Abstract:

Demographic, and other, changes mean that unprecedented numbers of people are seeking Further and Higher Education. Increased numbers of students are placing unsustainable burdens on State providers of Higher Education, and on individual students. Increasingly, in seeking solutions to the cost burdens, world-wide, Higher Education Institutions, and other providers are looking at web-based learning programmes to provide effective and affordable means of delivering education and training.

For many students, distance learning gives them the flexibility of remaining in paid employment whilst studying at the University of their choice, often in a distant country. This opens up the opportunity of further and higher education to many people who would not be able to make the financial sacrifice to take time out to attend a traditional face to face course. For other students, the house-bound or those with travel or other restrictions, distance learning offers an opportunity to engage in learning which is not available in traditional face to face courses. This broadens even further the pool of potential students.

For providers of Higher Education, the increasing uptake of Open-Educational Resources (OER) and readily available E-Textbooks and E-Content, means that the costs of developing these courses is steadily falling. At the same time, the reduced costs of delivering the courses, with far fewer overheads than traditional face to face courses; make them increasingly attractive.

This paper will present fully costed analyses of the costs of developing and delivering on-line courses. Building on previous research into the cost implications of distance learning; the presentation will utilise both real and projected income and expenditure flows. Cost and income date is drawn from actual case studies from experience of delivering Distance Learning courses at Leeds Metropolitan University.
Revenue and expenditure flows will be built-up incrementally, and major cost items can be identified. The costs will be presented in the form of a 5-year discounted cash-flow analysis. Break even points, Net Present Values, and IRR will be identified. The full Return on Investment (ROI) can be calculated.

This presentation will be based on a spreadsheet with the DCF calculations. The spreadsheet can be made available to interested parties.

Keywords:

Costs, Financial, Costing.