that prohibited students from qualifying for federal aid if their online college or university provided more than 50 percent of their course offerings online.

The elimination of the 50 percent rule will open the door for many more traditional education institutions and for-profit schools to increase their distance education programs, even though research shows that students who study online drop out at a 10--20 percent higher rate than students who attend classes on campus. As online student enrollment increases, administrators are providing additional support services for their students in order to decrease attrition. One strategy that some for-profit schools have used to help increase retention is providing coaches for their students.

The purpose of this research was to determine how college students who attend a for-profit school perceived the benefits of coaching, and to find out the actual value it had on their academic persistence. The findings in this study showed that coaching contributes in some subtle but important ways to students' success. However, it had a marginal impact on persistence. What seemed to influence the persistence of students most was their personal commitment and motivation to reach their career goals. (Abstract by author)