"Some of the more rustic places were Internet cafes in neighborhoods in Cambodia and a remote highland town in Guatemala where they didn't have TV or indoor plumbing, but did have a satellite to connect to the Internet," Hyatt said.

Traditional institutions such as the University of Utah have also experienced a proliferation of online learning. The U. offers 100 courses to about 3,000 students each semester. Around the state, Utah's traditional colleges and universities offer nearly 2,000 online courses.

Chuck Wight, assistant vice president for academic affairs at the U., added that most of the U.'s online learners live in Utah and just need a little added flexibility in their schedules. A handful of students each semester do join the classes from military bases.

Partridge attributes the growing popularity of online learning to that added flexibility. At WGU, he said, once the school gets a little name recognition in a state, the enrollment tends to surge.

"The more broadly it reaches out into the public sphere, the more people's awareness becomes and following is the level of comfort," he said.

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E-mail: estewart@desnews.com