Could Online Learning Reduce the Cost of Your Degree?
As the price of higher education continues to rapidly increase, many universities believe that they have found the key to keeping tuition fees down by offering online courses. For the past few years, online education has grown in popularity – what started out as a few courses which were offered by exclusively online schools has now taken off, with a range of reputable colleges such as MIT and the Georgia Institute of Technology now offering courses which can be taken completely online. If you’re thinking of applying to college and are worried about the cost of tuition, could learning online help you to save money?
Lower Tuition Fees
One of the advantages of online schools is that they do not need to charge tuition fees as high as those charged by physical colleges. Since online courses are run completely on the internet, colleges don’t need to worry about a range of different costs, such as utility bills for heating, cooling or lighting classrooms, building maintenance costs, and more. This allows them to charge much lower tuition fees and still be able to make a profit. With some popular, reputable universities offering courses such as a public health degree online at a fraction of the price of their in-house course, you can gain a degree from a top university, without getting into nearly as much debt.
Image source Flickr
Flexibility to Work
One of the disadvantages of studying for a degree is that during the course of your education, you will need to commit a lot of time to studying and therefore may not be able to work as much as you would like. Although of course most students say that going without much money whilst studying is worth it once they graduate and get a well-paid job, why should you sacrifice working when you don’t have to? Since online degrees give you the option to design your own study schedule that fits around your current commitments, it’s completely possible to study for a degree such as a masters in public health online whilst working full-time at the same time, meaning that you’ll have more money to live off as a student whether you plan to put it towards your living expenses, tuition fees, or both.
Lower Cost of Living
Studying online also means that you won’t need to pay as many of the costs that most students need to when they enrol on a degree course at a physical college or university. For example, even if you’re studying online at a university which is located some distance from your home, there’s no need to pay to relocate in order to be closer to campus. Since you’ll complete the vast majority of your course at home, there’s also no need to budget for commuting costs! Along with that, many online courses will also provide you with all of the textbooks and study resources that you need to complete your course free of charge, meaning that you’ll save money on expensive books, too.
If you’re considering going to college but don’t want to break the bank, online learning provides a cheaper, more flexible solution.