ERIC Number: ED671148
Record Type: Non-Journal
Publication Date: 2025
Pages: 52
Abstractor: ERIC
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: N/A
EISSN: N/A
Available Date: 0000-00-00
Distance Education's Disconnect: Understanding the Relationship between the Cost and Price of Distance Education
Van L. Davis
WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET)
In 2016, WCET conducted a survey to better understand the relationship between the cost and price of distance education. The results of this survey were published in the 2017 study "Distance Education Price and Cost Report." That survey found that although 75% of respondents indicated that distance education and face-to-face students paid the same tuition, once fees were added into the equation, the majority of distance education students, 54.2%, paid more for their education than their face-to-face counterparts. Another main finding of the 2017 report was in response to the widely accepted notion that distance education must cost less to create than face-to-face instruction. Survey respondents indicated that distance education generally costs more, but there are instances when it costs less if cost reduction is a specific goal of the distance offering. Distance education's goal to increase access often adds to expenditures. Distance education continues to play a significant role in higher education even after the shift to emergency remote instruction that took place during the COVID-19 pandemic. Whereas face-to-face higher education is starting to see a reduction in enrollment, distance education enrollment continues to increase. Given the pervasiveness of distance education and the still erroneous belief that somehow it is cheaper than face-to-face instruction, it is telling that, at least in terms of instructional price and costs, course modality is becoming increasingly irrelevant. Yes, in some cases, distance education continues to cost more. However, more likely than not, its costs are comparable to face-to-face instruction. Much has changed since 2016, most notably the explosion of emergency remote instruction that came with the COVID pandemic and continued high levels of students taking online courses. In 2024, IPEDS reported that 63.94% of all students were enrolled in at least one distance education course. Although this is down from COVID-era levels, it is significantly higher than pre-pandemic levels. This high number of students taking at least one distance education course and the continued increasing price of higher education speaks to the need to revisit the study and determine what, if any, connection between the price and cost of distance education exists. This report is a summary and analysis of WCET's "Distance Education Price and Cost Survey" conducted during the summer of 2024.
Descriptors: Distance Education, Higher Education, Educational Technology, Technology Uses in Education, Costs, Tuition, On Campus Students, Politics of Education, State Aid, Educational Finance, Public Colleges, Private Colleges, Nonprofit Organizations, Proprietary Schools, Institutional Characteristics, School Size
WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies (WCET). 3035 Center Green Drive Suite 200, Boulder, CO 80301. Tel: 303-541-0231; Fax: 303-541-0291; e-mail: wcetinfo@wiche.edu; Web site: http://wcet.wiche.edu
Related Records: ED588914
Publication Type: Reports - Research; Tests/Questionnaires
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: WCET (WICHE Cooperative for Educational Technologies)
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A
Author Affiliations: N/A