From morning to night, the Liberty University Online call center in Lynchburg buzzes as an army of about 220 workers fields queries from prospective students across the U.S. and overseas.

Housed in Green Hall on Libertys main campus, the call center rivals the size of a football field and is packed with gray cubicles. Its the nerve center for Libertys rapidly growing online program, and for countless students, its the first contact theyll have with the university.

Among Virginias brick-and-mortar institutions, Liberty has emerged as a pioneer in distance education.

Enrollment at Liberty University Online surpassed 82,000 students this year, bringing the universitys combined residential and online headcount to more than 100,000. The number of students taking online classes is nearly triple the enrollment of 27,500 just five years ago.

Many of LUs residential and online students also receive federal financial aid, like those at most colleges and universities. LU students received about $445 million in federal financial aid money for fiscal 2009-2010, for example, helping fuel the growth.

The online success has bolstered Libertys finances and powered a sharp revenue increase. Liberty reported a surplus of $203 million in 2010-11, according to the universitys most recently available IRS 990 tax form.

Chancellor Jerry Falwell Jr. said that surplus continues to rise.

Liberty is operating like a for-profit school but without some of the pitfalls, he said, pointing to LUs comparatively high graduation rates and low student loan default rates.

Thats sort of the secret as to why Libertys finances have done what theyve done.

A longtime proponent of distance education, Liberty revamped its online program in 2003 when it began emphasizing degree programs instead of individual courses, LU officials said.

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Liberty University online students nearly tripled in five years