07-25-2008, 05:37 AM
Brian Crawford Wrote:In any event, any major discount on an accredited DL degree program is great.
Brian and Ham, your points are well taken, and on a couple of levels. In my original post I phrased it "no tuition" in quotes rather than "free" as was stated elsewhere for just the reasons you mentioned. Obviously if a "fee" is involved it's not "free."
Implicit in your discussion is another excellent point. Students ought to do their due diligence before jumping in with this program or any other. Run the numbers and see how the "fee" breaks down per course.
The car salesman analogy is apt. Colleges are by and large bigger crooks and bound by fewer restrictions. Cynicism is always healthy when making major financial decisions.
A point you didn't mention is that the "sponsorship" extends "for their entire program." It's not just a loss leader to get you in the door for a couple classes, it's the whole program.
When you do get to the bottom line you find this truly is a heckuva deal. Whether they call it a sponsorship or a scholarship, whether it's a marketing ploy or not, the end result is enormous savings on a quality program. As Ben Johnson noted, an accredited MBA for around $2K is just astonishing. Some places charge that much per unit.
So that's why I was enthusiastic about this program. It's no overstatement to say this is a potentially revolutionary development on a Henry Ford scale. How can an unremarkable RA school peddle a $50,000 MBA when you can pick up one just as good or better for $2,000?
And on the other end of the scale, why pay $2,500 for a bogus degree that will only embarrass you, when you can do a real program for less and actually learn something in the bargain?
(Another question for another time would be why our acquisitive government should be spending your tax money to subsidize a student loan program if now nearly everyone can afford college without it?)
Since we are quick and aggressive in our criticism of those we see undermining distance learning (a rightly so), it seems only proper that we are equally quick to offer support to those who advance it so mightily. Once the higher education cartel and their shills fully comprehend the significance of this development you can bet they will be on the warpath both overtly and covertly to hammer it down.