Interesting Reads This Week

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We’re now in the fourth week of the year, and I’m finally coming to terms with the fact that not only are we in 2025, but it’s also winter. And it’s cold. So, what did I read while huddled under a blanket, fending off denial?

Disconnects and dollars

This week, WCET published their much-anticipated (at least by me) report on the cost and price of online learning. This follows their 2017 report, which also examined the same issue. The theme of this year’s report centers on a “disconnect.” While there has been progress in the funding of online learning—indicating a growing “normalization” of online education—significant gaps remain in how campuses approach on-campus courses versus those offered at a distance.

The survey results highlight the impact of the growing acceptance of online learning (outside of AV-funded think tanks) on its funding and support. The most notable shift is in how online programs are financed. Increasingly, programs offered at a distance are being funded in the same way as traditional on-campus courses.

The decrease in self-funded courses from 16.4% to 7.6% this year is significant. Self-funded courses are those (as defined in the survey itself) as those “that receive little or no support from the state or the central campus budget”, indicating that they are treated separately or seen as not part of the institutions core offering. The fact that the number of self-funded courses has essentially halved since the earlier WCET survey is evidence of one of their central arguments: that online learning is becoming “normalized,” a core part of what colleges and universities do. Business as usual, not something off to the side.

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