Online Degrees: Quality at an Economical Price

Students earning online degrees save money on more than just tuition costs. There's a plethora of additional costs associated with attending traditional colleges or universities that many people don't even take into consideration--until after they're on campus. Fortunately, many of these additional expenditures are completely non-existent with online colleges, making them a better deal than you might even realize.

It's All Local

Tuition for a traditional college or university can be costly enough, with the average annual cost for attending a private school being $32,307. However, if you choose to attend an out-of-state institution of higher learning, that cost could as much as triple. Fortunately, state lines don't exist in cyberspace. Students earning online degrees pay the same low price regardless of whether they live right next to their online school's headquarters or halfway around the world.

The High Cost of Living

While students attending traditional colleges or universities might feel like letting out a sigh of relief once they manage to come up with a year's tuition, they'd be better advised to hold their breath for a while. Tuition is only the first of several charges that will follow, starting with room and board. According to the College Board, an organization that tracks trends in higher education, students who attend traditional schools pay between $6,875 and $8,595 each year for housing, whether their domicile of choice is on campus or off. On the other hand, because students earning online degrees learn in the comfort of their own home, there's no need to find a new place in which to shack up. Added to the cost of moving, they end up saving a significant chunk of change by traveling the online route.

Easy on the Eyes ... and Wallet

The next major expense that traditional schools spring on students is the cost of textbooks. Every year, the average student attending a brick-and-mortar institution shells out between $921 and $988 on required reading material, the College Board reports. While there are several features shared by traditional and online schools, fortunately this isn't one of them. In fact, while there may be one or two classes that require students to have printed material, for the most part online colleges don't see the sense in forcing students to pay inflated prices on books they'll likely never again crack open once the school year is over. Instead, they make available electronic versions of their textbooks, which students can access on the Internet at no cost. The modern-day feature not only relieves students of a tremendous financial burden, but also the need for them to lug around heavy, oversized hardcover books.

Additional Savings

In addition to saving loads of cash on tuition, housing and textbooks, students earning online degrees are relieved of a number of smaller expenses that add up over time:

• Students who leave home to attend college spend between $768 and $1,284 on transportation costs, the College Board reports. Even if they attend a local school to eliminate dorm expenses, traditional students still have to part with their hard-earned cash to pay for gas, tolls, parking and other driving-related costs. Students earning online degrees aren't burdened with such expenses, as the longest trip they'll likely have to make during their courses of studies will be to their respective bathrooms.
• Instead of paying for overpriced, undercooked food in the school cafeteria, online students can satisfy their hunger by eating far less expensive grocery store food in their own kitchen. Furthermore, they don't have to live with the shame of sacrificing their principals by feeding $2 into a machine for a 50 cent can of soda.
• Whereas purchasing a new wardrobe at the beginning of the school year can set a traditional student back hundreds of dollars, whether or not they're fashion-conscious isn't a concern for students earning online degrees. Instead of having to worry about such social impediments as being clad in the most up-to-date styles and fitting in with their peers, online students are afforded the luxury of directing all of their attention to their studies.
• And according to the College Board, traditional students slap down somewhere between $1,311 and $2,138 every year for "miscellaneous expenses." Regardless of whether these mysterious expenditures result from school fundraisers, impulse buys in the college bookstore or tickets for extracurricular on-campus events, it's money that stays in the pockets of students pursuing online degrees.