People beginning post-secondary studies or returning to college today will ask themselves, is online learning right for me? Increasingly, the answer to that is a resounding yes.

Online learning is the fastest growing segment of higher education and enrollment in asynchronous courses—anytime, anywhere classes—is growing fastest of all. The reason most often cited for this is convenience. With online learning people can take courses that originate hundreds, even thousands of miles away. There is no need to defer careers, disengage from families or communities, or relocate to be near education institutions.

The issue of cost is the second most compelling reason to study online. To begin with, the online university doesn’t require all the ancillary fees so common at brick-and-mortar institutions—parking fees, student activity fees, and the like. Also, commuting expenses alone are enough to incline current and would-be students toward online education. Fuel costs can now account for a substantial share of the total budget associated with higher education. But another factor may outweigh even gas prices.

“Time is the single most precious commodity our students have,” says Mark J. DeRitis, associate dean of students at Clarkson University, in Potsdam, N.Y. And Clarkson is a predominantly residential school, where most students live on campus, in dormitories. To adult students, with career, family and other obligations, time isn’t just precious; it is often what they most lack. For these people, the value of time cannot be overstated.

Convenience and cost, though, are not the only factors driving the surge in online learning. Just as significant for many students is that the online education delivery system itself is absolutely perfect. The course materials may be absorbed at one’s own pace, and thanks to this the learning process can be more deliberative, more rewarding.

Online learning relies strongly upon reading and writing—as opposed to trying to follow a classroom lecture while frantically scribbling notes amid an atmosphere of distraction. Learning in the online environment affords the opportunity for reflection as the course material is absorbed, rather than recording class content so it can be gone over later. To students who do not need, or cannot find time for the reinforcing social aspects of classroom-based learning, the freedom of asynchronous education provides the ideal alternative university.

But is online learning right for everyone? No, of course not. The real question though is whether it is right for you.

The answer to this rests with the persona of the successful online learner, an individual combination of preparedness and attitude. The successful learner will bring to the process a certain skill set—for example, a grasp of the basics of research and, most importantly, a developed ability to communicate through the written word and to understand written communication. That being said, attitude is the sine qua non of successful online learning.

The best online learners are self-starters—highly motivated, focused, determined self-starters. They are also individuals who already possess or are willing to develop time management skills and the ability to pursue their university degree alongside the competing responsibilities and distractions of life.

As you have come this far, chances are, the best online learners are people like you.