Cost of Distance Education: A Florida Experience, The

NACTA Journal, Dec 2004 by Wysocki, Allen F, Sterns, James A, House, Lisa A, Fairchild, Gary F, Thornsbury, Suzanne

The wave of distance education courses, degrees and programs developed over the past decade has generated considerable discussion both within universities and in the literature regarding effectiveness and cost. Articles have described various forms of distance education focusing on cost and the necessary conditions for being cost effective. Two NACTA Journal articles have addressed distance education from a strategic need and planning perspective (TeIg and Cheek, September, 1998) and from an evaluative perspective (Diebel, McInnis and Edge, March, 1998).

In 1998, the University of Florida's College of Agricultural and Life Sciences began offering a master's degree in agriculture (MAG) via distance. The Food and Resource Economics Department offered the degree from two locations through several modes of delivery, including videoconferencing, Internet, CD-Rom and videotape. The paper evaluates this distance-based degree by examining both cost-of-delivery and curricular issues. The paper identifies course demographics and calculates and compares the cost of traditional on-campus course delivery with the additional cost of delivering a course via distance education from both a satellite campus and a main campus.

Allen F. Wysocki, James A. Sterns, Lisa A. House, and Gary F. Fairchild

University of Florida

Gainesville, FL

JASterns@ifas.ufl.edu

Suzanne Thornsbury

Michigan State University

East Lansing, MI