Just wondering as I find the experience is not the same as when you attend in person. After all kids learn more from each other and with their professors when they meet face to face. This allows them to get a better experience.
If it includes living on campus, food and video feeds into classroom for students to attend if they choose. Yes.
To be at home. That won’t be the case anywhere. It will be in the 50k range. Less exciting prospect but will do if that works for my d.
$70K at today’s prices would include room and board. So if a college is 100% “virtual”, it shouldn’t cost quite that much.
For the right-in-every-way college, I might be willing to pay a high amount for virtual learning for a semester or two so as to hold DD’s spot when learning returns to campus. For that college, I would encourage her to make the most of it, since we may not have a vaccine by September 2021 either, and waiting on the sidelines is no way to spend one’s life. For a college she would have a more-or-less equal chance of getting into whether she applied this year, next year, or two years from now… I probably wouldn’t pay a lot of money for virtual learning. In that case, unless she had a really good full time internship opportunity, I might encourage her to take virtual learning classes through a less expensive school and apply to transfer later.
People are. They are paying for housing outside of an expensive college that is shut down physically so their kids are not doing on line courses at parents’ home but are in student community with others in the same situation. They are doing so in part to be right there to be on campus , in classes, using the school resources once the school opens up and to get a prestigious name degree.
Some are not paying it. Kid works online at home and the cost is lowered since 3 meals and cot absorbed into parents’ sunk costs. When college reopens, kid will go to location and get degree. Lost a year of on-campus experience but saved $12-20k.
Others are taking a gap year or deciding to go elsewhere because not with the cost without the whole experience to them.
It comes down to what you think is worth paying for:
A. Academic content that is better (in your view) at the expensive college than at a less expensive college (e.g. community college and nearby in-state public university, or a free ride scholarship university).
B. The on-campus residential college experience, versus distance education or the commuter experience that may be the experience at a less expensive college.
C. Prestige and related factors (perceived value of alumni network and employer recruiting), compared to the less expensive college.
If you feel that you are paying more mainly for A and C, then you will be as willing to pay as you were before. But if you feel that you are paying more mainly for B, then you will be much less willing to pay as you were before.
Even at prestigious colleges many students either don’t bother to show up for class or show up and spend their time on Facebook or Instagram instead of paying attention. (The things you notice as a TA in the back of a classroom!)
For the parents of those students, I suppose the format and method of instruction doesn’t really matter.
"Even at prestigious colleges many students either don't bother to show up for class or show up and spend their time on Facebook or Instagram instead of paying attention. (The things you notice as a TA in the back of a classroom!)"
For some majors this is a lot easier than others. Engineering majors? No way.
Now for the $70,000 question.
Unless you are really paying for the name brand of the college, no way.
70k for 1 or 2or even 3 semesters out of 8 online at DD’s current college, yes absolutely. All 8 semesters online, no, not even at Harvard.
I am glad I don’t have to make this decision since my DD just graduated from very well ranked university. As a full paying parent I would try to avoid paying for online school if my kid had productive alternative like job, internship, etc.
Would I pay it, or would I pay it and be happy about it? I might pay it so my kid keeps their place but I wouldn’t be happy about it.
I just paid quite a bit for boarding school online. I was happy to pay because the public school option was a bunch of administrators talking about what they could not do and sending kids to Khan academy. Sadly, I think college for the next 18 months might be a choice of the lesser of two evils. People are angry but they aren’t organized enought to get a discount for their kids.
no
I’m also relieved that both my kids graduated from college in the past six months. DD said she would NOT want to attend college if it were online classes only. I don’t know what we would have done. Good luck to all of you facing this decision. ?
Are you asking about taking classes at home, online, which would not cost that much. Or are you asking about taking online classes while on campus or living in an apartment near campus?
The majority of college students, believe it or not, do not attend residential college and many take classes online, work and raise families. The quality can be high when done right. And in my experience, online classes cost MORE than in-person.
Faculty had to go remote on an emergency basis and have spent the summer learning how to do proper online classes. There are lots of opportunities for interaction, mentoring, small group work, office hours, asking questions, posting notes on slides, sharing links to audio-visual resources and so on.
Most combine Zoom and Blackboard or Canvas. There are lots of opportunities for discussion, work can often be independent (and asynchronous).
I would absolutely pay for online education.
However, if your question is whether your child should go back on campus and do online classes with lots of restrictions on extracurriculars and socializing, that is another question entirely.
Another question might be, what is your kid going to do instead? There are still a lot of restrictions and there may be more, due to COVID.
Online classes offer a good educational experience with more interaction than you might expect and at least kids are moving on with their lives in one way, if not the way they would prefer.
I wouldn’t pay $70k/year for any college, in any setting.
“Are you asking about taking classes at home, online, which would not cost that much. Or are you asking about taking online classes while on campus or living in an apartment near campus?”
Ok I am asking as college campus are lock down due to covid. For spring semester classes were offered at campus but also student came home and were offered classes on line. I am wondering if classes are on line again for fall semester, it is better to wait and take a gap year or go again enroll in on line classes again?
That’s a decision only the family and student can make…based on the school, budget, learning style of the student, etc.
It certainly is a difficult decision, but even if a student takes a gap year, there’s no guarantee things will be back to normal in fall 2021.
Two kids, one at Stanford and one at Harvard. We are not paying full but still without room and board, college fees are still pretty big
Colleges have plans that are more complicated than just staying home and doing classes online. I forget specifics but Harvard has some undergrads on campus for the fall. I believe Stanford too.
If your question is exclusively about educational value, I truly believe the online classes are worth it, and maybe try to learn a little more about how they can work (and don’t judge by the spring classes that were done on an emergency basis).
If your question is also about the social and emotional experience of being on campus, and the career advantages of internships and volunteering, those will be affected too, but it is unclear to what degree.
Colleges are doing the best they can to meet all these needs, safely. Having large classes online makes a lot of sense.
Harvard’s yield went down 3% this year. The deadline for deferral or gap year isn’t gone yet. If it were my kid I would stay on board but I know others who would decide differently.
It is up to the family, but I just urge you to get more informed on online classes and their potential.
For many families, the answer is NO. This is why I think colleges and universities will announce they will go fully remote soon after the deposit refund deadlines pass.
I agree with @Mwfan1921 that it depends upon the overall situation. In our situation, we would do it. So far our S19 had one semester of remote classes - really remote in our case, as we are in Asia and his school is in the Midwest. It’s hard to compare this with his “old” life at his small LAC, which revolved around sports, friends, etc., but he has found it to be OK and is prepared to do it again this fall if necessary. From a parent’s perspective, I think this has been a good experience for him, learning how to interact effectively with people in a different environment, learning resilience and flexibility, developing the discipline needed to get up and stay up at all sorts of weird hours and so on. I hope it doesn’t go on too long, but I think it will all help him over the long run. In our situation, I would really hesitate to pull him out for a leave year even if the school eventually goes back to being fully remote, as I don’t want him to grow up feeling he’s entitled to any particular kind of idealized life. Of course, this only works because his school has done a really good job, both in terms of keeping the education level high and in terms of keeping the kids engaged and feeling like part of a community. The answer will be different for other people in different situations.