This year is the first time that more U.S. college students will learn entirely online compared to being fully in-person. And research shows most online programs cost as much or more than in-person.
ARI SHAPIRO, HOST:
This year is the first time that more U.S. college students will be learning entirely online than 100% in person. NPR’s Elissa Nadworny reports on the economics of online higher ed.
ELISSA NADWORNY, BYLINE: When 25-year-old Emma Bittner decided to get a master’s degree in public health, she looked first at universities near her home in Austin, Texas. She was planning to keep working full-time while she enrolled.
EMMA BITTNER: And I wasn’t in a place to move, especially with my job, and I had found affordable housing in Austin.
NADWORNY: But the in-person program options she found nearby cost tens of thousands of dollars more than she had hoped to spend. So she decided to check out master’s programs she could pursue remotely on her laptop.
BITTNER: To me, I don’t know why, but it does seem like it would be a more cost-effective option.
NADWORNY: What she found was it wasn’t cheaper. In fact, the price for the same degree online was just as much or more.
BITTNER: I was shocked. I wasn’t expecting $60-, $70-, $80,000 for an online program.
NADWORNY: And Bittner’s experience isn’t unique. Eighty-three percent of online college programs cost students at least as much as the in-person versions. That’s according to a paper released by Eduventures and other research organizations. In fact, the Education Data Initiative found that the tuition for a four-year degree from an in-state public university adds up to, on average, about $39,000 in person. Online, that price goes up to $41,000.
DYLAN BARTH: It’s a very complicated ecosystem in terms of the cost online versus face-to-face.
NADWORNY: Dylan Barth is the vice president of innovation and programs at the Online Learning Consortium, which represents online education providers. He says universities often use online programs to subsidize other things they do, similar to how big lecture classes traditionally subsidize small seminar classes. And while online courses often don’t require the same physical facilities and can theoretically be taught to a much larger number of students, there are still a lot of infrastructure and technology costs.
BARTH: Even if an institution went fully online, you still need all of those other pieces to have the university run. So you still need to have faculty governance. You still have to have admissions. You have to have a registration system. You need to have marketing.
NADWORNY: In addition, online students generally have worse academic outcomes. Research has found they receive lower grades than those attending in person. And they’re more likely to have to withdraw from or repeat courses and less likely to graduate on time. Barth says that means universities have to spend more on advising and support for online students.
BARTH: You do need a writing center, tutoring center as well. They need a help desk, too.
NADWORNY: It’s one of the reasons about a quarter of universities and colleges tack on an additional distance learning fee. Barth likens it to an online convenience fee. Now, there are signs that prices could come down as competition from online-only schools – places like Western Governors University – grows. Ultimately, Emma Bittner enrolled in the cheapest online master’s program she found, at Boston University. She says it was the right decision for her, but another part of her wishes things were different.
BITTNER: I have a lot of FOMO. I have friends who are in in-person grad programs, and I’m so extremely jealous of them. They’re like, oh, I have to go to class today. Like, I have to walk from the bus stop. And I’m like, I’m so jealous. I feel like right now I’m just, like, clicking through slide shows and taking online quizzes.
NADWORNY: Nevertheless, students like Bittner keep enrolling.
Elissa Nadworny, NPR News.
SHAPIRO: And this story was produced in partnership with The Hechinger Report, a nonprofit independent news organization.
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Elissa Nadworny 2025-07-11 21:12:03
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