How to Find Affordable Distance Learning Programs

The first thing that you have to do if you want to find affordable distance learning programs is to determine what it is that you want to study. Depending on your desired subject you may have a lot of choices when it comes to online colleges or you may find that your choices are quite limited. Obviously the more limited your choices the less likely that it is that you are going to find an affordable program. That being said popular programs like business tend to have high price tags.

Once you know what you want to study you will want to make a list of all the schools that offer that subject so that you can choose the one that offers the best deal. In almost all cases you will find that your local state university has the lowest tuition, this should come as no surprise as state schools are heavily subsidized. If your local state university does not offer the program that you want it is a good idea to look into state universities in other states. Often they will allow out of state students to take online courses with the same tuition as in state students.

When you are comparing the cost of distance learning programs it is important to make sure that you factor in all of the courses. Obviously the big one is tuition but it is not the only expense that you have to account for. Some schools, particularly those that are set up for distance learning will include the necessary text books as part of the course fee. If you have to buy your own books this will significantly increase the cost of your degree so this is something to look into.

The other big potential expense that you have to look at is exams. Almost all distance learning programs require exams for each course, often more than one. Where you write those exams can have a huge impact on the cost of your degree. If you live near the school you can usually write the exam there for no cost. If you do not live near the school however you will likely be responsible for finding your own place to write the exam as well as a proctor to administer. This can cost anywhere from $50 to $100 per exam. If you figure on two exams a course over forty courses to complete the degree you can see where this would really add to the price.

If you are looking for an affordable online degree the schools that you definitely want to stay away from are the private for profit schools. They usually have very high costs and in truth the degrees that they are offer are rarely worth what they charge for them. If you shop around you should have no trouble finding a school that offers a better deal.