It's one of the most common hesitations about online learning, and a fair one: will I actually feel like part of something, or will I just be working through a checklist alone?
The reality for online Arizona State University students is that you won’t be in isolation. Over 100,000 students have pursued their degree online within a genuine, active student community built specifically around the fact that its members are scattered across time zones instead of dorm rooms. Our online graduates often describe the opposite of the loneliness they expected, saying that even with classmates and professors spread across the country, they never felt like they were going through the program alone.
Real connection, even from a distance
Every online course at ASU is taught by the same faculty who teach on ASU's physical campuses, using the same curriculum, which means the professor guiding your class isn't a separate "online instructor," they're an ASU researcher and educator who happens to be reachable through a screen instead of a hallway.
Office hours, direct messaging and class discussion boards give you regular access to that same faculty expertise, and many instructors make a point of getting to know online students by name over the course of a semester.
That access not only builds your learning, but it can also help shape your future career. Some ASU faculty members were online students themselves before joining the university's teaching ranks, and that experience has directly shaped how their courses are built today, including pushing for expanded online options in fields that once had thin offerings for distance learners. That's the kind of faculty relationship online students build at ASU: not a distant lecturer, but often someone who has walked the same path and is actively working to make it wider for the students who come next.
Peer relationships take shape the same way, just through different tools. Group projects, class discussion boards and course-specific Slack or Canvas channels give students a natural way to start talking to classmates, and those conversations regularly turn into real study partnerships and friendships. Students who've been through the program tend to give the same advice to newcomers: connection takes a little effort to find, but starting small and simply reaching out is usually all it takes.
How online clubs, study groups and group projects work across time zones
One of the more surprising things about ASU’s online community is how organized it is. Through Sun Devil Central, ASU's official student community platform, online students can join clubs built around majors, shared interests, geographic regions, identity communities like LGBTQIA+ groups, STEM fields, alumni networks and more, all designed from the ground up to work for a membership spread across the globe rather than centered on one campus.
Study groups follow a similar pattern. Many course sections include a built-in community space in Canvas or Slack, and students are encouraged to use it by posting an invitation to form a study or work group. That’s often all it takes to find a few classmates in similar time zones or with compatible schedules.
Group projects, a fixture of many degree programs, naturally push this further. Since online students are already used to coordinating across time zones for coursework, they tend to become comfortable fairly quickly with the tools, like Zoom, Slack and shared documents, that make asynchronous teamwork actually work.
Additionally, student-run groups like the Sun Devils Connect Facebook community bring together students at every stage, from incoming first-years to graduate students, in one place to ask questions and swap advice, with current students and even faculty regularly jumping into the conversation. ASU's Sun Devil Rewards app adds a playful layer on top of that where students can earn points, called pitchforks, for attending virtual events, redeemable for ASU swag.
Wellness and support resources built specifically for online students
Feeling connected isn't only about friendships and faculty relationships, it's also about having real support when life gets heavy, and ASU takes that seriously for its online students. Every online student has access to 360 Life Services, a comprehensive support program delivered through TELUS Health Student Support that includes 24/7 counseling, crisis intervention, anxiety and stress management resources, health assessments and even virtual fitness content.
Academic support is just as built-out. Free, live online tutoring is available to online students in subjects ranging from writing and math to biology and Spanish, alongside academic advisors, success coaches and writing center services designed to catch small struggles before they become bigger ones.
Success coaches in particular tend to become one of the most consistent relationships an online student has throughout their program, checking in regularly and helping students stay on track from enrollment through graduation. For many students, that relationship ends up mattering more than expected, with some online graduates choosing to travel to campus specifically to meet a success coach in person for the first time, after years of support that, until that point, existed entirely by phone and video.
Feeling the Sun Devil spirit without setting foot on campus
Sun Devil pride was never meant to require a plane ticket. Online students can take part in ASU traditions the same way any Sun Devil does, cheering on Sparky the Sun Devil, following the Duel in the Desert rivalry game, and joining in campus-wide moments through livestreams, social media and virtual events built specifically with distance in mind.
And when it's time to celebrate a degree, the choice is genuinely open. Online students are welcome to walk at ASU's in-person commencement and convocation ceremonies in Tempe alongside their on-campus classmates, an experience thousands of online graduates take part in every year. For students who can't make the trip, ASU still makes sure the moment gets marked: personalized StageClip videos, celebration graphics, zoom backgrounds and social media filters let students and their families celebrate the milestone from wherever they are.
However you choose to experience it, the same thread runs through all of it: earning your degree online at ASU was never meant to mean earning it alone.