They will take them in a house. And they will take them with a mouse. And they will take them here and there. Say! They will take them anywhere!

Just like Dr. Seuss's Sam-I-Am and his famous eggs and ham, all it took was a taste for college students to get hooked on online classes.

Originally expected to stop growing this year, a study shows that participation in online classes continues to build. The national survey by the Sloan Consortium shows 3.2 million students are now participating.

"This is the largest study to date and its tells us online learning is growing without any sign of plateau," said Jeff Seaman, Sloan Consortium's spokesman.

Brigham Young University and Utah Valley State College match that.

"It's been exponential growth," UVSC spokesman Chris Taylor said. "We had 98 students enrolled in 1996 when we first began and now we have over 7,000."

BYU doesn't have an actual head count, spokeswoman Carri Jenkins said, but they have 28,000 course enrollments -- some students could be enrolled in more than one class.

The two schools have different focuses, however. UVSC is focusing on getting more online college classes and has online degrees available. BYU has 200 college courses as well as 226 high school and 77 enrichment courses, which are low cost or free and teach life topics like genealogy or how to build a functional family.

"It really is a service that we provide," Jenkins said of the independent study program. BYU does not give high school credit, but provides the text. The credit comes through the high school and BYU determines how much credit is offered.

Three online degrees are available at UVSC, a two-year business degree, public emergency services management, and aviation -- though flight time must be completed with an instructor. The school has 115 online courses.

John Krutsch, director of distance education at UVSC, said he got his master's degree online while he was an elementary school teacher. Seeing how the program worked at Utah State University influenced his career path. He had intended to stay in elementary education but moved to administration to further UVSC's program.

"It was a great opportunity," he said of the degree. He enjoyed not having to take extra time away from family and work to go to school.

The Sloan Consortium looked at who was taking online classes. They found that 73 percent of students agreed that online education reached students outside of the 18-24 age range.

It found that those students like them for the same reason Sam-I-Am liked his ham. The classes are available when the students want them.

"Offering courses online increases enrollment, particularly among populations like working adults and others who traditionally have not been able to access higher education," said Frank Mayadas, Sloan Foundation program director.

UVSC officials said they've had students taking classes while deployed in Iraq.

The Sloan survey found that the average online student is an undergraduate, matching large numbers of undergraduates at most institutions. The proportion of graduate-level students taking online classes, however, is slightly higher than the overall higher education population.

As a UVSC student, Stacy Fowler agrees.

"I work full time, part time and have two kids," she said. "That's actually why I took online classes is because it's convenient and I can do them in the middle of the night."

She said she's enjoyed working on getting her associate degree in general academics.

"More than anything, it's just nice that there's not a set time that I have to be sitting in a classroom," she said. "I still feel that the instructor is there and available for me if I need additional help."

For others, it's just the opportunity to get ahead. Sarah Hale took online classes at BYU to help her get through general education requirements.

"It did because I didn't have to go to class once a week and sit through lessons, I got to do it on my own time," she said, noting that she took two classes.

Natalie Andrews is available at 344-2561 or This e-mail address is being protected from spam bots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it