By Toma Lynn Smith
Many students enjoy the convenience of online classes, but few realize the cost of that convenience.
Online classes at the University of Louisville cost 30 percent more than the base in-state tuition rate per credit hour. If a student pays tuition for full-time enrollment for a semester, they still incur this increase. In-state and out-of-state residents who take the U of L distance learning classes are charged the same rate of 130 percent of Kentucky resident state tuition.
“It is very expensive to support online education,” said Dr. Gale Rhodes, Assistant University Provost of the Delphi Center for Teaching and Learning. Her department arranges the technology necessary to bring these classes to students.
Parts of the expenses are the Teaching with Technology classes offered by Delphi for online professors, such as “What’s New in Blackboard.” And the availability of the Virtual Writing Center facilitated by the University Writing Center.
Distance learning students could wonder how expensive these online programs are for the university when according to Rhodes, there have been more than 6,500 students taking online courses during the 2007-08 year, compared to one hundred students in 2001.
The U of L Web site states that in-state, undergraduate tuition is $290 per hour, making an online class cost the student $377 per hour or $1,131 for each typical three credit hour class. If there are more than 6,500 students taking online courses and each of those students take only one online class each, the university made $7,351,500. However, Rhodes said there were more than 6,500 students and it is not known if some of those could be taking more than one online class which would make that dollar amount higher.
Rhodes said the breakdown of the possible $7 million plus that U of L’s online program has brought into the university is as follows: 50 percent goes back to the department of the class, 25 percent goes to the university’s general fund, 22 percent goes back to the Delphi Center and three percent to the libraries.
On the Delphi Center Web site, there are approximately 200 online classes listed for fall ’07 – spring ’08. So, according to Rhodes’ breakdown, the Delphi Center’s cut would be about $800,000 for this year, or approximately $4,000 per class. The departments themselves would have to split up the almost $3.7 million according to which departments the classes were a part of, U of L’s general fund would have received about $900,000 and the libraries would have gotten around $110,000. These figures are calculated based on the numbers received from Rhodes and the U of L Web sites.
U of L’s efforts are for students to get the same quality of education through the Internet as they would get sitting in a class room said Rhodes, adding that the equipment involved to do this is not cheap.
Dr. Regina Roebuck’s online Basic Spanish II students are not only subject to the increase for it being online they also are required to use Eduspace, an online book with electronic exercises that cost $99 per student to access. But, she said students enrolled in the class have the ability to do verbal exercises to submit to her through the software Wimba.
Fine arts sophomore Chris Davidson took Survey of Ancient to Medieval Art online and didn’t know of the tuition price difference. Although his tuition is covered by scholarships, Davidson said if he had to pay for the class himself, he would not have chosen to take the course.
“It’s insane,” Anne Ballard a senior communications major said regarding the tuition difference. Last year she wanted to take the class ‘Persuasion’ for credit toward her degree, but refused because it was only taught online for the fall 2007 semester. “I don’t understand why it would be 30 percent more, especially if you’re a full-time student.”
“Persuasion” was taught through the Kentucky Virtual Campus. This is part of the Kentucky Virtual University which “coordinates the anytime, anywhere delivery of quality online courses from Kentucky’s public and private colleges and universities,” according to their Web site.
Some degree seekers don’t have the time to deal with the travels of getting to class and others don’t like being in a classroom setting, Roebuck said, adding that college students can adjust to this online learning fairly easy due to their electronic lifestyles.
The online classes can be taken to complete some credit hours or to complete an undergraduate or graduate degree all online.
Senior liberal studies major Angela Wiggins said, paying for her tuition is a “hardship.” A part-time student, who works full-time while she took Introduction to Communication online said, “I like [the] convenience of online.”
