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I started school in 2001 and tuition was $5400/year. I lived at home, had a part time job (eventually a full time job and internships) that allowed me to pay out of pocket as I went.
Today the campus has exploded in size and has beautiful buildings everywhere. The staff enjoys world class salaries..... and tuition is nearly $13,000 per year.
The democrat party is firmly in control of our universities and their greed and ineptitude is solely to blame. What they have done is unforgivable.
The Dems answer is free college. Problem solved right?
I think the fair thing to do is itemize it. If a student is learning 100% online, they shouldn't have to pay the University transportation, gym, student service, etc. fees. Obviously they also will not be paying room and board. So in a sense, families will already have a heavy discount (assuming colleges remove fees that students aren't using).
The Dems answer is free college. Problem solved right?
Well.. Certain majors should be less expensive than others at least in terms of potential career earnings. OR. they should just do away with some of the pointless majors they offer just to scam lifelong debt ridden potential kids
Well.. Certain majors should be less expensive than others at least in terms of potential career earnings. OR. they should just do away with some of the pointless majors they offer just to scam lifelong debt ridden potential kids
They are. STEM fields have a surcharge in the form of lab fees.
Online instruction should cost a LOT less. They aren't going to be inside a building that requires utilities costs such as water, heating, air conditioning, cleaning.
College is also ridiculously over priced. There is no reason a basic 4 year degree should cost $200,000. Colleges should just admit that they are greedy. They extort huge amounts of money from students, often putting them into debt for a lifetime, and tell them it's basically impossible for them to succeed without a degree (which technically isn't true).
This. When I was investigating various graduate programs, two schools offered 100% online degrees, as well as in person degrees. Both online degree programs cost about 25% less than the identical in-person degree program.
Online instruction should cost a LOT less. They aren't going to be inside a building that requires utilities costs such as water, heating, air conditioning, cleaning.
College is also ridiculously over priced. There is no reason a basic 4 year degree should cost $200,000. Colleges should just admit that they are greedy. They extort huge amounts of money from students, often putting them into debt for a lifetime, and tell them it's basically impossible for them to succeed without a degree (which technically isn't true).
Why should online instruction cost less? The faculty does not cost less. Staff support costs more. I earned a master's degree entirely online and it actually cost MORE than comparable in-person classes because it is a more expensive mode of delivery - and this was an established online program. It is far more expensive for this semester where a lot of these systems do not already exist for many colleges. The buildings have been there for decades and the cost of electricity is negligible in comparison to additional staff and technology needs. And even if there were not students in buildings, many faculty and student support staff would prefer to teach in an office rather than have to reveal their bedrooms or cramped studio apartments while teaching a class or holding a meeting.
What does "greedy" mean in this context? The college I work for is one of the more expensive in the country. That's not reflected in staff salaries, despite some thinking that university staff are paid way more than we are given what some are saying in this thread! The cost goes toward labs (with faculty who teach undergrads) contributing to medical (including COVID), scientific, economic, and sociological research; producing art, plays and music that contributes to the local community's benefit; offering internships and paid employment to students; incubation centers for entrepreneurship and innovation; hands-on experience for many front-line professional careers; and more tangential benefits that go beyond just sitting in a classroom. That all costs money.
That's all to say nothing of the massive amounts of technology support - both within the academy (i.e. library databases, digital humanities consoles, "MakerLab" style spaces, etc - and supporting the web, accessibility as mandated by the ADA, huge IT infrastructure, etc. The technology needs of universities have easily quadrupaled in the 10 years since I graduated and started working in higher ed on the tech/digital side. Every video must be captioned and descriptive transcripts created for students with a wide array of disabilities and for anything available publicly. The web team at the university was 2 people a decade ago, and now there are more than 10 people across campus (and, realistically, we could be doubled and still have no lack of work to do) handling web and application development, internal and external communications, digital marketing, and web accessibility. There were 0 instructional designers, and we have 4 before the pandemic even with no online classes JUST to support supplemental digital classrooms. The IT and media technology teams both went from very small units to powerhouses to support demand from our students even before the pandemic happened.
It also goes to dried up state and federal funding that previously would have bankrolled a significant portion of university research and benefits for the community.
It all costs money. This isn't 1970 when students do all their work in the library and called home from a payphone in the hall once a week. Students won't accept that today and neither would their parents - parents who demand more time (and, therefore, increased cost for staff) from their adult children's university than ever before. We have staff whose entire jobs is dealing with parents, which is a new cost added in the past 4 years.
I frequently hear that universities are "greedy," but I just don't see that bearing out in practice. Do most colleges have a handful of very highly paid administrators? Sure. But that's barely a dent and isn't reflected below the VP level.
This. When I was investigating various graduate programs, two schools offered 100% online degrees, as well as in person degrees. Both online degree programs cost about 25% less than the identical in-person degree program.
That was the opposite of my experience.
My 100% online program cost more than in-person classes. I can't remember exactly how much more because I was lucky enough to have full tuition remission, but it reflected the increased cost of online delivery compared to in-person.
Why should online instruction cost less? The faculty does not cost less. Staff support costs more. I earned a master's degree entirely online and it actually cost MORE than comparable in-person classes because it is a more expensive mode of delivery - and this was an established online program. It is far more expensive for this semester where a lot of these systems do not already exist for many colleges.
That's all to say nothing of the massive amounts of technology support - both within the academy (i.e. library databases, digital humanities consoles, "MakerLab" style spaces, etc - and supporting the web, accessibility as mandated by the ADA, huge IT infrastructure, etc. The technology needs of universities have easily quadrupaled in the 10 years since I graduated and started working in higher ed on the tech/digital side. Every video must be captioned and descriptive transcripts created for students with a wide array of disabilities and for anything available publicly. The web team at the university was 2 people a decade ago, and now there are more than 10 people across campus (and, realistically, we could be doubled and still have no lack of work to do) handling web and application development, internal and external communications, digital marketing, and web accessibility. There were 0 instructional designers, and we have 4 before the pandemic even with no online classes JUST to support supplemental digital classrooms. The IT and media technology teams both went from very small units to powerhouses to support demand from our students even before the pandemic happened.
It also goes to dried up state and federal funding that previously would have bankrolled a significant portion of university research and benefits for the community.
It all costs money. This isn't 1970 when students do all their work in the library and called home from a payphone in the hall once a week.
Because online instruction requires only a skeleton crew in their brick and mortar buildings. Utilities, janitorial services, career counseling, student union buildings, bookstore staffing, and many other university services can all be minimized or eliminated when online instruction is used. Besides that, the student paid for one thing. They are getting something quite different, something they may not find acceptable. I'm not saying it's free; I'm saying the university is saving money, especially since the majority of universities already offer some online instruction already. They aren't inventing the wheel; it was already in place.
Because online instruction requires only a skeleton crew in their brick and mortar buildings. Utilities, janitorial services, career counseling, student union buildings, bookstore staffing, and many other university services can all be minimized or eliminated when online instruction is used. Besides that, the student paid for one thing. They are getting something quite different, something they may not find acceptable. I'm not saying it's free; I'm saying the university is saving money, especially since the majority of universities already offer some online instruction already. They aren't inventing the wheel; it was already in place.
Why would career counseling be eliminated for online learning? If anything, there's really more need for career services when the natural networking that occurs in a college setting is eliminated.
Not to mention that since this is a pivot and not a forever problem, laying off all of that staff would mean that when students come back, they're still not going to get what they're paying for because of the loss of institutional knowledge. Yes, colleges that are all online could dramatically reduce their student life staff, but what would students have when they come back? All remote has also increased demand on the time of financial services and academic services staff, so maybe those staff members could be redeployed in those areas but that wouldn't make things any cheaper.
If a school was starting fresh, there would be less needs for buildings maintenance. In this case, the buildings need to be maintained regardless of whether or not students are there. It's not like a college can just sell off the student union located in the middle of campus. The spaces need to be climate controlled to avoid mold and pipes freezing.
Office space would still be needed for faculty and staff unless we're all just OK with passing the cost of business onto their backs - I know I'm really frustrated because the increased cost of my electricity is higher than my savings from not driving to work. While a skeleton crew might be true because of the pandemic, most online programs are not conducted 100% remotely. My instructors were remote, but all of the support staff was in an office setting.
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