A vast majority of college students do not think online courses are worth full tuition costs, according to a survey conducted by OneClass, a college course note sharing platform and digital course provider.
Nearly 94% of the more than 10,000 college students surveyed said online courses are not worth as much as in-person courses, OneClass said. This autumn the majority of college students are taking some form of online classes, and only 4% of colleges are holding fully in-person classes, according to the Chronicle of Higher Education.
Tuition costs have remained the same this fall, although there are no fees for room and board. The survey included 10,367 college freshmen, sophomores and juniors at one of 191 colleges and universities in the United States.
Many students said they expected online classes this fall to be more advanced than those provided last spring when colleges had to quickly pivot to remote learning, according to the survey.
Even though classes have dramatically changed, students are receiving the same financial aid packages and will graduate with the same amount of student debt, the survey said.
“It is important to remember that not all learning platforms offer the same quality of online classes," OneClass said. "For [the] alternate learning approach to be useful for the student's education and applicable to college requirements,” parents and students should evaluate the courses and the credentials of the instructors and determine if the digital classes effectively use the technology to supplement the educational process.