Nicholls Online started in January of 2013 with the goal of giving students that have previously dropped out of college a second chance at getting a higher education.
Since the launch of Nicholls Online, the number of enrolled students has doubled. 170 students are now enrolled in the program from all walks of life with a variety of different majors. One of five students enrolled in the program was in a traditional college before.
Allayne Barrilleaux, vice president of Academic Affairs, has been actively involved in the forming and progression of Nicholls Online and is very pleased with the feedback that she is getting from students enrolled in the program.
According to Barrilleaux, there are many benefits to this new online learning program. ” This gives people who are sick, or have dropped out of school for various reasons with some college credit the ability to return to school without leaving the privacy of their homes,” Barrilleaux said, “Most people would have left school altogether if it had not been for this program.”
Students have already graduated from Nicholls online and have had the opportunity to advance in their careers.
According to Barrilleaux, Nicholls is currently working on a marketing project to promote Nicholls Online to Louisiana residents. “We are putting an ad in the Saints game programs that will be given out to all spectators.” Barrilleaux also presented Nicholls Online to the Rotary Club in Thibodaux, and a local family business owner has generously donated money to help with the marketing efforts.  
Barrilleaux claims that Nicholls Online is beneficial to students that haven’t been to school in a long time because instead of eighteen-week semester intervals, Nicholls Online has eight-week sessions to make it more manageable for students to get through the course and succeed, even in the midst of a busy schedule.
“Nicholls Online is set up differently than traditional Nicholls State University,” Barrilleaux said. “Students cannot be enrolled in both Nicholls Online and traditional Nicholls State University.” Freshmen are not recommended to take online courses through Nicholls Online. According to Barrilleaux, students that want to enroll in Nicholls Online need to be self-disciplined and self-motivated.
“Nicholls Online is also a benefit to the professors of the University,” Barrilleaux said. “It gives professors the opportunity to make some extra money by teaching these classes, and it also allows the teachers to let their creativity flow with how they want to run thier class online,” Barrilleaux said. “Taking classes through Nicholls Online is also easy to access and affordable to students.” The cost per course on Nicholls Online is $250 per credit hour as an undergraduate student and $350 per credit hour as a graduate student.
Nicholls Online is also starting a business administration curriculum next fall. Nicholls is in the process of enhancing the program, however, Barrilleaux doesn’t want cutting technology involved with the program. “It would be way too expensive for students to access this high tech program, and it would also be harder for students to get access to a good computer, in some cases, that could support a very technological program.”