What Happens When Technology Lowers the Cost of a College Education

It’s been on the news and clogging your Facebook feed: student loans are outrageous, the percentage of loan defaults has increased since 2008, click here for help.

While the constant coverage might be annoying, student debt and loan repayments are no joke – I’ll be paying for my undergrad until I’m fresh in my forties.

However, technology is starting to impact the price of a college education.

For example, Williams College and the University of Virginia recently implemented My inTuition, a calculation tool that helps rising college freshmen determine if they can afford an education at the college of their choice.

What’s beneficial about this tool is that it gives students a tangible idea of what their college costs will be, and what their future loan repayment plans will look like.

I can tell you this – 18-year-old Jess had no idea what it meant to pay college loans.

My mom explained all my financial bases to me during the college application process, and I just “yes’d” her to death – I wanted to survive through the rest of high school and get to college without stuffing more information in my tired brain, especially information about money.

If I had had a tool like My inTuition back in the day, I think I would have had a clearer idea of what kinds of costs I’d be looking at as a private college attendee. Plus, I would have been able to map out the costs of the other schools I was considering, and shop around a little longer than I had.

Not that I was ripped off education-wise. I received my degree at a great college, and would not be the writer I am today without it.

It just would have made my money situation sharper, especially now that I am paying for a mortgage and other adult bills.

Aside from solutions like My inTuition, I’m wondering how other technologies are and will affect the cost of higher education.

Take distance learning for example. Students can earn a degree at virtually any college that offers distance learning technologies, no matter where they are located. They can hang out at home in their pajamas and conference-in to class from the couch.

Or, students who have to balance work and school, or even the military, can take advantage of lecture capture solutions and watch a class they missed on their own device at their own leisure.