“I feel like the recognition just validates the model we’ve been building for years,” said Bonnie Rodriguez Mortensen, the university’s senior director of online and graduation studies. “Just that affordability and flexibility working together and not having them be separate initiatives, but it’s a unified strategy for student success.”

UVU enrolls approximately 7,400 online students, offering 22 certifications, 21 associate degrees, 27 bachelor’s degrees and eight master’s degrees remotely.

Mortensen said the university is nationally competitive in the following online programs: professional pilot, aviation management, aviation science, psychology, family science, business analysis, marketing and finance.

The number of students enrolled in online programs has grown in recent years, which Mortensen said has been a result of accommodating demand. She said the majority of online students actually live within 30 minutes of UVU’s main campus in Orem, but that online programs better fit their circumstances.

“We have those flexible options so that folks can actually complete their degrees,” she said. “Our student demographics are a little bit older. The majority work. Several have families. And we have to be able to afford them an education that actually works with their life.”

The online tuition rate is the standard in-state tuition rate, however, students from outside Utah who enroll online receive a discount on out-of-state tuition, while out-of-state online graduate students can qualify for in-state tuition.

Around 700 of those students come from outside Utah, with the strongest concentration coming from California, Arizona, Idaho and Colorado.

“That’s just a big savings for students, and they’re not getting any less quality with that lower cost,” Mortensen said.