Which Is Better? Online or Brick and Mortar College?

When it comes to getting an education, the school you select is very important. Not only from the standpoint of financial aid, degrees and classes, but also from the standpoint of the college’s reputation.

Online colleges are supposed to be cheaper than a brick and mortar school, but often they are more expensive. You end up paying for the access, the technology, and then the license to use the same lectures given last semester or last year, in your class experience. 

Sometimes, the information is out of date, but usually it is very timely. You pay for instant access to someone 24 hours a day for your questions. You pay for the school to create those online lectures. I wonder why some of the schools have to be SO expensive, though.

Brick and mortar schools are expensive because you are paying for all the fees and stuff that an online school doesn’t offer, like recreation, Greek life, and so on. Most of the in-person professors are well-educated, at least in the upper division work. You might have a grad assistant for your lower division classes. 

For a brick and mortar college, you have the opportunity to do hands-on lab work and experiments without having to provide the lab yourself. You have classmates that you can run into in the dining room, library, and residence halls. You don’t have these experiences in an online school. At an online college, your fellow students may be in different states or countries.

Overall, I like the in-person, brick and mortar schools better than online. I don’t mind taking a few classes online, as long as I can drive over and meet with my professor in person if I have a problem. 

I also think that a brick and mortar school is more likely to have a good reputation out in the world. Ask yourself which graduate you are more likely to hire? Someone from University of Phoenix or Stanford? If you can hire them at the same price, why not go for Stanford? It just makes more sense to me.