This paper presents a complex, hybrid, method of cost analysis of online courses, which incorporates data on expenditures; student/course enrollment; departmental consumption/contribution; space utilization/opportunity costs; direct non-personnel costs; computing support; faculty/staff workload; administrative overhead at the department, dean, and institution level; revenue stream; and financial aid. Data compared costs of online versus traditional courses at an urban, public, doctoral I university for four pairs of courses: English, management information systems, decision sciences, and astronomy. Among the findings noted are the following: total expenditures for traditional and online courses are in relatively the same range (with one exception which had high overhead but also high revenues); net costs per section are higher for online courses; departments which have extensive course sections benefit by offering online courses; there are significant startup costs in personnel, mainly attributable to content development for online courses; in this study all the online courses were taught by full-time faculty, which ensured quality but increased cost; space is a cost-saving factor with some online courses. The paper notes that an important by-product of this process is information about the changing nature of faculty roles in online teaching and a better understanding of how to use technology cost effectively. (Contains 28 references.) (CH)