When it comes to attendance, online college students are not that different from traditional college students; sometimes, they just don't go to class, even if the education is free.

A University of Pennsylvania study found massive open online courses (MOCCs) have few active users and that user engagement decreases dramatically. Furthermore, almost half of the registered users don't ever watch a single lecture in that class, and only 4 percent complete the classes.

Are these findings really that surprising? Without a professor to make them feel guilty for skipping class, perhaps it's only natural that many online college students just don't "show up" to lecture. Not to mention, there are other distractions online college students must deal with when they're not in a traditional classroom: television, interruptions from roommates or family members, etc.

What do you think about these findings? Leave your comments below!