The Cost of Classroom

“Online education has changed the concept of saving money for higher education. Online education means saving for your own self, because numerous payment plans, grants and scholarships make it completely comfortable with student’s financial conditions”

A fiscal history of education
Throughout the ages education has only been a privilege for the affluent masses. This was because of the cost of teaching and material back then. 19th and early 20th century were ruled by the wealthy hiring tutors for education and the concepts of public or affordable schooling were dully in practice. Even by the time of late 19th century when public education was established as a standard, it took decades for it to become affordable to the masses and still even today higher education cost are not feasible to many.

The cost of traditional education
Tradition education even today is not easily affordable by students. The costs are rising higher and for the underprivileged and working student it is still difficult to study full time and get a degree. The costs of admission, monthly fee, books, course material, accommodation and traveling all together make it very costly. A system that could provide affordable education to everyone and a system that was flexible enough for the working student was necessary. Affordability is one of the main reasons why online education today is so popular among the masses.
Online education offers numerous advantages that outshine traditional education. Online schools often offer open enrollment without any fee, any extra admission charges or purchase of any material of any sort before their actual learning has even begun.

Optimal Quality with Online learning
Online universities do not sacrifice quality to give cheaper tuition. Online education is profound, articulate and comprehensive as any campus based education. Professional around the world hold online degrees offering diversity, working in organizations as recognized individuals.

The affordability of online education has not only gained popularity among working adults, home learners and students in remote areas but also because of the various financial aid options that are present at almost all online institutions.

These diverse financial aid programs include traditional features like scholarships and fee-payment options that make online education even more feasible and flexible.

How Online education makes a difference: A comparison of Traditional and Online education.

The Cost of learning
The costs of any traditional campus-based degree program can make an online degree program look very attractive.
The average cost of a traditional or campus-based degree is around $80,000 USD. That includes tuition fee, transport, materials, books and if accommodation is included, the cost adds up even more.

But with online students, the tuition fee is almost half, coming to somewhere around $40,000 USD or less. And that is the total cost of education for an online student as online schools don’t require any travel, accommodation and in most cases even notes and course materials.

Other factors that influence affordability in online education:

Resume when you want to
This initial saving of money is not only a good start but proves to be a motivation for online students because they can concentrate more on their studies without worrying about paying up the fee on time. Most online schools provide a pause-and-resume feature that allows students to pause their education at any point and resume it later. This flexibility allows students to work and study on their schedules instead of being bound to a restricted schedule.

No Books, no notes, no hassle
Online education means learning through the internet, and through recent technological developments, learning through mobile phones and PDA’s. And this is all good news for the learners, because they don’t have to worry about buying books or their availability in there are of residence, they don’t have to make notes and keep up with the on-going lectures. Online students get everything delivered to them instead of them running around trying to fetch relevant material. The internet is the biggest information resource on the planet and it’s free! This cuts down a lot of cost and saves the student from worrying about this program.

No traveling!
If a student is enrolled in a course online, it doesn’t matter where that student is, the education will always be where he is, instead of the student traveling to a classroom everyday. This flexibility allows students to make no changes in their lives and save costs of traveling while receiving a first class education.

Employer tuition reimbursement programs
Employer tuition reimbursement program is all about a company
paying for its employee to pursue an education. In the past, usually employees registered for a course or a skills-workshop for their personal and professional development. It was generally the well-established companies who could afford to pay for their employees’ full-length programs such as degrees or certifications.

Online institutions offer courses that are particularly designed for working individuals and focus on job-oriented subjects and skills that would help individuals get a better understanding of their work, improve themselves and perhaps seek better opportunities.

Assistance for the Military
Military personnel are also getting assistance from their corps to further their education with the help of either military funded education or military-specific financial aid options offered by many online institutions.

Online Education. A community of the learners.
Since online universities have a one single worldwide web platform and through strong online community driven endeavors, credit transfers are also an available option for students who wish to transfer into another school or continue their education with some other institution.

The importance of online education is greatly acknowledged by industries and corporate sector and companies are increasingly introducing Employer Tuition Reimbursement Programs where employers propose online education degrees to their employees so they can earn while they learn.

With ease and flexibility of learning backed up by numerous financial help plans makes online education a welcoming frontier for education in the 21st century.

This article described Affordability of education with traditional, distance and online education.

The overall purpose of this blog is to provide information about education, its changing trends and latest developments around the world. We wish to make this a global platform to not only discuss but work together towards betterment of global education.

Tags: the cost of education, education cost, online education cost, Education, future of education., History of Education, Online Education

Categories: Academic Syllabus & Curriculum, Delivery & mediums of education, History of Education, Latest developments in education, Online Education, Policies & legislations, online education affordability, financial aid, student services, online universities, career planning and resources.