One of the marketable ideas that stemmed from online education is that it costs lower since people do not have to go to school and incur additional expenses from transportation. However, a new study claims online education might actually cost higher than actually going to school.
The study used information from 1999 to 2014 regarding the earnings of people who took postsecondary courses online. The researchers found out online education does not save students or taxpayers money as opposed to what was claimed before. The research was published by Caroline M. Hoxby, a professor of economics at Stanford University, The Chronicle Of Higher Education reported.
The paper of Hoxby concluded online students who attend for-profit colleges pay more for online education than when they physically attend classes. The cost for institutions running the courses online also needs a lot of money, which is not substantially less expensive than in-person learning.
Even though online education increase some people's earnings, the increase was almost never enough to cover the costs for online learning. Many students who take online courses also struggle to repay their federal loans just like in in-person learning.
A survey was conducted by WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET) and they found most colleges charge students the same or even more when they study online. According to the survey, the higher costs were due to higher production costs like faculty development, instructional design, and student assessment Inside Higher Ed reported.
Russell Poulin and Terri Taylor Straut, authors of another study regarding the matter, said producing an online course means licensing software, engaging instructional designers, training faculty members and offering 24/7 student support. They pressed the notion that online education costs less is a myth. Because of the added costs, the students shoulder technology fees and fees to access the course materials.
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