The growing popularity of online learning has had a major impact on all schools not just the ones that offer online degrees. There has been a major change in the way that the entire education system operates. Some of this change is very definitely for the better while some of it is not. Either way it is quite likely that these changes are going to continue in the future.
The main reason that school as we know it is no more now that we have internet education is that even traditional schools are starting to take advantage of the technology. These days most college professors will put at least part of their course material online and expect their students to access it that way. In addition many students who attend regular colleges are taking some of their courses online rather than in classroom format. This is likely to become more common in the future as schools recognize the benefits.
The benefit of using online learning even for students at a regular college is that it can be done for a lower cost than having students in a classroom. The main reason is simply that there is no need for the classroom. This means that the limitation on the number of students who can attend is eliminated. There is also the advantage of allowing one professor to teach hundreds of students at a time. This also greatly reduces the costs for the school.
Another big change that we are seeing as the result of online learning is that there are a lot of older students taking degrees these days. In the past they never would have had the opportunity because of their work commitments. One downside to this however is that many of these students aren't there by choice. The increased availability of college degrees has made it necessary to get more education for the same job than was required in the past. In fact one of the biggest changes is that we are starting to see people having to continuously take courses to upgrade their skills throughout their working lives.
One of the changes that we are starting to see as well that is less positive is that colleges and universities are greatly reducing the amount of research that they do. Historically a big part of what universities did was to provide research but this is really no longer the case. To be sure it still happens but more and more schools are become white collar trade schools the only purpose of which is to provide students with the credentials that they need for their careers. We are also seeing a shift away from subjects like the sciences and humanities and towards professional degrees. There are a lot of people who are quite concerned about this.