Online learning trend helps students on fringes go to university but reveals stark digital divide

She hardly fits the stereotype of a university student, but Jessica Royce is a surprisingly typical example of a modern breed of student.

She is 30 years old, lives on a hobby farm in regional WA and juggles her job with a community organisation with caring for three small children and being pregnant with a fourth.

Three years into a social work degree with Central Queensland University, she said she would not be able to get a university qualification unless she could study online.

And the statistics show that…