what is the avg cost of an online course

by Filomena Christiansen 6 min read

Among 170 public ranked colleges, the average cost credit hour for online college is $316 for the 2019-20 academic year. Among 168 private ranked colleges, the average price per online credit hour is $488.Aug 12, 2021

Full Answer

What is the average cost of online courses?

an online support team and can make use of library services, even if located on the other side of the world. You can also take advantage of flexible payment options which help to spread the costs and make this a cost effective course for those currently in ...

How much does it cost to develop an online course?

So considering all the budgeting mentioned above, the total budget that you must keep in mind for developing an online course can be as low as $1750. But if you are planning to create the highest quality online course, then your budget should be around $4700.

What is the average cost of an online degree?

It is challenging to provide the average cost of an online master’s degree because of the lack of uniform pricing models for in-state and out-of-state tuition fees. However, if one were to consider the universities that do not charge the out-of-state expenses on students for their online master’s degrees, the average cost of online master’s degree programs would be around $29,000.

How much should I charge for online personal training?

Decide how much you want to earn, and determine the fees needed to actually achieve that. So if you want to make a thousand pounds a month online from your coaching or your program and have a capacity to serve 50 clients, you need to charge 20 dollars a month. So you can also reverse this to see how many actual clients that you need.

How much is a typical online course?

According to a U.S. News and World Report article by Devon Haynie, the average price that students pay for online classes is $282 per credit hour. This puts the price of taking 12 credit hours worth of classes, which is generally a full course load, at around $3,400 a semester.

Are online courses expensive?

The Cost of Online College Not only does tuition tend to be lower, but many additional expenses, such as transportation costs and course materials, are eliminated in an online program. However, it's important to note that the average cost of online college is still a significant investment.

How much does it cost to create an eLearning course?

In 2021, 1 hour of learning content can take around 100 – 160 hours to create. In 2021, 1 hour of learning content can cost about $8,542 – $36,320 ($22,431 on average)....Wrapping Up.Year1 hour of eLearning content costs, $20208,150 – 36,205 (22,178 on average)20197,830 – 37,365 (22,598 on average)2 more rows•Jun 20, 2020

How much cheaper is online learning?

Report Highlights. For public 4 year colleges, when tuition and the cost of attendance are compared between an online degree and an in-person degree, the online degree is $10,776 cheaper. Private institutions on average charge $58,560 for an online degree vs $148,800 for an in-person degree.

Why is online class so expensive?

The three main reasons for higher online tuition were, in order, “Added costs of online instruction and support services,” the “Added cost of online course and program development,” and “Added costs of online program marketing.”

Why is online learning so expensive?

To start, fees are high because universities have large expenses. These include construction and maintenance costs, investment in technology; insurance; marketing; welfare initiatives, and payment of staff salaries.

How much should I charge for an online workshop?

One way to calculate your time and workshop cost is by dividing your hourly rate by how many people you want in your workshop. If you want 10 people for a one hour workshop and you charge $250/hour, then you can charge $25/person + travel expenses and materials (this will make the price jump up to $30-$40/person).

How many hours does it take to create an online course?

Depending on the duration and detail of the program, it can take anywhere between 25 – 500 hours to formulate an online course. A mini-course with just 4 or 5 videos you could develop it in a couple of days. An in-depth flagship course with numerous modules and assignments could take eight weeks or more to accomplish.

How much do educational websites cost?

It's quite complicated to calculate the final price of educational website development. It depends on various factors, from project requirements to the development team's location. To give you a hint, we've estimated the Coursera website (its MVP version). The cost varies between $54,750 and $62,500.

Why online class is less expensive?

Lowering The Overall Costs Of Higher Education Online education alleviates housing costs by letting students take advantage of their current living situation, thereby saving thousands of dollars each semester. Textbooks are another expensive reality of traditional college education that online education alleviates.

Do online courses save money?

“When we compared the overall costs of online courses with average costs at four of the institutions in the study, we found that the savings for online courses ranged from $12 to $66 per credit hour, a difference of from 3 percent to 50 percent of the average credit hour costs,” the report says.

Is online education affordable?

Unlike in-person education methods, online education tends to be more affordable. There's also often a wide range of payment options that let you pay in installments or per class. This allows for better budget management. Many of you may also be subject to discounts or scholarships, so the price is rarely high.

What is online course development?

Online course development is a complex process, and the price of course creation can vary depending on learning platform, course content, eLearning industry, and other factors. If you want to get a detailed cost analysis research for your eLearning project, pleasefeel free to schedule a demo. Tweet#N# .

How long has Sergiy been in eLearning?

Sergiy has 18 years of experience in eLearning and management. Creating educational programs, career paths, online and offline courses he is making the educational world better as a co-founder of RG.

Is eLearning still relevant?

The eLearning market changes, new eLearning trends, and technologies rise and the course should remain relevant. As we all know, even the most popular distance learning courses might need to be adjusted over time, if new breakthroughs occur in the subject matter, new data should be added or some statistics should be updated.

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How it all adds up

A bad pun notwithstanding, these are the most important insights into our data analysis, outside of the data itself:

About the author

Lauren Cochran is the Director of Content for Podia, an all-in-one platform where online courses, digital downloads, and communities scale with their creators. Ironically, she gets tongue-tied talking about herself, and can usually be found with a to-do list in hand.

How to create a course?

Creating content for your course will be the first step in your course creation process. To estimate the cost at this step, let’s look at the different types of content you may need to create: 1 Written content for course videos, PDFs, presentation decks, website, etc. 2 Presentation slides for videos 3 Branding assets and graphics for your course material

What is the first step in course creation?

Creating content for your course will be the first step in your course creation process. To estimate the cost at this step, let’s look at the different types of content you may need to create:

How long is an online course?

Most complete online courses are at least an hour long. If you’re planning for your course to be 3 hours then you can take the 1 hour time estimate and multiple it out by 3 to give you your approximate costs. So I’ll stick with one hour of video course content for this case study.

How many people watch online courses every day?

A lot of online courses are set up like the image below: According to research, 78% of people watch online videos every week and 55% view online videos every day. Watching videos online is a popular way to consume course content.

What is the most popular format for online courses?

Video with audio is the most popular format for an online course. Most courses consist of videos with a menu to navigate the course. Sometimes there’s supplemental text or links to supplemental materials beneath the online video. A lot of online courses are set up like the image below:

What is a video intro?

Video intros will give your video training a more polished look. You can get an inexpensive video intro from Fiverr. If you already have a logo then you just give that to a designer and they'll make a cool intro out of it. You can also add music to your intro or special sound effects and it'll add to the professionalism of your course videos.

How long does it take to make a video script?

No matter which type of video you’re creating, you’ll start with the outline and script creation first. I estimate it will take 3 to 10 hours to script out 1 hour of video depending on the level of detail you’re including and your expertise of the subject matter.

What is online course development?

Online course development specifically includes the cost to create the course content. That's why in this article, I won't cover the costs to host and manage an online course or the costs for best online course platforms. Instead, I'll just cover the costs for developing the course itself.

How long does it take to create supplemental material?

For instance, if it takes you 5 hours to create your supplemental material the first time it may take close to that the next time. If you’re creating the supplemental material then realize that your time is valuable so it’s smart to have an estimate of how long it’ll take.

How much does a two year college cost?

Two-year colleges generally cost less than four-year colleges. For example, the most affordable four-year colleges charge nearly $9,000 per year in tuition and fees while the average cost of a two-year public college hovers around $3,000 per year, reports the NCES.

How much did students pay in 2017?

In 2017, students paid an average of $8,800 in in-state tuition and fees at four-year universities, according to the NCES. Out-of-state students paid nearly three times as much in tuition and fees, or an average of $24,850 per year.

Why do public schools offer tuition discounts?

Public schools offer tuition discounts for state residents because state funding provides part of their operating expenses. As a result, students who choose an in-state public school can save thousands in tuition costs each year. Many public colleges offer tuition discounts for online students.

What is the first step in paying for college?

For most students, completing the FAFSA is the first step in paying for online college. The FAFSA qualifies students for federal financial aid programs, including grants, loans, and work-study opportunities.

How many college students take out loans?

Around 70% of college students take out loans to pay for school. Loans provide money to cover tuition and fees. Borrowers who take out federal or private student loans agree to repay the loan, plus interest. Students can qualify for federal student loans by completing the FAFSA.

What is the difference between a nonprofit and a for profit college?

Many for-profit schools invest in marketing and recruitment to raise revenues. In contrast, nonprofit colleges invest any profits in meeting their educational goals.

How long does it take to complete the FAFSA?

The FAFSA qualifies students for federal financial aid programs, including grants, loans, and work-study opportunities. Completing the FAFSA takes under an hour.

What is the cost of online course development?

An essential part of developing and launching a successful online education program is having relevant content that resonates with and stimulates the minds of your users. Building a world class online course doesn’t only involves filling in hours of paper work, convoluted models, and bloated processes.

Factors involved in cost of online course development

Before you invest your time into what is the cost of online course development, take a look at some of the critical parts of course creation you should consider:

ADDIE Model and its relation with Online Course Development

Depending on your target market, marketing costs can have an immense impact on your online course’s profitability. The best way to explain the cost of online course development can be the ADDIE model.

Why Paradiso is one-stop solution ?

Building a world class online course doesn’t have to involve filling in hours of paper work, convoluted models, and bloated processes. Paradiso makes creating and launching an effective online course refreshingly simple and straight forward.

How much does it cost to register a domain name?

Domain Name. Costs on registering a domain name for your business range from $10 per year up to $100, a thousand or a million depending on the type of domain name you choose. An old domain name is fine like good old wine, but it’s usually expensive, and there is always the option of registering a new one.

What is learning management system?

The learning management system (LMS) that you are choosing has a huge role to play in your course development, so make sure you pick one that meets your most essential needs in terms of features.

What is a course that encourages learners to interact fully and give feedback?

It makes use of serious games, avatars, simulated job performance exercises, customized audio and video, stories, scenarios. It includes high-end interactive elements that are complex, more expensive and need more time to develop.

What is paid advertising?

Paid ads is a quick way to get traffic and your first visitors. You should be very careful when budgeting for advertising and include a limit in spent. If you have done paid advertising before, then this is a quick way to get students to your course, or you can hire an agency.

Is it easier to create puzzles than videos?

But since these are often easier to create compared to a video, there can be a slight reduction in the development time and costs.

Is online learning profitable?

The short answer is “YES it can be quite profitable!”. The long answer requires a more in-depth analysis. Creating and selling online courses is a highly profitable business with the potential to open up a passive stream of income.

Is it easy to overlook business costs?

Business costs are easy to overlook but that doesn’t mean they should. Quite the opposite; you should be on the lookout for less-obvious or hidden costs – for example, those found in your website hosting and customer/student support services.

Why is online learning better than traditional learning?

Even better, the benefits offered by online courses include increased student engagement, the opportunity for peer review and collaboration, and the promise of individualized attention , even in large classrooms. There are many reasons to embrace e-learning, ...

How much will the e-learning market be in 2025?

eLearning is going to play an ever-larger role in the future of higher education. In fact, by 2025, the e-learning market will reach $325 billion. That’s more than four times the traditional higher-education market. Even better, the benefits offered by online courses include increased student engagement, ...

What is learning management system?

Before pricing out any other aspect of course creation, you’ll need to select a learning management system (LMS). This software manages the delivery of course materials and monitors student completion. Because it is the main framework that students and teachers will interact with, it’s important to thoughtfully select a system that meets your needs. Each system has different features and functions that will dictate the kind of content you can offer and the supplemental tools you may need to purchase.#N#While it might be tempting to build your own LMS in-house to perfectly suit your specifications, doing so would be very expensive and time-intensive. Considering the lower price points of many LMS systems, it’s much more cost-effective to shop around for a ready-made solution.#N#There are several different types of learning management systems geared to higher education.

Do you need to create a course material for an online course?

Just as you would need to create a curriculum and hire an instructor to teach an in-person course, you will need to create course materials and a lesson plan for an online one. You’ll either need to create the content yourself, have your staff do it, or hire someone else to do so.

Is cloud learning more popular?

For all of these reasons, cloud-based options are becoming more and more popular. Cloud-based learning management systems usually operate on a software-as-a-service (SaaS) model, where users pay a monthly or yearly subscription.

Is LMS free?

An open-source LMS is Easy to obtain and typically free, or free at a base level, with paid add-ons. Some of the most established options are Moodle and Sakai. A benefit to open-source learning management systems is that users have access to the source code, so they may adapt the software any way they like.

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What Does The Cost to Create An Online Course Depend on?

Creating Course Content

  • Creating content for your course will be the first step in your course creation process. To estimate the cost at this step, let’s look at the different types of content you may need to create: 1. Written content for course videos, PDFs, presentation decks, website, etc. 2. Presentation slides for videos 3. Branding assets and graphics for your course material Most online courses are betwee…
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Recording Course Videos

  • The cost of creating videos for your course will depend on the type and the quality of videos you want to create. For instance, if you want to create talking head videos that show you speaking to the camera, you need to factor in the equipment cost for shooting the videos, setting up a basic home studio, plus the cost of video-editing software. On the other hand, you will need just an au…
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Setting Up Your Course

  • Once your content is ready, you will need to upload them to an online course platform in order to start selling it. Now, you can choose from a wide variety of online course platforms, but in my opinion, Thinkific gives the best value for money for a beginner. The platform comes with powerful learning & engagement tools, gives you unlimited video hosting, and takes care of all th…
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Summary – Cost to Create An Online Course

  • In this guide, we have discussed the cost of creating a course under different heads – creating course content, recording course videos, and setting up your course. When you add all of them, you’ll get the total costs involved. The total cost of creating your course will be $140 + $100-$149/monthif you create screencast or presentation-style videos...
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Decisions Related to Online Course Development

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The first decision you need to make to begin figuring out the costs is the type of content you’re creating. Will your online course consist of multimedia like video with audio, one or the other, or text-based? Video with audio is the most popular format for an online course. Most courses consist of videos with a menu to navig…
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One-Time Costs vs Time Related Costs

  • There are a few different types of costs involved in creating online courses. The first set of costs are your one-time costs for software or equipment. You can re-use equipment or sometimes rent equipment to save money. We’ll get into the one-time costs later. Costs that are more difficult to measure are time-related costs. Obviously, if you’re paying an instructional designer to create yo…
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How Long to Create An Hour of video?

  • Let’s start by going through an estimate of how long it takes to create that one hour of video. But before we can get to our video time estimate, we need to consider what kind of video we’re going to create. Will it be a live-action, screen recording, or animation-style video?
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Visual Video Decisions

  • There are decisions you need to make depending on what type of video you’re creating; live-action, screen recording, or animations. I’ve got a few pathways here depending on the type of video you’re creating. What you’re doing here is deciding on the visuals for your videos.
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Voice Over vs Live Action Audio

  • Depending on what type of video you’re doing, once your visuals are ready you need to record your audio …
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Estimate Considerations

  • As you can see, live-action takes less time to do. The time can vary based on the amount of practice you do and how many breaks you need between takes. Of course, if you’re recording yourself giving a slideshow presentation, you need to create that presentation and record it live. So that will take even longer! The thing is, these estimates are just for one hour. But if your cours…
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Supplemental Material

  • As explained above, I suggest creating an add-on to go along with the video. This takes extra time, but it will greatly enhance the value of your course. You can include a quiz (even 12 questions covering 1 hour of video will work). Quizzes or assessments make the most sense when you’re covering a difficult educational concept. For each module in my course, I created a short quiz. If …
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Time Estimates For 1 Hour of Video and Supplemental Material

  • Here’s the total time estimate for both the video training and the supplemental material production: Use this to help you figure out the time it will take you and estimate the costs involved.
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Costs For One-Time Physical Equipment

  • Now here’s where everyone will start incurring costs unless you already have all this equipment. First of all, you need a computer, but it doesn’t need to be anything super fancy. Hopefully, you already have access to a computer (a desktop or laptop will work). There’s so much variety in computer costs that it’s hard to estimate. Most people already have a computer (or access to on…
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One-Time Costs For Software

  • In addition to the physical equipment, you’ll need software. Once again, it’s different whether you’re doing presentation-style videos or live action videos which I’ll cover below.
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