College for $99 a Month

[babylonsister]

September / October 2009

College for $99 a Month
The next generation of online education could be great for students—and catastrophic for universities.
by Kevin Carey


Like millions of other Americans, Barbara Solvig lost her job this year. A fifty-year-old mother of three, Solvig had taken college courses at Northeastern Illinois University years ago, but never earned a degree. Ever since, she had been forced to settle for less money than coworkers with similar jobs who had bachelor’s degrees. So when she was laid off from a human resources position at a Chicago-area hospital in January, she knew the time had come to finally get her own credential. Doing that wasn’t going to be easy, because four-year degrees typically require two luxuries Solvig didn’t have: years of time out of the workforce, and a great deal of money.

Luckily for Solvig, there were new options available. She went online looking for something that fit her wallet and her time horizon, and an ad caught her eye: a company called StraighterLine was offering online courses in subjects like accounting, statistics, and math. This was hardly unusual—hundreds of institutions are online hawking degrees. But one thing about StraighterLine stood out: it offered as many courses as she wanted for a flat rate of $99 a month. “It sounds like a scam,” Solvig thought—she’d run into a lot of shady companies and hard-sell tactics on the Internet. But for $99, why not take a risk?

Solvig threw herself into the work, studying up to eighteen hours a day. And contrary to expectations, the courses turned out to be just what she was looking for. Every morning she would sit down at her kitchen table and log on to a Web site where she could access course materials, read text, watch videos, listen to podcasts, work through problem sets, and take exams. Online study groups were available where she could collaborate with other students via listserv and instant messaging. StraighterLine courses were designed and overseen by professors with PhDs, and she was assigned a course adviser who was available by e-mail. And if Solvig got stuck and needed help, real live tutors were available at any time, day or night, just a mouse click away.

Crucially for Solvig—who needed to get back into the workforce as soon as possible—StraighterLine let students move through courses as quickly or slowly as they chose. Once a course was finished, Solvig could move on to the next one, without paying more. In less than two months, she had finished four complete courses, for less than $200 total. The same courses would have cost her over $2,700 at Northeastern Illinois, $4,200 at Kaplan University, $6,300 at the University of Phoenix, and roughly the gross domestic product of a small Central American nation at an elite private university. They also would have taken two or three times as long to complete.

And if Solvig needed any further proof that her online education was the real deal, she found it when her daughter came home from a local community college one day, complaining about her math course. When Solvig looked at the course materials, she realized that her daughter was using exactly the same learning modules that she was using at StraighterLine, both developed by textbook giant McGraw-Hill. The only difference was that her daughter was paying a lot more for them, and could only take them on the college’s schedule. And while she had a professor, he wasn’t doing much teaching. “He just stands there,” Solvig’s daughter said, while students worked through modules on their own.

StraighterLine is the brainchild of a man named Burck Smith, an Internet entrepreneur bent on altering the DNA of higher education as we have known it for the better part of 500 years. Rather than students being tethered to ivy-covered quads or an anonymous commuter campus, Smith envisions a world where they can seamlessly assemble credits and degrees from multiple online providers, each specializing in certain subjects and—most importantly—fiercely competing on price. Smith himself may be the person who revolutionizes the university, or he may not be. But someone with the means and vision to fundamentally reorder the way students experience and pay for higher education is bound to emerge.

lots more...

http://www.washingtonmonthly.com/college_guide/feature/college_for_99_a_month.php

[orpupilofnature57]

1. What a way to make our most valuable commodity available ,let universities

revamp with the rest of the world.

[gopiscrap]

2. This cool

I have a BA...but do they have Master's classes? I love that it is available for those who can't afford a lot...this is what higher education should be...available to all who want it!!!

[liberal N proud]

3. You could do 4 years for less than $5,000

When our daughter is finished, the total bill will be over $50,000 and no more of a guarantee of a job than the on-line student.

[Justyce]

4. Looks like this place only offers a few

of the basic courses like English and Algebra. At least that's what it looked like to me. It would be much cheaper if they offered full 4-year degrees though! The problem is that it would put so many people out of work at the universities, but if you can't afford an on-site university, something like this would definitely be a cheaper solution.

[NJCher]

9. no it wouldn't

online classes are more work for instructors than regular classes.

Cher

edited to add:

"And while she had a professor, he wasn’t doing much teaching. 'He just stands there,' Solvig’s daughter said, while students worked through modules on their own."

The research shows that students get as much from their colleagues as they do their professors.

This woman is getting it, but through online forums and groups.

It takes tremendous discipline to be able to pull this off. Few people have that kind of discipline.

I, however, support this and think it's terrific. We need something like this to keep the tuition down at colleges and universities, who don't seem to be able to control costs.

[deadmessengers]

5. Yes, but are they accredited?

Without accreditation, all those classes they teach aren't really worth much towards a degree.

[Stuckinthebush]

6. Yes, that's the big question.

And if so, what is the accreditation agency?

A B.S. from this method is one thing but a masters or PhD are entirely different animals.

[Stuckinthebush]

7. I think I figured it out

The accreditation thing is accomplished by them purchasing the name of an already accredited college or university. Look at the link below:

http://www.straighterline.com/courses/

You will notice a column titled "Credit Available From". I am assuming that once you pass the online class, then you can get a transcript from one of the colleges in the list indicating that you have credit from them for taking the course.

Clever and frightening at the same time.

[OneBlueSky]

8. here's the details on their partner colleges and accreditation . . .

http://www.straighterline.com/about/partners/partner-college-details.cfm

[rapturedbyrobots]

10. this is great...

...for people who missed the chance for a good higher education early in life. or those who can't afford the price to get re-educated for the new workforce. but if you're worried about top job prospects and that kind of thing, don't kid yourself that sending your kid to one of these is doing them a favor (might be good for YOUR wallet though). when 'higher' education is almost ubiquitous today the single most important function of the elite schools isn't to provide a better education at a higher price. they don't. they provide the same education. their main function is to socialize young people into particular social networks. prepare them in certain ways for a post-college world where they will have the right connections and the mobility and ability to exploit them. you just can't get that online...if that's what important to you. but if the education and the credential (read ticket to a non-minimum wage job) is what you need then this is awesome. i'll probably suggest this to my mom.