I decided to compare Clemson University with its ranked peer universities.  Clemson, Georgia Tech, Texas A&M, University of Georgia, University or Virginia and University of North Carolina are all public four year institutions listed on the Nation’s Top 25.  I wanted to look for a pattern between national ranking and the price of tuition for out of state students.  According to national rankings, UVA is #2, UNC is #5, Georgia Tech is #7, Clemson and UGA are tied for #20, and Texas A&M is #25.  To prove that tuition pays for the value of our education, the higher ranked institutions would be the more expensive ones.

According to the data found on the Chronicle of High Education, the higher ranked schools have a higher out of state total cost.  However, the correlation does not hold for in-state costs.

tuition and fees

A college education is very expensive and many people are hesitant to make such a heavy investment. Online classes are becoming more popular because of the convenience and the affordability.  Many argue that you can get the same from an online education than you can at a four year institution.  I would have to disagree with the argument being made in the article **_“_Online Education: The Disruption to Come.”  I think people learn most from day-to-day interactions.

Personally, I have a hard time doing well in online classes.  I feel more prepared for class when I am sitting at a desk in a classroom rather than sitting in my bed staring at my computer screen.  Also, as we learned from our class experiment, there are so many distractions on the Internet.  The sudden urge to check an email can be distracting. I understand that it is very expensive to get an education from a nationally ranked institution, but I do not think that taking online classes can even compare.

I am not trying to say that everybody learns the same way.  I just think that people learn a lot from each other. There are things you learn from other people that you can’t learn from a textbook or in a lecture. However, the same can be said the other way around. I would never discourage anyone from continuing an education, but I would suggest looking further than just the Internet.  Some community colleges are just as inexpensive as online schools. I think that you are open up to so much more when you learn from or with other people.  For me, the biggest source of my education has been my experiences from meeting new people and visiting new places.