Hello from North Carolina.  i am 34 years old and i am currently looking at going back to school.  i am curious about online degrees.  they would fit my lifestyle (married w/ 2 small children).  my ? is how much is a typical tuition?  and do most degree programs require textbooks or just online?  any info would be appreciated , thanks in advance!

Hello zmurphy!  These numbers are estimated, and are collected from a private investmest firm and the College Board.  The average annual tuition:

•  At a 4-year private non-profit is $21,235
• At a 4-year public college is $5,491
• At a 2-year public college is $2,191
• An online Axia College Associate's degree is $8,550
• An online University of Phoenix Bachelor's degree is $14,820

Again, these number are estimated, and assume full-time status.  Naturally, these numbers vary depending on program (tuition for a nursing program is higher) and institution.

Hope this helps!
 

Hello Zmurphy!

 

My name is Melissa, I have some information about tuition that might interest you. I am an online student and it might help. Email me at meludia3186@aol.com

My daughter is looking into online associates degree in criminal justice  and the first two colleges had tuition that sounds "criminal"--one was $24,000 and the other $26,000 for approx. 75 credits. They are both pushing the "get free gov't money" angle but something here doesn't sound right (both are accredited). Biggest question: is online education more expensive than "bricks and mortar" and why? (Our local tech college offers same degree for $8,000, books included). Thanks for whatever help comes our way!

There are things that you should factor in when you are considering funding your college education

1. Does your employer provide tuition reimbursement.  A lot of these programs seem expensive on the surface as they are designed as de facto corporate training programs.  About 40% of these students at expensive programs have their employers footing the bill.

2. Always examine the cost per credit on our site. Some colleges have a cost per credit of $150 while others are priced at $500 per credit.

3. Keep checking back at eLearners.com as we noticed the site keeps adding public, not for profit colleges.  My hunch is that over time, you may be able to find a program that grants in state tuition.

Good luck. 

 

Some online schools do cost $20,000.00 or more. But if you are going to school online, you do not have the cost of commuting, and clothes to wear to school, and the time it takes to go to class is less also. So it is cheaper in time, money, and stress factors.

Wouldn't you agree?

ritaflwr

I looked into a nonprofit masters, which is actually hard to get even at brick and mortar schools. There are only a handful of online nonprofit masters programs and I found the spread in costs fairly dramatic.  One was about $10,500 and the other over $15,000.  But where cost and online are concerned, you just have to factor in the incredible convenience. I used to work a night job that flucuated all the time. There was no way that I could go to a scheduled class for 6 months, let alone 2+ years.  That convenience is built into the cost of online programs but it's definitely warranted.  For me it's getting a masters or not being able to get it because I couldn't go to class.

Baker College  , a non-profit, is only $175 per credit for undergraduate.  But at the end of the day, make sure you look at more than just the per-credit cost.  There are a lot of other considerations when making a decision like this, and when you add the 'online factor' in, there are even more.  Even if you're not sure *yet* what's important to you, try to figure it out before you enroll.  One way is to request info. from some schools that look interesting on the surface and then ask each what differentiates them from others.  There's a good chance you might hear something and say, "hey, that really IS something that matters to me!"

 

University of Phoenix has some issues that should be investigated before commiting...look at ripoffreports.com for some information.

ritaflwr

On a cost basis, U of Phoenix should be the last stop.  Tuition runs $475 a CREDIT * 128 credits for a bachelors degree.

You have to keep in mind that the cost per credit can be kind of misleading.   Some colleges have a low per credit 'cost' but then have per credit 'fees' added to each credit.  Also some colleges operate on a quarter credit system (~180 quarter credits for degree) while others are on a semester credit system (~120 semester credits for degree). 

So, for example, getting a degree from Baker College at ~$175 a quarter credit isn't really any less expensive then spending ~$250 a semester credit at Franklin or Liberty University. (31.5K versus 30K, Baker being slight more costly)

Annualized Tuition: For-Profit Sector Vs. All Others

College/University	Annualized Tuition
University of Phoenix	$7,953
American Intercontinental University	20,700
Bryman College	10,415
DeVry	16,000
The Art Institute	22,380
ITT Technical Institute	16,360
Lincoln Technical Institute	16,703
Strayer University	9,221
Universal Technical Institute	20,122
For-Profit Average	$15,539
College Board Industry Estimates*:
All Public Two-Year Colleges	$2,933
All Public Four-Year Colleges	7,333
All Private Four-Year Colleges	28,000
*Annualized the academic year estimate to compare with the for-profit annual tuition.

Source: Banc of America Securities, LLC estimates, The College Board,
National Center For Education Statistics (NCES).

Taken from Howard M. Block, Ph.D., "STATEMENT OF HOWARD BLOCKBEFORETHE SECRETARY OF EDUCATION’SCOMMISSION ON THEFUTURE OF HIGHER EDUCATION" - available online at http://www.ed.gov/about/bdscomm/list/hiedfuture/3rd-meeting/block2.pdf 

Hi to zmurphy and everyone else in this thread - Hopefully zmurphy is still reading this as Helen has added some very interesting information in her last post.  I only wanted to add one or two thoughts.  The first is that people might try to say something about what subjects they would like to pursue in their studies when they make inquiries about schools.  Not all schools offer all subjects through DL and you can waste a lot of time searching through university websites only to find that their DL programs don't suit your interests.  Secondly, when people say they want an inexpensive degree they should understand that that term "inexpensive" (cheap) is a relative term which might be interpretted differently by different people.  When I use that term I mean "the absolutely lowest cost in the entire world."  Others might mean something else.  Generally it's best to say how much you can afford per year.  Beyond that I would only want to say that two schools offering relatively inexpensive regionally accredited Bachelors degree are Fort Hays State and Peru State (easy to find using Google).  Of course there is also the somewhat unorthodox method described by Mr. Miller on his website BAin4weeks.

I've seen that annualized tuition article before...but I think it is put out as propaganda for University of Phoenix.  And I don't understand how the numbers add up (probably because they don't).  How can University of Phoenix come out at $7,900 a year when they charge ~$450 a credit? I don't think they offer a degree (4 year) at less than 128 semester hours...so that is more like $14,000 a year (tuition only).  Maybe they are figuring people in at the 8 year plan....

Matthew2007:

I've seen that annualized tuition article before...but I think it is put out as propaganda for University of Phoenix.  And I don't understand how the numbers add up (probably because they don't).  How can University of Phoenix come out at $7,900 a year when they charge ~$450 a credit? I don't think they offer a degree (4 year) at less than 128 semester hours...so that is more like $14,000 a year (tuition only).  Maybe they are figuring people in at the 8 year plan....

I didn't get that either, and I too disbelieve that $7,900 figure.  $475 per credit times 128 credits for a Bachelor's is a total of over sixty thousand bucks.  I'd much rather get a degree from Nebraska's Peru State College, which is what, a quarter of that?

-=Steve=-