By Joshua Kim, Inside Higher Ed
Any online program that has the main goal of revenue generation will, in the end, wind up creating a host of unforeseen and undesirable consequences. This is not to say that online program should not be economically sustainable, and should make sense from an opportunity cost and investment perspective. They should, and they are. In some cases it is also true that new online programs can create revenues that can be utilized to support other strategic programs and initiatives. Higher education, like many activities that exist for the public good, relies on cost sharing to survive. Putting money as the first and ultimate goal of online education will cause a school to make a series of bad choices, while simultaneously closing off other potential benefits of online learning.
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