Education. Even as a busy adult with a full-time job, you understand its power. You know learning can elevate, enable, and transform—and that it’s never too late to start. You’ve proven that already by enrolling in a remote algebra course from BYU Independent Study. But imagine this story beginning 100 years earlier.
It’s the 1920s. Each day you check your mailbox, hoping to find a thick sepia envelope stuffed with lessons and assignments. In the quiet years after the Great War, education feels precious—something worth pursuing no matter the distance or the format.
That’s right: BYU has offered independent courses since the early 1920s. Long before laptops and wi-fi, students learned through correspondence packets delivered straight to their doorsteps. And just like today’s digital courses, those packets sparked learning that educated, enabled, and inspired.
Here are a few highlights from BYU Independent Study’s century-spanning story:
Missionaries were among the first students.
In the early 1920s, BYU’s Bureau of Correspondence (as it was then known) served 255 students—nearly half of them missionaries preparing for the field. Courses in genealogy and doctrine helped them feel spiritually anchored and academically ready for what lay ahead. Even at the beginning, BYU Independent Study was about more than grades. It was about growth that made a difference.
Enrollment surged during WWII.
By the mid-1940s, BYU Independent Study was busier than ever. Of 1,064 enrolled students, an incredible 700 were servicemen and servicewomen taking courses through the United States Armed Forces Institute. Many would never set foot on campus, but they carried their lessons with them around the world. Completion rates weren’t always ideal—war has a way of disrupting homework—but the truth was clear: learning stays with us, even in the trenches.
In 1955, 2,300 study packets mailed to servicemen.
The Church’s Study-While-You-Serve initiative, supported by BYU, sent “An Invitation to Learning” to Latter-day Saint servicemen worldwide. Each packet included a personal message from President Joseph Fielding Smith. For many, their course materials arrived with prophetic encouragement tucked inside.
By the 1970s, BYU IS ranked among the largest programs in the nation.
In 1972, nearly 8,500 students were enrolled; by 1980, enrollment surpassed 13,000. BYU ranked third nationwide in college-level correspondence registrations, just behind California and Penn State. If BYU Independent Study had been its own campus, it would’ve been one of the largest at BYU.
Fax machines once powered fast feedback.
During the 1990s, BYU Independent Study introduced Speedback and Faxback—systems that allowed students to fax in assignments and receive rapid computer-graded results. It wasn’t Canvas, but it dramatically cut turnaround times and made learning more accessible and efficient.
So the next time you open a digital course, take a moment to appreciate how far we’ve come. For more than 100 years, education has triumphed over distance, technology barriers, and world events. And today, BYU Independent Study offers more flexibility, higher quality, and better support than ever before.
There’s never been a better time to become a lifelong learner.