By Dr. Joel Ademisoye, United States
Having read this article by Todd Wallace, “Educators alarmed by students ‘speed running’ online degrees,” The Washington Post, April 20, 2026, PA1 and PA6.), with an intensive coverage on how some universities like the University of Maine at Presque Isle, Western Governors, WGU, etc., are offering an unorthodox, parallel degree programs for some students in the bachelor’s degree in 8 weeks and earning a master’s degree in just five weeks or fast paced via online web based tutorial courses. This non traditional university education study isn’t for everyone, but it is restricted from the age of 20 years and above including the Elderly. The bottom line is, that the students in this non traditional university program are learning and studying at their own pace.
Imagine if these courses were measured against the traditional university education or college bachelor’s degree of 4 years and a master’s degree of 2 years or 18 months depending on the type of graduate program. To this writer, in contrast to the traditional university, many of these online universities are offering degrees to their students at ‘the speed of a light’, but at low cost of bachelor’s and master’s degrees at just over $4,000. No where in the traditional university educational systems that a student can get this cheap university degree. It is my opinion that you get what you pay for. I found the low cost for two university degrees to be a bargain in comparison to the cost of the two degrees at a traditional university,
In view of these web based courses.
However, as an educator, I asked the penitent question, what are the students learning in terms of the courseload, scope of the curriculum in-depth coverage of the courses and the integrity of their education and their competency following their graduation.
Nonetheless, some of the leaders of the alternative online universities offered as part of their aims, is to address the affordability issue in the higher education sector in the United States. How many educators have raised the alarm about the online universities and their speed of offering the degrees to the students. I have an issue with the academic integrity of the online university education degree that is offered at a fast pace.
My university education experiences in a traditional university setting, for a bachelor’s degree, I spent about 3 years, because of my summer school programs and carried a full load of 15 credit hours per semester. For my master’s degree in the city and regional planning studies, which was a structured professional program, that was required for two years and a total of 60 credit hours to meet and fulfill the graduation requirements. I can’t just imagine that 60 credit hours could be streamlined, fused and shortened into a 3 or 4-month master’s degree program.
But, this online universities are radically altering and changing the U. S. Higher Education in the names of reducing the students time spent in the classrooms and saving them from the heavy burden of the student loans. But, this writer is concerned about an opportunity costs for trading off the traditional university education system for the breath taking online university education in the United States, which is eroding the student’s knowledge, academic integrity and competency of the graduate and their performance in the workplace. As the article rightly revealed that the certificates awarded by the online universities are for the purposes of promotion, getting a raise and helping the students to secure jobs faster. Also, it appears the online universities which are delivering bachelor’s and master’s degrees in a few weeks and months, unequivocally are undermining and reducing the quality of the Higher Education in the United States.
Leave a comment