Will The Web Kill College

The argument presented in “Will the Web Kill Colleges?” debates the shifting of traditional colleges over online colleges by using the internet as the main source of contact and interaction. A few points are made in the article that stands out. Such as, there is an overwhelmingly high demand of cheaper college in today’s economy, the method in which redundancies can be removed is also discussed, and how online colleges offer a diverse range of classes. The key points of the points of the argument are as follows: “Online classes are simply cheaper to produce” (Chaffee, 2012, p. 91) and traditionally universities have depended on selling information that is difficult to find. College is expensive, so when attempting to choose a college or university, one of the top factors looked at is price. Due to the tough economic times, people may view the area of education as one in which they can cut back on spending and online education is an option that may be the way to go. For example, as cited in the article, “East Carolina University costs only $99 per credit hour; that’s a base of $1,200 per year” (Chaffee, 2012, p. 92). This is significantly different from the in-state tuition the University of Georgia offers for regular in-class courses which currently totals $23,000 – 28,000 for one year. Another key point mentioned was the method of redundancies being removed. The current college system, like the newspaper industry, has built-in redundancies, new Internet efficiencies will lead to fewer researchers and professors. The Internet makes it harder to justify these redundancies, even if they bring a great cultural value (Chaffee, 2012, p. 92). Removing these traditional redundancies will allow learners to get to the depth of their study as opposed to constantly reviewing unnecessary items we have become use to. Lastly, online colleges offer a varied range of classes, which satisfies learners choosing to go to school. I whole hardily agree with this