<p>In this economy everyone is trying to save money, especially college students. In an effort to save money by attending on-line classes to save both time and money on travel, plus allow more time to work, should on-line classes cost more than attending a college campus?</p>
<p>Is it common for a big pubic universities to give less aid and withhold institiutional aid for in-state students that take on-line courses? Is it common for 12+ credit on campus to cost the same as 18 credits yet on-line students are expected to pay for every additional credit over 12?</p>
<p>When a universoty offers both on-line and campus classes, it seems they discriminate financially against the on-line students, Anyone else notice this?</p>
<p>Some colleges charge based on the semester (up to a certain number of credits before you have to pay more) and others pay by credit hour. It sounds like your school is the former. It’s not discrimination. It is just they way they set up their cost structure some time ago.</p>
<p>I am going to classes at a 2 year college and taking a mixture of ‘live’ classes and online classes. At this school you pay tuition and fees by the credit hour. The FA is based on the school’s COA which includes average tuition and fee costs for students. Students don’t get any less aid for taking online classes but the Online classes do cost $50 a credit hour more than the live classes. So a student taking 2x3 hour online classes and 2x3 hour live classes will pay $300 more for the online classes than for the live ones. Never have understood the logic as you would think the online classes would cost the school less. But I take some as online for convenience so I just have to pay the extra.</p>
<p>It doesn’t necesarily cost less to operate online classes. The most expensive part of running a college (or most businesses for that matter) is human capital. Instructors need to be paid whether they are teaching online or in person classes. Then, colleges have to pay for the technology and trouble shooting technology for online classes. </p>
<p>If you consider what you are not paying in gas and wear and tear on your vehicle + the time you save on commuting the cost between the two options may even out some.</p>
<p>Thank you for the information. I know of two family members enrolled in the same school, one is a dependent freshman and lives on campus while the other is an independent transfer student from a community college. The on-campus, dependent, student has a zero efc and all expenses are paid except $2,600 in loans to meet personal expenses. </p>
<p>The other is an independent student, taking on classes and has an EFC of 2800 I beleive and received a Pell Grant according but the school said it does not give institutuional aid to on-line students. This possibility never even occurred to him. He was hoping for some help with living expenses as well as tuition. Is it common that on-line students at an accredited college do not received instituional aid, even when they are residents and tax payers?</p>
<p>And yes, on campus students can take 12-21 credits for the same price yet on-line students pay more for taking more than 12 credits.</p>
<p>I don’t know if it is common but would not be surprised. The school I am going to has no institutional need based aid, just federal and state aid. The State Us in my state do not offer need based institutional grant money though they do offer merit aid. I did get a merit based scholarship that is a partial tuition waiver for my 2nd year and I notice it does not cover online classes, only regular live classes. I had not realized this when I was registering for classes but luckily it is not a problem for me as I take enough live classes that I still use the full waiver. If I was just taking online classes that would be disappointing. </p>
<p>I do find it frustrating that the online classes cost so much more as it is not the same as having a teacher in front of you teaching the class. Much more self taught really. In my case I take a mix of online and live classes so I definitely do not save a dime in gas or car expenses as I drive to the school 4 time a week anyway. But again that is my choice - I could have scheduled all my classes on 2 or 3 days but I really wanted to take French (not required for my major but I enjoy language classes) and that is 4 days a week.</p>