For years, some universities have dreamed of border-defying online programs that vacuum up tuition dollars far beyond local students. But now a growing number of institutions are ramping up their efforts to attract working adults in their own backyards. Commuter-serving urban universities can not match the marketing muscle of faster-growing, for-profit, online colleges. What they can try to do is parlay stronger local brands, cheaper tuition, and blended programs that shift a lot of class time online into an appealing package for area adults, those who might value coming to campus periodically but struggle to do it three times a week. The "go local" trend follows the flameout of one of the latest public efforts to forge an online institution of international scope. Traditional universities, especially smaller ones that are not state flagships, fear losing students to the for-profit ones, says A. Frank Mayadas, an Alfred P. Sloan Foundation program director considered by some to be the father of online learning. For faculty members, blended learning can actually be an easier sell. Professors who might shun fully online courses will attempt hybrid ones, Mr. Mayadas says, because they can still see students. The bottom line is that even online, for many students there seems to be no place like home. Surveys show around two-thirds of consumers interested in online education would rather do it at a local institution.