UL-Anywhere: Costs cut more than half for UL online degrees

[NewsCopy]

College tuition prices seldom drop.

Bucking that trend, the University of Louisiana will cut the out-of-state fee for most online degree programs and graduate-certificate programs by more than half in spring 2017.

Last month, the University of Louisiana finalized the rate decrease. Students enrolled in an online degree program will pay the same rate, whether they live within or outside of Louisiana.

For example, a student residing in Texas and enrolling in six online credit hours for the Doctor of Nursing Practice (DNP) program will pay $3,259, a 58 percent reduction from the $7,835 rate.

“The reduced tuition is key to helping meet the needs and expectations of out-of-state students,” said Luke Dowden, director of Distance Learning.

“We are trying to be more responsive to working adults and those who want a Louisiana degree but are unable to relocate.”

The University of Louisiana offers online degrees and graduate certificates in business, education, health care, nursing, professional writing, and systems technology.

“We were already attracting increasing numbers of students because of the reputation of our programs. The new competitive online price will enable more students to access our first-rate faculty and curricula. It’s the same great product, just at a far better price,” Dowden said.

The Office of Distance Learning is beginning to let prospective students know of the new rates through a targeted internet campaign.

The University of Louisiana's RN-to-BSN degree and any future specially priced programs are exceptions to the rate reduction and will continue to operate under a package-price structure._

For information about online programs at LOUISIANA.edu, visit http://online.louisiana.edu

Louisiana.edu

[cajun_lannister]

Add an athletic fee to all online classes lol

[HoustonCajun]

Add an athletic fee to all online classes lol

No need to LOL. If fees are being cut in half, what is an extra $100 for an athletic fee? Also, this should help increase enrollment and get us over the 20,000 enrollment threshold.

[31Ragin97]

If athletes take online classes now (in non full count sports) would a full scholarship only count as a half?

[cajunhawk]

Aren't we voting soon on taking tuition out of the legislature's hand?

[31Ragin97]

Aren't we voting soon on taking tuition out of the legislature's hand?

wow, ill believe that when I ... never actually. are all schools in the state held to this?

I would say add tuition to state monies in order to calculate cost per student, make all schools have to have the same cost per student....so if tuition goes up, (or other income- say athletics - goes up) state monies should go down.

[mahtoo]

Aren't we voting soon on taking tuition out of the legislature's hand?

Yes...one of several proposed amendments.

[barchief]

If athletes take online classes now (in non full count sports) would a full scholarship only count as a half?

depends.. equivalency sports (track, cross country, baseball, golf, etc) don't give out "half" scholarships... your scholarship is a dollar amount... now if that dollar amount is half of your cost, then I guess you could call it a 'half' scholarship, but that same dollar amount might not be half for someone who is in a degree plan that has more course fees and stuff like that.

In Track, for example... you get a set dollar amount... let's say $2,000... how you use that money is up to you.. it goes toward your bill with the university first, and any additional dollars that you have left are refunded to you. This could possibly help to pay off campus living, food, etc.

so for those of you that don't know how equivalency sports work, here is a basic rundown.

There are two types of scholarship sports.. Head Count (Football, Basketball) and Equivalency sports... baseball, track, golf, etc..

Men's Track/XC has 12.6 scholarships that have to be split between Track AND Cross Country.. so let's say the total value of a football scholarship is 18,000 a year (not exact, just guessing). The men's track team would get 226,800 in scholarship money to dole out in any fashion they see fit. You have almost 50 athletes on a Men's D1 track team... so you are looking at an average of 4,536 a YEAR (not semester) for track/xc athletes.

Don't mean to leave out the women's sports, I just have no direct knowledge of which women sports are head count vs equivalency