According to a recent ClassesUSA article, public universities are steadily increasing their influence in the world of online learning. Here's a blurb:

"The common perception of online education is that it is dominated by private, for-profit institutions like those you see advertised on late-night cable TV and on the Internet. As eLearning has gone mainstream and grown, however, that perception is changing. Today, nearly all public institutions offer online programs, as do about half of private, non-profit schools, according to the Sloan Consortium (Sloan-C), an association of institutions and organizations aimed at providing quality online education.

So what does this say about the future of online learning? One thing's for sure: As more and more public universities design cyber courses, the number of eLearners will continue to increase."

This is good news: as more public universities start online programs e-learning as a whole will gain a better reputation and many students will be able to earn a diploma with in-state tuition instead of paying pricey private school costs.