<p>Eagle, I don’t think Stanford or any other top tier research institution believes that their online offering competes with their classroom experience. The marginal cost of providing online instruction when you already have a full faculty covering 100’s of disciplines is pretty low-- hence the lower cost. If you actually had to amortize the cost of that faculty over the cost of the online offering the “price” might well be higher. But-- Stanford doesnt need to do that, since both the marginal cost and the revenue of the online courses is in the absolute, a trivial part of their operating budget.</p>
<p>Hoedown, I think the mass exodus to cheaper alternatives is to be found in the community college system. In our neck of the woods, these schools have bare bones physical plants, few amenities besides a lunch counter, and minimal “support” beyond vocational counseling. I wonder where the outrage of the taxpayers has gone… our State U. which has a mandate to educate the citizens of our state, seems to spend most of its money on fancier athletic facilities (and really great parking) rather than investing in instruction or academics. And yet… tuition keeps going up, the middle class is starting to get squeezed out… but boy, gotta love that football team!</p>