Online Student Aid

To gauge the impact of federal limits on aid to students in online programs, Congress in 1998 permitted the U.S. Education Department to waive those limits for a variety of institutions. In return for a five-year waiver, 15 institutions or groups of schools take part in a federal demonstration project studying online distance education and the role student aid plays. The agency may add up to 35 such entities later this year. The current list:

--Capella University, Minneapolis

--Community Colleges of Colorado

--Connecticut Distance Learning Consortium

--Florida State University

--Franklin University, Columbus, Ohio

--LDS (Latter-Day Saints) Church Education System (Mormon-run colleges in Hawaii, Utah and Idaho)

--New York University

--North Dakota University System

--Quest Education Corp. (Hamilton College and Kaplan College, both in Iowa)

--Southern Christian University, Montgomery, Ala.

--Texas Tech University

--University of Maryland University College

--Washington Community and Technical College System Online Consortium

--Washington State University

--Western Governors University, Salt Lake City

------

On the Net:

Federal project: http://www.ed.gov/offices/OPE/PPI/DistEd