Fall Semester Doesn't Appeal

Well, looks like the fall semester for me will be all online.  UO is offering some in-person classes but none of my classes fall into that category.  You probably know how I feel about online education, so it won't be a surprise to you if I'm not leaping with joy over this.  But such is life.  Thanks to this damn covid 19 thing, who knows when things will (if ever) go back to normal?  We make lemonade if we're dealt lemons, I suppose.

Recently there's been a lot of talk (from students) about how tuition should be reduced since courses are online.  Of course I would welcome any tuition reduction, but I think much of this talk is (1) wrongly argued, and/or (2) bs.

Many suggest that since courses are online, it's less costly for the university, and so tuition should come down.  Since most of you readers are business majors (assuming you were students or colleagues of mine), you would of course recognize that a university is a volume-driven business.  Fixed cost reigns supreme.  The cost to run these courses online is actually higher for a traditional university, since all the bells and whistles online are additional costs that the university didn't have to incur when things were "normal."  So if one argues that tuition should be lowered because the cost of production is lower, well, it's just wrong.

But more important, as marketing folks, we know that it's NEVER about how much it costs you to make something, but rather, how much customers are willing to pay.  Think a Chevy Suburban.  GM makes tens of thousands per Suburban.  Yet people rush to buy them.  Same goes for university education.  It's not how much it costs the university.  It's how much students (and their parents) are willing to pay for that degree.

Now, really, what do Canadians have to complain about?  My tuition for Fall comes to C$3000.  Including all the fees etc, and after taking out my scholarship (still getting it, haha), I pay C$2,500 for the semester.  That's like US$2,000.  And they are complaining?  Should try it south of the border.

In any event, it's what that degree is worth to the student.  END OF STORY.  So, if one doesn't want to pay, then don't.  It's a free country, no?

Naturally, consumer researchers know that customers of course want a lower price, all things being equal.  So why not jump on the bandwagon and DEMAND that universities lower their tuition.  Hell, what do you have to lose?  The truth is, and this is never gonna come out in a survey, the reason why people demand a lower tuition is not the simple math they profess to subscribe to.  It's just self-interest.  Nothing wrong with that.  Just recognize and admit it.

As you know, I don't like hypocrisy.  Like that time when a certain college, one which proclaims its all loving character, and equality for all and all that jazz, declined to hire a professorial applicant because the person is transgender (of course without ever admitting it, just saying it's not the right fit, or that it will be a shock to the students.  What bullocks.)  I digress.

Well, border is still closed, and judging from what's going on south, it will stay closed for a while yet.  If you are American, you do realize that the infection rate per capita in the US is something like 10X in Canada, right?  That's why 80% of Canadians want the border closed.  Not because we don't like Americans.  But because we're scared shitless what might happen if the border were open.

Summer is coming to an end.  Here in Ottawa, give it another month, and it will be too cold for t-shirt and shorts.  Sigh.

Hope you are all safe and healthy.  Be well!