When Penn State World Campus student Raquel Ruiz enrolled for classes this fall and saw her tuition bill, she said she thought she had a computer problem.
"[The university] had said that a lot of new changes were going to occur, but I wasn't told there would be such a large tuition change," said Ruiz, of Colorado.
While the increase in tuition at all other Penn State campuses averaged between 4.8 and 5.5 percent for the 2007-2008 academic year, some World Campus students are seeing up to 60 percent hikes on their per-credit semester bills, according to university officials.
"When I applied to the university in January 2006, nobody mentioned to me that [independent learning classes] would disappear in the future," Ruiz said. "I created my budget, which if I have to include the 60 percent, I'd have to stop eating."
The rolling enrollment cost per credit in 2006-2007 was $250. This year, the cost is $423 per credit for students enrolled in lower division, fully online courses.
Lower division courses are similar to 100- and 200-level courses, which are less expensive than upper division courses, similar to 300- and 400-level courses.
Penn State University Park charges in-state students $512 per credit and out-of-state students $965, according to www.collegeboard.com.
"Years ago, World Campus tuition was based on a correspondence course model," said Amy Neil, World Campus spokeswoman. "We tried to maintain the correspondence course tuition as long as possible, but it is just no longer financially viable. In short, it is simply more expensive to develop and deliver online courses than correspondence courses."
Online World Campus classes completely replaced correspondence courses beginning this semester. Correspondence courses are primarily print-based with the exchange of lessons occurring either by e-mail or postal mail.
World Campus executive director Ken Udas said the tuition increases only affect students who were enrolled in correspondence courses, since those are the ones being converted.
"As student needs and demands increased and as more students had access to the Internet, it was critical for us to respond to those needs," Neil said. "Correspondence courses do not work anymore. Students want a more in-depth experience and a better interaction with the faculty."
Also, under the old system, students were able to register and begin work on a course at any time and were then given about six months to complete the course. Courses are semester-based.
Neil also said students would now be able to apply for federal financial aid, which could not be obtained under the old system.
"The World Campus has moved to [a model] more closely harmonized with the rest of Penn State," Neil said.
Ruiz said she can take the same classes as before the changes, but they'll be costing her more.
"It'll have the same material, same syllabus, same quality, just be more expensive," Ruiz said. "All that's actually changed is the deadlines."
And those changed deadlines have yielded positive results, Udas said.
"Since we've gone from traditional rolling enrollment to the semester-ized approach, the average completion rate went from being in the low 70s to the low 90s," he said.
Nonetheless, Udas predicted that there will inevitably be more students in Ruiz's shoes.
"Regarding changes in tuition, I would anticipate that there will be learners who decide they would prefer to attend somewhere else," Udas said.
Neil said that the migration of World Campus courses to a semester-based online format began about four years ago with the culmination occurring this summer.
While World Campus will continue to evolve and work to develop more programs and improved resources, there are no more major changes scheduled any time soon, Neil said.
"Tuition increases will be on par with the rest of the university going forward," she said.
