Second, students must have the necessary time to devote to their studies. Just because they are not driving to the campus does not mean they will be spending less time in class. Individuals with time-consuming work or family responsibilities should think twice about pursuing a degree. It may be better to take a course on trial. Third, individuals save money on gas, but it still costs the same per credit of the normal university.
Students should also be careful of the level of education. As with any enterprise, there is the good and the bad. Numerous so-called "universities" that are not accredited are seeing this as an excellent way to make money. Also, warns David Noble, a historian at York University in Toronto and co-founder of an advocacy group called the National Coalition for Universities in the Public Interest, although universities originally say their courses are going to be led by prestigious on-campus professors, many of these institutions are giving the work to an assortment of poorly paid "readers" and associate instructors in order to pay for increasing administrative costs. "Schools like Columbia and the University of California, Berkeley, experienced dropout rates from their correspondence programs of 70 to 80%, and critics began to assail the practice...
The buyer must beware. Anyone who is interested in traveling through virtual space to take a course or obtain a degree should do his/her homework first on the quality of the institution.
References
Guernsey, L. (1998). Distance education for the not-so-distant. The Chronicle of Higher Education, 44(29), A29-A30.
Imagine. (May/June 1998). Education at a Distance, 13-15.
Matthews, D. & Colle, C. (2002) Distance Education: What Is It? Utilization of istance Education in Higher Education in the United States. Hershey, PA: Idea
Group Publishing.
Press, E., Washburn, J., & Broden, F. (2001, January/February). Digital Diplomas. [On-
Line]. Website retrieved July 3, 2005. http://www.motherjones.com/mother_jones/JF01/diplomas.html.
U.S. Department of Education. (1999). Distance education at post-secondary education institutions: 1997-98. National Center for Education Statistics
Report 2000-013. Washington, DC: Author.
