With the rise in demand for master's degree, the tuition of colleges have significantly increased. This has made it difficult for students to be able to afford the cost without ending up with a huge debt. But Georgia Tech has come up with a different approach to solve this issue. It's master's degree program in Computer Science costs mere $7000 while the same program its at competitor colleges cost between $45000- $60000.
There are a lot of setbacks involved besides the factor of money when it comes to pursuing master's degrees.The article states,"People with jobs and families can’t just pull up stakes and move to Atlanta or Los Angeles for a year or two to study computer science. Nor can they afford to spend $57,000 out of pocket for a credential."
According to the article, "A new study by Harvard economists found that in creating the program, Georgia Tech may have discovered a whole new market for higher education, one that could change the way we think about the problem of college costs." Not only the program at Georgia Tech is cheaper but also exactly like the residential program at the university. The exams and quizzes are graded the same way they are graded in actual classes and also professors can be contacted online.
There has been a debate about higher education in this year's election. Hilary Clinton has proposed to subsidize public institutions and lower interest rates on outstanding student debt. This will only happen if the colleges will have incentives to follow But unless these policies are accompanied by strong incentives for colleges to be more like Georgia Tech, the college cost problem will remain.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/29/upshot/an-online-education-breakthrough-a-masters-degree-for-a-mere-7000.html
Its pretty interesting as to the approach that Georgia Tech seems to be taking towards higher education, changing up the market for higher education and the problem of college costs. Hopefully other colleges will decide to follow suit with the right incentives.
ReplyDeleteSounds like this could make a large impact on higher education. It will be interesting to see if Georgia Tech puts this program into place, and how well it does. I wonder if it goes well if other universities will follow and if this opportunity will be available to other areas of study.
ReplyDeleteI think this would be a great opportunity for people, especially those with lower income/inability to go to school away from their family. I've never taken an online course, but I know many people who have. I wonder if it will actually be the same as taking a class in a physical classroom, or if it would be harder or easier. From what I've heard, online courses seem to be easier than courses taken at a school. I think a lot of people take online classes because of this. So my question is would people learn as much, and would they be able to retain the information as well? There are a lot of studies that show hand written work is more effective for learning than using computers and other similar items. I'm wondering: would an online master's degree really be the same as a master's degree at a school with physical classes.
ReplyDeleteI think its huge that Georgia Tech is trying this new program for higher education. People gaining master degrees then already went through the hardship of high tuition for 4 years. Just also raise the question of would the online degree be equivalent to someone at another institution gaining same degree doing physical classes
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