Comments on: Cal State turning away students – how about an online degree?

By: Jim Benson

Jim Benson — Fri, 13 Nov 2009 02:00:19 +0000

I inquired with a couple of online schools, the ones out there now cost upwards of 15K per year.

It would be interesting to know what the cost would actually be, I would hope at 15-25k the current online schools are making a big profit.

I do agree that a computer is not a good substitue teacher, perhaps a 50/50 mixture would help reduce costs and still provide some needed oversight.

I can set at a computer and find the answer to most any question in the world, that does not mean I could pass a test on it or that I have learned it.

By: anonster

anonster — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 18:11:18 +0000

I disagree with the notion that a college education can be had “on-line”. There is FAR more to education than just passing tests to get your degree. The internet is nothing more than a cheap shortcut, it maybe suitable for some technical trades, but it is NOT a SUBSTITUTE for TEACHERS.
Where are our priorities?
We are shortchanging students and the future of this country by not investing more in education.

By: paulie shore

paulie shore — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:18:07 +0000

Hey Art, I heard on the radio that Cal State LB is starting to that. I think they are running out of options and with all the other on-line schools out there, they almost have to just to get some students. I wouldn’t be suprised if all the Cal State schools went in this direction soon. Good post.

By: Been there

Been there — Thu, 12 Nov 2009 16:10:16 +0000

A dirty little secret is that at most Cal State campuses the Continuing Education program can run summer school and what they call intersession (between semesters), filling all classes with fee paying students at no cost to the taxpayers. Any thought of expanding this self-sufficeint style to the normal semesters, though, is met with a big No from the Chancellor’s office, however. One has to wonder why the Chancellor and Board would rather endure budget cuts, enrollment reductions and otherwise deprive the public of educational opportunities vs. becoming entrepreneural and implementing more of the Continuing Education self-supporting model. Perhaps the agenda is not about maximizing educational offerings after all ?