Finance

Those who would calculate the cost of distributive learning begin with two strikes against them. First, very little is actually known about the costs of delivering nondistributive learning. Historically, postsecondary education has shied away from identifying the [Page 183]specific costs attributable to the delivery of a single course or curriculum. Faculty do much more than teach, facilities have multiple purposes, and there are no clear rules for factoring in the costs of the cocurriculum (e.g., student services and athletics). Furthermore, institutional overhead remains a mystery best left to federal auditors and institutional accountants. The result is that no one can say with any certainty just what teaching and learning cost, other than to acknowledge that such activities are becoming more expensive.

Second, distributed learning is turning ...