Throughout the world, the number of people in school at different levels takes a pyramidal shape. There is a large number in primary school, but as they progress, the number decreases, leaving only a few in higher education. In the United States, some 65 million students were expected to enroll in K through K12 in the fall of 2015. In the same period, 20.2 million were expected to attend colleges and universities. It is estimated that 25% of new high school students in the US are unable to graduate. For new students entering colleges or universities, it is likely that 1 in 3 will not make it to the second year. This dropout rate hampers national development, because many people do not receive the full training they need to be functional in society. National development would be greatly promoted, if more adults were educated, to be functional in society.

I am not saying that all adults who have not received a complete education are not playing important roles in society. There are very prominent individuals in society who dropped out of school at some level. Bill Gate, Mark Zuckerberg, Oprah Winfrey, for example, at some point dropped out of school. Although this list is not exhaustive, the number of people who dropped out of school or decided not to pursue higher education and yet managed to succeed are relatively few. For the majority of those who dropped out or interrupted education and were unable to succeed in their careers, it was because they lacked the knowledge they needed to fulfill their potential. If you review the history of those who, despite dropping out or breaking school, have succeeded, you will find that they seemed to have found their life purpose and thus pursued those goals and, more importantly, received some reward. type of education later.

Education, as we all know, is a lifelong activity. At any time, whether you’re a high school dropout or an honors graduate, you’ll need an education. The school dropout who has found a vocation or obtained a job needs education in order to be more productive, the dropout who has realized the need to go to school but is ‘past school age’ and wishes to going to school obviously needs education, managers as well as employees need more education to keep pace with today’s fast changing world and get better salaries and status respectively. In some ways, the traditional education-dependent society we have created for ourselves, which we consider to be the ‘best’, limits our pursuit of continuing education. For many people, formal education ended the day they dropped out or graduated from high school, college or university, even though technology allows us to sit in our homes and continue to receive a quality education.

When technology – computers and internet connectivity – replaced physical classrooms and made it possible to study remotely in real time, the problem of continuing education for everyone, including dropouts and the working class, arose. It seemed, and still does, that now the teacher does not need to leave his students, apply for a study permit or a leave of absence to continue education. It seemed that the fifty year old woman who dropped out of school several years ago could now go to school from her house and it seemed that the father could learn what her daughter was learning in college using the same device he uses for call her That is what appeared. Those who dropped out of school due to financial problems and haven’t made a breakthrough since then wouldn’t benefit, and those who have the money wouldn’t want to put their money into a certificate that employers and academics alike would disapprove of. Very little seems to have changed for these two groups of people, although online colleges and universities abound.

Two main problems are to blame. Firstly, online education is too expensive for the target group of students, and secondly, there is a perception that online colleges and universities do not provide a holistic education like traditional colleges and universities. As indicated by Ed Vosganian – founder and CEO of College Funding 123, the cost of face-to-face university for undergraduates is estimated at 42,000 dollars while for the same group it costs around 21,000 dollars for online universities. In comparison, we would say that it costs much less to study online. But we must not lose sight of those who mostly enroll in the Online University. It is the middle and lower classes who opt for online universities. They include; the employee who has sacrificed pleasure for a higher qualification in exchange for better wages, the unemployed who wants to acquire employable skills, the dropout who wants to go back to school in the hope that there will be a better future, and the people who live in the remote parts of the world, especially in the developing world, who don’t even have the money to pay the fees and therefore would have to learn and work simultaneously. For these 21,000 dollars it is such a huge money, that it is very difficult to come up with. There are people from the higher income class who enroll in online universities, but online learning is not popular among them due to low prestige and myths associated with online education. Online institutions will tell you that they will not put anything on your certificate to show that you received a non-traditional education. This type of advertising talks about how society values ​​online education. Online education is seen as a cheap way to get a ‘watered down’ education. Until recently, online colleges and universities were considered diploma mills. This perception still exists, although empirical evidence tells us that there is no disparity in the quality of students from traditional colleges and universities on the one hand and online colleges and universities on the other. Online universities and colleges are doing their best to make online learning prestigious and lower the cost of study, but they cannot do it alone. With government intervention, online learning can become prestigious and friendly to the lower and middle class.

The government should provide a national framework for online education, subsidize accreditation, and award scholarships and student loans for students at online colleges and universities. The state, through the Department of Education or relevant government agency, must institute a national framework to guide the operations of all online colleges and universities. This framework, which would be descriptive and not prescriptive in nature, would describe, for example, the minimum courses that must be taken at a given level and the general mode of operation of online universities and colleges without prescribing specific courses or modes of operation. Accreditation is not only laborious for online colleges and universities; it is also expensive. This cost is passed on to the students, which sours the program’s fees. If the government decides to absorb half of the cost of accreditation, although there is no guarantee that program fees will be cut in half, the program fee will be reduced in some way. Finally, most students who opt for online colleges and universities do not receive scholarships or student loans from the state. Those who do get something don’t get big scholarships and student loans like their counterparts at traditional colleges and universities. The government should make scholarships and student loans available to students at online colleges and universities, just as it does for students at traditional colleges and universities.

The ramifications of these interventions would definitely be staggering. Providing a national framework for online education would remove the false negative perception that people have about online learning. Many think that online learning is easy and that the number of credits taken is much less than what is taken in traditional learning environments. This thinking exists because there are some poorly designed online courses where certificates are awarded after only a couple of assignments have been submitted. Such practices can be stopped when a national framework is developed and operated. A national framework will give online learning credibility, because a national standard for online would have to be met, and therefore no online college or university can simply sell a certificate. Subsidizing Accreditation will yield three results. The most obvious is that it would reduce program fees because the amount to be passed on to students would be less. Subsidizing accreditation fees would encourage online colleges and universities to seek accreditation from accrediting bodies recognized by the Department of Education or the appropriate state agency. Although accreditation is not required in some parts of the world, such as the United States, some occupations that require a state license would not accept degrees from unaccredited universities and colleges. Prospective online students are often concerned about whether they can easily work with their certificates. Government intervention would remove this concern and also remove the negative perception that people have about online education. Government interventions in the form of scholarships and loans would ease the financial burden and make it possible for those hitherto unable to go to school to do so. In short, government intervention would go a long way toward producing an enlightened society by allowing many people to receive higher education.

There are many people who want to pursue higher education through online colleges and universities to gain knowledge and skills, or improve their knowledge and skills, but are unable to do so due to cost or uncertainty of certificate acceptability. Government intervention in the form of a national framework for online universities and colleges, subsidizing the cost of accreditation and providing scholarships and student loans would open the door for those who wish to study from home. Government intervention can provide assurance that online learning is just as good as traditional college learning, and that your certificate will be accepted for jobs that require a state license. It would relieve pressure on facilities at traditional colleges and universities, produce the well-educated citizenry necessary for national development, and turn the current pyramid shape into an ‘almost’ cylinder.

REFERENCE

Ed Vosganian (nd). The real price of online university. Retrieved from http://www.affordablecollegesonline.org/financial-aid/online-college-degree-cost/.