Posted on 08/21/2017 7:19:43 PM PDT by 2ndDivisionVet
Something important happened in the field of education this month.
For the first time ever, any student anywhere can take top-quality courses online in every major freshman college subject, taught by professors from the most prestigious universities, that lead to full academic credit at 2,900 traditional colleges, such as Purdue, Penn State, Colorado State and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, all absolutely free.
There is no tuition cost. No text book cost. No administrative or connection fees. No taxpayer subsidy or federal Title IV funding required. And this is not a plan for the future, but a working reality available to students now, already built, entirely as a private 501(c)(3) philanthropy, at an exceptionally efficient price.
The charity that built the courses, over 40 in all, is called the Modern States Education Alliance. It has a bipartisan set of allies that include the nation’s largest public college systems, such as the State University of New York system and Texas State, which themselves serve over one million students and want to improve college access. Modern States is a new type of “on-ramp to college” for any hardworking person anywhere, and a way to cut the cost of traditional four-year college by many thousands of dollars and up to 25 percent.
Now, anyone can go to ModernStates.org, the way they go to Netflix, and choose a college course the way they pick a Netflix movie. There is no charge for the course and no charge for the online textbook that comes with it. The student can watch the lectures at any time of the day or night, repeating any part of it as often as needed. When the student feels ready, they can take the CLEP exam (a well-established, credit-bearing test from the College Board....
(Excerpt) Read more at realclearlife.com ...
In a few more weeks, I will be 61 y/o.
I honestly don’t recall what the tuition was then.
My dad took care of most the tuition, and he did not like to be questioned about how he managed the money from his kids.
I went to a small private college in Columbus, Ohio.
My first year was on schoolarship, with work-study programs available after that. I also got lots of part time jobs at Wendys’, Sears, Shoe stores (Lazarus) print shops and advertising artwork.
The college was about four miles south of Ohio State U. down High Street. This was back when Woody Hayes was there. Central Ohio worshiped the ground Woody walked on.
Great news! Shared it with everyone!
Good post!
there is a charge to take the exams.
The College Board charges $92 to take each of the AP exams and $85 to take each of the CLEP exams.
“If you went to college twenty years ago you would be shocked if you had to go back and experience it now. You wouldn’t recognize it.”
As someone doing just that, you’re right. The wife and I to school around 1980. I tell her to forget everything she knows about that experience.
“For the first time ever...” Yeah, right.
Edx, Coursera, Udacity and Boundless have been around for five years or more. The problem is that taking online courses is boring. I’ve taken three and wow. Boring.
Wish my student had grandpas and grandpas to support him financially ;)
now there is a rip off organization...all the way through and through “The College Board”. Gouging and over pricing, their products, hoops to jump through, red tape and more red tape redundancy, bureaucracy, lousy service! And the over use of the SAT as the “single most reliable” barometer of immediately tossing an application in the trash...well don’t get me going on that.
I like the MOOC option, but agree with you it's not very engaging.
Does this generate transferable credits, to top rated colleges and universities?
The majority of college courses can be taught online at very minimal prices. There are some courses in science and engineering and very particularly the medical field that need hands on experience in labs and with patients. These courses are expensive to provide because of the infrastructure needed to teach this hands on experience. You can not get that experience in front of a computer. There is also an interactive between professor and students that is essential for certain courses. This is expensive.
Most of the other courses can be provided at very low costs.
The real problem with university is it does not respond to market forces due to insane amounts of government largess to students for tuition etc.
For example in 1966 I could earn enough money roughnecking on the drilling rigs in the summer to pay my room and board and tuition for two full semesters. Today if I were a roughneck I could only earn a fraction of what I would need for two semesters of university. Government programs have totally distorted normal market forces relative to the cost of university.
ps
I earned 25 hours of credit by CLEP exams and another 6 hours in aviation (I was a pharmacy student not aviation) due to my commercial aviation tickets.. I bought the books, studied and took the tests. This saved me the cost of a year in university. I was paying and wanted out as quick as possible! It was my money.
It should be noted that I was not a great student when I first went to university. I flunked out and went back to the drilling rigs for 5 years. When I returned to university with a major attitude adjustment, I did well, and acquired a degree in geology and then returned some years later to get a degree in pharmacy. My own individual work paid for all of this. No grants but I did have some small loans that I paid back early.
We live in a great nation! We must not lose it.
Read the article.
I occasionally take classes from edX. They are free and many are from top notch universities. There are also financial classes for free, can’t remember the site. Even though I’m in the medical field I still like to challenge myself.
Yep... My 1970’s college cost for tuition and dorm R&B was on par with yours in my first several years. By 1979 when I graduated with a 2nd degree, the tuition had increased noticeably and book cost had absolutely sky rocketed up. Spent two semesters in dorm living and after that in off campus apartments (all had shuttle vans to campus). Apartment cost split with one room mate was a bit more expensive than the dorm but achievable since I worked full time every summer while living at home.
The bulk of my college (tuition/books + 2-semesters dorm equivalent that I supplemented via my summer job earnings) was funded via a modest trust fund my parents setup by rolling the home equity from a house sale into the trust instead of into the new home purchase. Thank you Mom and Dad... Also, I have no idea how they could know, but it seemed like when things were really tight, like do I pay rent or move home broke, a check for a few bucks would show up from my grandparents to get me over a hump. Thank you, for that as well.
Basically, I have been working jobs (and college is a job too, at least if you want to graduate) since I was 13yo. First as a paperboy then summer jobs while in HS and college. Last couple of years of college I had gotten married and costs had increased to where I had a part time job during the school year at a university research lab plus had a very nice fellowship the summer before graduation.
I went to a “good school” and did get a Master’s degree.
I had to read vociferously outside of school to get the education that I wanted, that I couldn’t get in school.
And this was 25 years ago...
Lack of coffee. Copiously, not vociferously.
“Support” isn’t quite correct. “Help” would be closer to the actual amount. But it does make a difference!
I have read statistics that in today’s college setting, 2 out of 3 Christian students will walk away from their faith during their four year stay. I think to a great extent, it depends where they attend. Our major tech university seems to be a more tolerant faith environment than those focused on liberal arts.
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You do realize that will become the price of your “free” education, as it already is across the country. The core acedemic courses that most remember as 100 level have long since been replaced by mandatory indoctrination sessions in progressive ideology. Market forces will drive innovation, but the progressives will not quietly abandon their positions of power.
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