College for $99 a Month

In a very interesting article in the Washinton Monthly College Guide the author describes the potential for the "disruptive innovation" of an all-online college degree. His thesis is that just as with other traditional business models such as travel agencies, newspapers, and the music industry, technology is poised to throw a potentially lethal blow to the traditional higher education system.

Although, distance learning in various forms has been around since at least the 1800s and internet courses and programs have been in place since the late 1990s, they have never really challenged the traditional, on-campus college education. According to the author, that is about to change. The spectacular rise in college tuition and other costs has increased the demand for cheaper and more convenient college education.

The author notes that the all-online colleges such a the University of Phoenix do provide the flexible options students demand, but their pricing model has been to charge as much or more than traditional universities and thereby rake in enormous profits. He makes the case that when someone can offer online education and charge competitive rates (i.e. what it costs to provide it plus a reasonable profit), traditional colleges and universities will be in big trouble.

He points out, however, the obstacles in the way of this possible transformation - specifically accreditation. This was (is) the main barrier for the subject of the article - Straighterline.com.

It is interesting to note opposition to Straighterline from students at its then partner university, Fort Hays State University in Kansas. Although their protest was based on Fort Hays partnering with a private corporation, one wonders if an unspoken motivation might be to prop up barriers to a college degree so as to limit the numbers of degree holders those students would have to compete against.