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Wednesday, August 12, 2015

Report Looks at Cost of Online Courses

Colleges and universities make online courses available to students at significantly lower fees than traditional on-campus classes. At the same time, the size of the institution plays a role in that cost, according to a report in eCampus News.

A University of Massachusetts Dartmouth study found online courses cost about a third less than traditional classes. It also noted that medium-sized institutions tended to set online fees higher than small and large universities, and that private schools were lower than public institutions.

The research compared the online and on-campus course offerings from 103 colleges and universities in the United States. The pricing information was freely available online for each institution.

“This study makes an initial attempt to test hypotheses of whether different types of educational institutions set the same prices for their online courses and on-campus courses,” wrote Shouhong Wang, professor of management information systems at UMass Dartmouth and author of the report. “The database evidences might be helpful for administrators to understand more about how different types of educational institutions adopt different online course pricing strategies and practices.”