9 in 10 Online Learners Positive ROI

9 in 10 Online Learners Experience Positive Roi From Degree Program
https://www.star-telegram.com/news/business/article292237770.html

DATA SUMMARY
* In 2024, 93% of surveyed students told BestColleges their online degree has or will have a positive return on investment (ROI).
* The percentage of online learners who say this has increased by five percentage points since 2019.
* More than 8 in 10 online students (81%) also say that online education is better than or equal to on-campus learning.
* Further, 97% say they would recommend online education to others.
* Despite online education being perceived as more affordable than in-person instruction, 48% of online learners say tuition costs and program fees were one of the biggest challenges to enrolling.

 

This methodology is terrible.

"In 2024, 93% of surveyed students told BestColleges their online degree has or will have a positive return on investment (ROI)."

Best Colleges is a marketer of online programs, meaning that they get paid to promote online programs. Organizations that actually specialize in this type of data don't ask if there is or will be positive ROI. They get the numbers and calculate them. What percentage of the 93% said that they will have positive ROI, and how can they predict the future?

 

It's just a survey about people's feelings, perceptions and impressions. It's still valid, it's just not quantitative.

 

Exactly, which makes the title misleading. 9 out of 10 online learners feel like they have or will experience positive ROI (no breakdown of have vs will). There are no numbers showing that they've actually experienced positive ROI. A good follow-up survey would be on whether these perceptions were accurate. I'm sure that a lot of people felt like their bachelor's in sociology would have a positive ROI, which is why they got it. Then, reality hit them after graduation, and they regretted getting the degree.

https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/2024/08/29/most-regretted-college-majors/74908310007/

 

ROI (return on investment) is a specific measure based on quantitative inputs. Unless they can show, at a minimum, how much the graduates paid for their degrees and how much they're earning now as a result of that education (whether they are earning more or less), the use of "ROI" to describe a satisfaction survey is misleading.

 

They didn't measure ROI. They measured some self-reporting about how people felt.

 

Sales people did a good job, the motivated students mean fewer dropouts.
Indirect indication that the students are getting good service from the colleges and universities they enrolled in.

Time will show.

 

I agree the title is misleading, although I suppose if we are generous, "return on investment" could include life experience, networking, and career options that manifested because of the degree that don't necessarily translate into a dollar for dollar correlation. It's difficult to prove a negative, you don't know what your situation would be if you DIDN'T have the degree. It may be the same, better, or worse. In my own case, the investment was worth it because not having any kind of degree severely limited my job options in my 20's and early 30's, so just by getting a degree of any kind, it eliminated that barrier - but I couldn't tell you if the exact amount of money I spent was directly recoupable in my earnings because of the degree alone.

PS - My degree "Interactive Communication Processes" is in the Social and Behavioral Sciences, in fact, that's what my actual OSU diploma says on it. I don't regret it at all. Not at all.

 

In my world we use the term "ROI" to mean a financial return. Qualitative results would be "ROE" ("Return on Expectations").