Berkeley and 2U to launch online data science degree

ft.com

13 points·davelester··5 comments

Wait a second, $60,000 for a one-year program?! Wasn't online education supposed to be cheaper to deliver, more efficient? They claim class sizes of no more than 20, but this is a graduate program, small class sizes are the norm in graduate school, so that's not really anything terribly impressive. I'd really like to hear someone explain why this program is so expensive...

It also looks like the other 2U online college program (MBA@UNC) is about $93,500[1] over the course of the degree.

[1] http://onlinemba.unc.edu/admissions/tuition-financial-aid/

IMO This is not targeted towards individuals applying on their own.

I went to a walkabout of a similar online education company's office and asked them about the high cost for an online degree. The answer I received was

1. there is demand for this and

2. Most of the demand comes from people in the military serving in remote locations or people working inside other large organizations which foot the cost. and

3. They provide online infrastructure to courses of schools like UC-B, UNC etc and the colleges set the price so as not to dilute their "brand" because the online degree does not mention the fact that the degree was obtained online (this could have changed).

All in all, my initial shock was a bit tempered after hearing the realities involving all 3 parties : the school, the student and the online enabler.

Most of your fees go to the online virtual student union and recreation center.

which has tuition fees of $60,000

Uhm, looks like they did get something wrong about the internet-degree thing.

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