<p>OK. Online can be cheaper.</p>
<p>So how many posters here have kids looking at the cheapest option? </p>
<p>How many are considering sending their kids to a community college? That’s a lower cost option. </p>
<p>In truth, there are many strata in higher ed, mostly based on student body quality, not price. For some, e.g. those whose entering credentials qualify them for the lower strata of higher ed, perhaps the lowest cost option would serve them equally well as a more expensive choice. But for many, getting a degree is about credentialing far more than about specific learning.</p>
<p>MBA faculty have debated this endlessly. They ask “Why do employers pay a premium to hire grads of elite MBA programs?” (and they ask the same question regarding elite undergrad programs, too.) Most research suggests that employers are hiring the kids that were good enough to get into those elite programs. Some researchers even suggest that HR and hiring managers have essentially outsourced a good part of the employee screening process to the admissions committees for these programs.</p>
<p>Seems to me that until the employment world changes its practices (or at least the job seeker’s perception of its practices!), there will be no pressure on higher ed to change its practices.</p>