Now what?

I love the state of Wyoming as well as University of Wyoming. Their program attracts me, but I already had a Bachelor degree, especially their tuition. Well, for him money is not an issue.

 

Are you sure about that for out-of-state?

 

I always point folks in this neck of the woods to this one:

University of Alabama

to be followed by this one:
MS Global Business Management


Definite name recognition (especially after losing to Florida)

 

Of all the information posted on this board, information relating to cost is the most tenuous. Most schools will tell you up front that costs are subject to change at any time. It's usually possible to figure out the small group of schools that cost the least but this information can become innacurate rather quickly. Typically I refer people to the school for exact, up to the minute information on costs. Do you have information that suggests that Fortunato's statement is incorrect? If so I'm sure it would be helpful for you to post it. Cost is a total deal breaker criteria for me. I can barely afford the lowest cost program.

 

I think the price has gone up if this is the same program.

http://uwadmnweb.uwyo.edu/fsbo/info.asp?p=1731

Undergraduate Resident Nonresident
Tuition (per credit hour) $ 94.00 $ 341.00
Fees, all students, per semester 189.13 189.13
Fees, full-time students add 211.50 211.50

Graduate
Tuition (per credit hour) $ 174.00 $ 498.00
Fees, all students, per semester 189.13 189.13
Fees, full-time students add 211.50 211.50

Pharmacy (Pharm.D.)
Tuition (per credit hour) $ 262.00 $ 586.00
Fees, all students, per semester 189.13 189.13
Fees, full-time students add 211.50 211.50

Law
Tuition (per credit hour) $ 288.00 $ 643.00
Fees, all students, per semester 189.13 189.13
Fees, full-time students add 211.50 211.50

 

we need to be careful about where we grab the information. DISTANCE tuition is below (and in line with Fortunato's information):

http://outreach.uwyo.edu/ocp/tuition&fees.asp

 

My mistake. Thanks!

 

Easy to do. You would think that schools would make their sites easier to navigate. The sad thing is many folks miss good programs because of the search term, a lot of schools use "continuing education", "outreach", and my favorite, "adult learning". That last one really brings home the thought processes of the school.

 

Those online tuition fees don't make much sense. Why would they charge online students out-of-state even less than in-state ground students?

 

It costs a university far less money to deliver an online program than it does to deliver the same program onground. Besides, adopting a low price strategy is one way of increasing sales volume and hence revenues.

 

I don't see any many other state schools offering lower tuition for online classes. They must be really desperate to fill the rolls.

 

Just because something is less expensive doesn't mean that the school is desperate to fill seats. I can tell you from personal experience that if you don't make sure you get into your desired classes early, you will find yourself on the outside looking in. The University of Wyoming charges the same tuition for both distance and regular classes. The difference is in the fees - on-campus students pay fees for services that distance-only students don't receive, and thus don't pay for (and vice-versa!). In fact, the fees that online students pay are different from the ones that correspondence distance students pay.

Wyoming's Outreach School, which administers its online programs, is charged with delivering affordable education to all of Wyoming, which has a population of just over 500,000 people spread over just under 100,000 square miles. Thanks to state coffers bulging from oil and gas revenues, they've been able to hold tuition relatively constant and actually cut it in some years. Wyoming is a primarily rural state, and keeping higher education affordable and accessible is an admirable goal. The fact that they open up their Outreach programs to out-of-state students is a bonus (one I'm personally grateful for), not any indication of "desperation".

 

Oh really...

University of Wyoming reviews credit tuition

Numbers show drop in hours taken


http://www.dailytarheel.com/news/projects/university_of_wyoming_reviews_credit_tuition

Wyoming's in-state students are getting screwed in fees unless they go to the Outreach for available programs. What does that tell us?

Read the article... they are desperate to fill seats because the hours taken are down. If students are taking less hours they need numbers to make up for it. This leads to a decrease in the quality of students that is the same idiosyncrasy plaguing for-profits. Case in point... I was checking out their online Ed.D. and guess what, you don't need to take the GRE. What state school offering an Ed.D. does not require standardized test scores much less anything else?

It smells real fishy to me.

 

That like most major universities, the University of Wyoming has computer labs, libraries, health and wellness facilities, and an athletics program. None of which are used by distance education students.

I did read the "article". It appears to be a sidebar to an article covering the UNC system's decision to experiment with moving from block tuition to per-hour tuition that relates Wyoming's experience with the change. Average credit hours per student per semester dropped from 13.4 to 13.3, which would be expected - the whole point of moving to a per-hour tuition system is to discourage students from overloading themselves in an attempt to save money. Nowhere in the article does it indicate that Wyoming was desperate to fill seats or that quality of instruction or students had dropped. Did you read the article?

The program, which actually isn't offered online, requires a regionally accredited Master's degree for admission. Presumably, if you have earned an RA masters, you are (or at least, were) capable of producing graduate-level work. Even if it didn't require a masters degree for admission, there are many open-admission doctoral programs that produce excellent scholarship, including some attended by members of this board. It might be easy to get into an open admissions degree program, but you still have to do the work and graduate before they'll let you call yourself "Doctor".

Seriously? The fact that UW chooses to only charge fees to its distance students for things that they will actually use is what sets off your finely tuned bullcrap detector? Why exactly should I, as a UW distance student, have to pay for computer labs and gymnasiums that I'll never ever set foot in?

You're taking a noble thing, which is the state of Wyoming taking its revenue windfall from the oil and gas boom in the state and using it to keep education costs down for its citizens, even those who for whatever reason can't make it to Laramie to attend classes, and attempting to depict it as the last gasps of a failing institution. I don't understand your motivation for doing so, but your facts are wrong, your conclusions are unsupported by the evidence, and your tone is offensive.

 

You still didn't answer the question... it tells us they are encouraging more online enrollment. That will result in the loss of ground based students. I can just see Wyoming 15 years from now. It will be the first public university to go to an all eCampus. I just thought you should know about UW funding...

(2007)Richard H. Miller, vice president for governmental, community, and legal affairs at the University of Wyoming said the state does not expect its boom to end any time soon. "The day of $22 to $28 a barrel oil, or $1 or $2 natural gas, is behind us," he said.

Fast forward to 2008... Uh oh!

And shouldn't it have been skyrocketing with the state dumping extra funds into it? For-profits across the country are booming with new enrollments and these are the programs Wyoming is relying on to expand in. They are actually losing course hours when they should be raking it in. When FY09 budget cuts take affect one can only imagine the financial hardships this school will be under.

So I can go to UoP and then get into UW, no questions asked. Open enrollment all the way. Wow! Why did I waste my time going to schools with admission standards?

One can only hope... unfortunately it is not always the case.

Dropping admission standards is what sets off my bullcrap detector. Fees are only a sidebar to the greater problem of trying to fill butts in seats.

Why do all the other schools make you do it? Because you are part of a university.

I am taking the results of a financially unstable online component that is dragging a once noble institution into the dregs of typical for-profit problems.
My conclusions are supported by the evidence. Hours are down, tuition is dropped, admission standards are lowered, and they still fail to compete with overpriced for-profits. Their response is to increase online enrollment just like for-profits and this is where they start to go bad. My motivation is a simple observation of a good school starting to slip. I hope they get back on track so they can continue the great tradition that is UW by moderating online and ground campus enrollments without sacrificing standards. This is not the last gasps but the starting of a smokers cough if you will.

 

Most educational administrators at state-funded universities simply don't have enough brains to understand basic market economics.

 

They were not really tied to basic market economics. Between public funding, endowments, and flowing financial aid it hasn't been much of an issue in the past. It will be interesting to see how they adjust to the economics of it.