Daily Aid 5: College Costs, Distance Learning Financial Aid

9 September 2008 1 views No Comment

Daily Aid 5: College Costs, Distance Learning Financial Aid

Student Financial Aid News

Anthony W. Marx, the president of Amherst College, acknowledged that higher education was not an efficient process. “We have an eight-to-one faculty ratio, we sit in a room and we talk for hours, that’s what we do,” he said. “It costs us $80,000 a year to educate each student.”

Commentary

Perhaps we’re asking the wrong question then. Instead of asking how we can make college more affordable, I wonder if we should be asking how to make a college education more efficient. To me, a college education is a lot like a driver’s license. Simply having a driver’s license won’t get you to your destination – it just says you’re legally allowed to operate the vehicle you need to get to your destination. Like a driver’s license, a college degree doesn’t offer any guarantee of outcome, just a general idea that you have the rough skills you need to get there if you so choose.

So is there a more efficient, less costly way to get that educational driver’s license?

Hat tip to Whitney Hoffman for the lead.

Mail Bag

Kathy writes:

I hope you are well, I am doing an article about distance ed and I am trying to track down when the US started providing financial aid for distance ed students I know as of 2001 they were not.. but now they are… Do you remember or can you find when it actually started? This was a turning point for distance ed on postsecondary level.. Thanks much

I believe it was when the 90/10 rule was relaxed a bit for for-profit and distance schools in 2005. Any eligible Title IV school can offer federal financial aid as long as at least 10% of income comes from revenue sources other than financial aid. That was a big sticking point for a lot of for-profit and distance programs.

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