Alicia Downs, a freelance writer, felt hesitant to enter a full-time college environment.

"I have a daughter," Downs said, "and I didn't want to leave her."

Instead, she enrolled in the Penn State World Campus, an online distance education program that better suited her needs.

"I really wanted to go back and this was a good alternative," the 21-year-old said.

With a recent $650,000 grant from the Alfred P. Sloan Foundation, the World Campus will be able to expand its services for students such as Downs who take courses from Penn State online.

The most recent funding will be used to expand the range of student services provided by the World Campus, such as the creation of an online student union, career counseling and other services available at Penn State campuses, said Gary Miller, associate vice president for distance education and executive director of the World Campus. The funding will also be used to improve the faculty involvement and experience in the World Campus and to revise the internal structure of the program.

The endowment represents the latest in a series of grants to Penn State from the Sloan Foundation that have totaled $4.75 million. The grants have been fundamental in the development and success of the university's distance learning program, Miller said.

The realization of the World Campus has demonstrated the ability to integrate technology with learning successfully and also made education available to those whom it may not have been previously possible.

Downs, who first enrolled in September 2000, has taken courses year-round towards an associate's degree in letters, arts and sciences.

"My goal is to get my bachelor's from Penn State," she said.

Downs also said that the distance and lack of contact has never been an issue in her experiences.

"Nobody is ever really out of touch," Downs said. "I feel closer to some of my teachers than in a regular class."

Downs' ability to juggle her education along with parenting and working represents the strengths of an online approach to education.

"The Sloan Foundation's overall goal ... has been to make learning available to anyone who wished to learn, at anytime and anyplace, and at an affordable cost," Frank Mayadas, senior program officer and executive director of the Sloan Foundation's Learning Outside the Classroom program, said in a prepared statement.

With enrollment in the World Campus steadily increasing each year since its inception, the program has proven to be a true success, Miller said.

The program now has an enrollment of about 2,700 students and recently added programs such as the online master's of business administration degree.

"Our plan is to continue to develop two to three new programs each year," Miller said.

The program now offers about 200 courses and 26 certificate and degree programs.

With its previous successes and future potentials, Miller said online education will continue to grow.

"It's a way to engage students in an active learning environment," Miller said. "Online learning is here to stay."

Downs also praised the benefits and possibilities of online and distance education.

"It really seems like it's branching out and expanding," she said. "There's really no excuse to not get an education."