Tuition and Fees

While distance education can be seen as a costsavings approach to providing postsecondary education, the costs of developing, implementing, and delivering distance education courses can be substantial. One might expect that institutions would pass these costs or cost savings on by charging different tuition and fees to students enrolled in distance education courses. To examine this issue, this chapter provides information about how tuition and fees for distance education courses compare to those for traditional campus-based courses. Analyses are presented by institutional type.

Tuition

Institutions were asked how the tuition charged for college-level, credit-granting distance education courses compared with tuition charged for equivalent on-campus courses. Table 20 shows how tuition costs for distance education and on-campus courses compared among institutions that offered any distance education courses in 1997–98. About three-quarters (77 percent) of the institutions charged the same tuition for distance education courses as for comparable on-campus courses. Relatively few institutions indicated that their tuition charges were always lower (3 percent) or always higher (6 percent) for distance education courses than for on-campus courses, and 14 percent indicated that their tuition charges for distance education were variable (i.e., sometimes the same as and sometimes different than for on-campus courses).¹⁶

Public 2-year institutions were more likely than public or private 4-year institutions to indicate that tuition charges were always the same for distance education and on-campus courses, with 90 percent of public 2-year institutions that offered distance education courses giving this response (table 20). Variable tuition charges were more common among public 4-year institutions offering distance education courses than at other types of institutions, although still a minority at 28 percent of public 4-year institutions.

Among the 14 percent of institutions with variable tuition charges for distance education courses (i.e., tuition for distance education was sometimes the same as and sometimes different than for on-campus courses), 38 percent indicated that the tuition for distance education courses was always higher than for on-campus courses when the charges differed, and 14 percent indicated that it was always lower when the charges differed (figure 3). About half (48 percent) of the institutions with variable tuition charges indicated that tuition for distance education courses was sometimes higher and sometimes lower than for on-campus courses when the tuition differed.

Fees

Another approach that institutions may use to offset the cost of distance education is the application of special fees to distance education courses that are not added to on-campus courses. These fees may be determined by factors such as delivery format or location. Two-thirds (66 percent) of the institutions that offered distance education courses indicated that they did not add special fees to their college-level, creditgranting distance education courses, 21 percent sometimes added special fees, and 13 percent always added special fees (figure 4).

Institutions that are not able or choose not to charge higher tuition for distance education courses may use special fees as an alternative method of collecting additional funds for these courses. However, most institutions do not appear to be using this approach. Among the 77 percent of institutions that always charge the same tuition for on-campus and distance education courses (see table 20), 74 percent do not add any special fees to distance education courses, 15 percent sometimes add special fees, and 11 percent always add special fees (figure 5). Thus, 57 percent of institutions overall are charging both comparable tuition and comparable fees for distance education and on-campus

Summary

Results indicate that most postsecondary education institutions do not pass on the costs or cost savings of distance education programs by charging different tuition or fees to students enrolled in distance education courses. About three-quarters of institutions with distance education always charge the same tuition for distance education and comparable on-campus courses. Public 2-year institutions were the most likely to indicate that tuition charges were always the same, with 90 percent of public 2-year institutions always charging comparable tuition for on-campus and distance education courses. Moreover, two-thirds of institutions do not add special fees to distance education courses that are not added to on-campus courses. Further, 57 percent of institutions charge both comparable tuition and comparable fees for distance education and on-campus courses.

¹⁶ At some institutions, both public and private, tuition charges are set at the same level for all students by entities such as the state legislature or the Board of Trustees. At such institutions, tuition charges would be the same for distance education and on-campus courses.

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