05-08-2013, 02:09 AM
JoeH wrote:
[quote=M A V I C]
[quote=freeradical]
Paid for by employers...
So what you're saying is, they can charge that much because people who usually take the class get their employers to pay for it?
University continuing and professional education divisions are major profit centers for them. Most are set up to be semi-independent from the university organization, and in most states any tuition and fees collected for these courses stay with the school. So they will charge whatever the market will bear, usually at tuition rates that have no subsidy from the state and are similar to out-of-state rates. Additional money is made by hiring graduate TA's or adjunct faculty to teach the courses, many regular faculty are not interested in the low amount of additional pay they would get for teaching one.
The income these courses bring to a university makes them very attractive to administrators, enough so that it influences the decision making. I have seen that happen here, this school had a ranking under 300 for both in-state and out-of-state students in the 2011 ROI listings mentioned in an earlier topic. The out-of-state rating has slipped to above 300 for the 2013 version.
Thanks for the details. I had no idea. Kinda actually hoped it would be like night school for the little guy. Sucks for those who don't have big corporations bankrolling them.