For Bellevue Community College and Edmonds Community College in Washington state, online education is an important way of life. For each of these two colleges, online enrollment is a significant portion of the total. Some 13,000 students out of a total enrollment of more than 73,000 in 2005 studied online through BCC. For EdCC, 11,000 of a total enrollment of more than 40,000 were online. Clearly, the online student body is a critically important population for both institutions.