A bubble is going to burst for colleges and universities thanks to online education?

Discussion in 'General Distance Learning Discussions' started by Lerner, Nov 15, 2017.

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  1. Lerner

    Lerner Well-Known Member

  2. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    People have been saying this for 10 years or more. If the bubble is going to burst, it's sure taking its sweet time. Here's an article to the contrary that was referenced in a DI thread about 2008.

    https://www.insidehighered.com/news/2008/11/18/ed

    Many schools have adapted by offering many more distance programs than they used to. The college where I'm sitting right now, from which I've graduated three times, now offers bushels of programs by Distance Education only. That's OK, but I'm not buying, from here. Reason: I think it's cheaper to offer it that way and should be cheaper to enrol. And it's NOT. Same price as a B&M course. Right now, this college isn't offering ANY courses - day or night. It's very peaceful here - hardly any students, as the Faculty has been on strike for over a month. 24 Ontario Colleges, 500,000 students on hold. Particularly tough on the many students who have come from halfway around the world to study here. They've spent (and continue to spend) a LOT of money and receive no instruction. We should worship the foreign students. They pay almost 3 times the domestic tuition rate! I shudder to think what's going to happen to future enrolment, now word of this situation has got back to India, Ukraine, China ...

    Looks like some schools have worse problems than students being poached by Internet classes. Under normal conditions, most can just dip into the Net, poach their own share and carry on. Adapt or die - whether I like it or not.

    J.
     
  3. sanantone

    sanantone Well-Known Member

    Er, I wouldn't say that it would drive traditional schools into bankruptcy. It will drive schools that don't offer online programs into bankruptcy. Community colleges have the most online students. Some of the biggest providers of online, 4-year degrees and above are actually traditional schools i.e. Liberty and SNHU. ASU just might have the most online programs I have ever seen at one school.
     
  4. Phdtobe

    Phdtobe Well-Known Member

    Online education is more likely the saving grace for B&M schools that are on the bubble, not the opposite. On-line only schools are in danger of going under from competition from B&M on the bubble and those schools that are also fine. I am as much right as our Harvard professor. I don't need to write a book but there is enough information for a book to support my POV.
     
  5. Johann

    Johann Well-Known Member

    None of us do. Someone would have to read them all. I'm not volunteering. Maybe Ted Heiks, the voracious reader, will. Maybe he won't.

    At least three members here agree - offering online courses could help B&M schools stave off financial ruin, because that's where all the money will be. OK - for how long?

    Where is the saturation point, when there are more online offerings than needed. Are we there yet? No? How soon? And what happens when and if we are there? What schools will survive / go under then? It's a paradox wrapped up in a conundrum. Just to complicate things, Internet-only schools, Phdtobe says, are at more risk than the B&M schools that also offer Internet education?

    Are we talking two alleged "bubbles" coming at us here - B&M AND Internet-only schools? I'm suspicious of all attempts to predict the future. Pundits make their graphs and charts, then a butterfly dies in South America...

    J.
     
    Last edited by a moderator: Nov 16, 2017
  6. Lerner

    Lerner Well-Known Member

    I remember long time ego 2 or 3 decades ego reading in Dr. Bears guides that eventually the B&M's will have to jump on the bandwagon
    Or face a decline in student satisfaction and eventually enrollment.
    Many did it. Some B&M's offer complete degrees online by DL.

    What about government funding, will it change? Is this what will bankrupt the schools?
     
  7. Phdtobe

    Phdtobe Well-Known Member

    Online education has created a much bigger pie. In addition, American, Uk, and Australian degrees are in high demand across the globe so there is a lot of room to grow for struggling B&Ms in these countries. Nothing is guaranteed, bad management may be a more serious problem than finding students.
    The online education has already burst for internet-only schools. There is no more growth for them. The industry is already in its decline stage. I see no new innovations from online-only schools.
     

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