The purpose of the study was to determine if there was a difference between the academic performances--measured by grades and performance on national exams--of dental hygiene students enrolled in online and on-campus nutrition courses. Researchers gathered data from 54 dental hygiene students who took a nutrition class in the fall semesters of 1998 and 1999. Students' ages, their course averages, grade-point averages (GPA), and performance on the National Board Dental Hygiene Examination (NBDHE) were correlated, and regression analysis and two sample t-tests were performed on the data. The results indicated a weak r2 value (0.291) for GPA as a predictor of course performance and a low r2 value (0.074) for GPA as a predictor of the NBDHE score. Even though the online students had a higher GPA (not statistically significant), data suggests no difference in course average and performance on NBDHE tests between the online and on-campus students. A trend analysis indicated that students with a lower GPA who enrolled in the online courses performed lower than on-campus students.