TUCSON Ariz.
The digital era is helping remove the need for college students to show up on campus.
It's become more common for students to log on to the Web to apply for college, register, pay tuition, get tutorials and chat with faculty and advisers.
And more students complete entire programs online.
"There is a lot more interaction going on online," said Pima Community College Chancellor Roy Flores.
Just think: No more long lines, scheduling around family and work, prowling for on-campus parking or sweat-breaking attempts to get to class on time.
Pima College, like the University of Arizona, is not only adding online classes, but is also increasing the number of programs entirely on the Web.
"People communicate online now as comfortably as we used to communicate face to face," Flores said. "We're obviously gearing up for online, but we're not making superhuman efforts to increase those enrollments. People just want them."
During fall 2001, Pima College had 589 students taking online courses. That number hit 3,739 last fall, the college reported. Online-only enrollment jumped from 132 to 1,481 during that same period.
Jose Snook is one of those who rarely step on campus.
The Flowing Wells Junior High choir director, theater director and drama teacher usually gets to work by 6:45 a.m. and typically leaves for home at 4:30 p.m.
By the time Snook gets home, his wife, Jodi Darling, often needs help with the children: Julia, 3, and Gabriel, who was born July 4.
"He takes his classes very seriously," said Darling, 33, who teaches part time in the Tanque Verde School District. "When he has a free moment, he's always on the computer."
But it helps that Snook isn't tied up in a class, she said.
Snook, 32, is pursuing his teaching certificate almost entirely online, so he can avoid sacrificing much of his family life.
"It's priceless," Darling said. "A lot of times, it's just about having an extra pair of hands having him here, physically, to hold the baby or turn on the movie for the kids so we can cook dinner. If he had to leave for school, I don't think we would ever see him."
