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<p>My guess is that the price differences don’t necessarily have to do with the direct cost of instruction. That’s true of tuition generally. Colleges can, and do, calculate the direct costs of instruction. But those aren’t going to necessarily be used to base a per-class tuition charge on, especially at the kind of institutions you just named. </p>
<p>It’s hard to price a university education one class at a time. I mean, no one is going to like the math when you divide MIT or Stanford tuition by credit hour or course. It will seem exhorbitant. From the university’s standpoint, however, you’re not just paying for what it costs to use the room, the chalk, and the professor’s time in each of those courses. You’re paying for all the things that make the university the university, some of which are pretty expensive to provide but aren’t visible in that classroom. </p>
<p>Of course, when you’re coming on to campus for just one class alone, you’re not likely to take advantage of any of those things. And you’re also not getting to have the university stamped on your diploma. So that price seems like a bad deal, and I’d suggest it probably IS a bad deal. Better to take the class at an institution which prices things differently and has subsidies, like a state college or community college. Or, take advantage of a special rate offered to special students like high school students, which brings me to the next point.</p>
<p>It’s not as if Stanford COULD comfortably teach that course to every student for $700, but instead they rack it up to $2500 for some of them. I would guess that the $700 is a special price they set for NCFD students or high school students. Probably in recognition of the fact that they are not university students and aren’t getting the degree.</p>