After welcoming undergraduates back to campus, Notre Dame, Michigan State, and the University of North Carolina (among others), experienced outbreaks of COVID-19. The result—they switched back to remote learning. With 26,000 cases of coronavirus linked to college campuses, more will soon follow. While some of those schools will offer discounts for online courses, many others won’t. Is this fair?
Students don’t think so. In a recent survey, 93 percent of undergraduates said online tuition should be reduced. This result isn’t a surprise. Most of us equate “online” with “less expensive.” But while other industries have been able to cut prices taking advantage of technology and the Internet—colleges and universities (with the exception of massive online courses or MOOCs) typically charge the same for online and onsite courses. Why?
Read Paul’s full op-ed here.
