Straighterline now offers Financial Aid

[straighterline.com]

Hello Everyone –


Given that the StraighterLine financial aid pathway is new and unusual, we figured we’d weigh in with some insight and details. As most of you know, StraighterLine is not a college. Therefore, StraighterLine students must pay out of pocket and cannot use federal financial aid. For students that can’t afford to pay out of pocket, they must enroll at a traditional college with higher prices using financial aid. However, given the continued growth of students (like all those in this forum) using course providers like StraighterLine, some in the federal Department of Education are trying to change higher education policy to enable students to use financial aid for providers like StraighterLine. As you might imagine, changing federal higher education policy is easier said than done, so the result is a Department of Education experimental program called EQUIP.


For this particular program, the Department of Education treats the college as outsourcing some of its coursework to the non-college course provider (StraighterLine), but still requires the student to be technically enrolled at the college to be eligible for financial aid. As now, however, students in the program may transfer completed StraighterLine courses to a different college and degree program when they are ready.


Because the EQUIP program requires the student to enroll at the college (not StraighterLine), the college sets the tuition and the courses adhere to the college’s calendar. The program is more expensive to deliver because the college incurs real costs to administer financial aid.  Also, these courses will have more – and more expensive – substantive interaction than required in our $99 a month offering. Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD) has set tuition close to its out-of-state tuition rate.


We recognize that the price of StraighterLine courses through the EQUIP program is more expensive than on our website and the college’s fixed calendar is less convenient than our typical self-paced monthly subscription. While not yet matching up with our current model as much as we would like, it’s an important first step.  Especially as it enables those who otherwise would not be able to enroll in StraighterLine to use Pell grants to do so.


In the future, the price should come down (though still more than our $99 a month subscription because of the added costs of delivery), and we hope to make the self-paced monthly subscription an option.  Keep an eye out for more programs like this in the coming months. Thanks to this community for helping to force policymakers to take steps (even if they are baby steps) to make higher education more affordable.


Sincerely,


Burck Smith
CEO & Founder
StraghterLine

[cookderosa]

Hello Everyone –


Given that the StraighterLine financial aid pathway is new and unusual, we figured we’d weigh in with some insight and details. As most of you know, StraighterLine is not a college. Therefore, StraighterLine students must pay out of pocket and cannot use federal financial aid. For students that can’t afford to pay out of pocket, they must enroll at a traditional college with higher prices using financial aid. However, given the continued growth of students (like all those in this forum) using course providers like StraighterLine, some in the federal Department of Education is trying to change higher education policy to enable students to use financial aid for providers like StraighterLine. As you might imagine, changing federal higher education policy is easier said than done, so the result is a Department of Education experimental program called EQUIP.


For this particular program, the Department of Education treats the college as outsourcing some of its coursework to the non-college course provider (StraighterLine), but still requires the student to be technically enrolled at the college to be eligible for financial aid. As now, however, students in the program may transfer completed StraighterLine courses to a different college and degree program when they are ready.


Because the EQUIP program requires the student to enroll at the college (not StraighterLine), the college sets the tuition and the courses adhere to the college’s calendar. The program is more expensive to deliver because the college incurs real costs to administer financial aid. Also, these courses will have more – and more expensive – substantive interaction than required in our $99 a month offering. Dallas County Community College District (DCCCD) has set tuition close to its out-of-state tuition rate.


We recognize that the price of StraighterLine courses through the EQUIP program is more expensive than on our website and the college’s fixed calendar is less convenient than our typical self-paced monthly subscription. While not yet matching up with our current model as much as we would like, it’s an important first step. Especially as it enables those who otherwise would not be able to enroll in StraighterLine to use Pell grants to do so.


In the future, the price should come down (though still more than our $99 a month subscription because of the added costs of delivery), and we hope to make the self-paced monthly subscription an option. Keep an eye out for more programs like this in the coming months. Thanks to this community for helping to force policymakers to take steps (even if they are baby steps) to make higher education more affordable.


Sincerely,


Burck Smith
CEO & Founder
StraghterLine

Mr Smith,

Thank you for weighing in! The cost, convenience, and flexibility that make SL a desirable option go away under this new arrangement- this is not the first time we've seen this.
The first time was with ALEKS math about 5 years ago. In ALEKS' case, they started as a small curriculum provider, were obtained by a large curriculum provider, initiated ACE evaluation of their college-level courses, and became a HUGE contracted curriculum provider for community colleges all over the country. Clearly, being in business with a govt-funded public college system has obvious advantages over the self-paying little guy. Especially when their ACE maths were limited transfer - I get it, it's a hard grind. In order to sell the product to students, they need to have the ability to use the credit, and not all students are well-educated about the nuances of transferability. Though "buyer beware" is the bottom line, it's certainly not good to get slammed in google reviews when a student's courses don't transfer.

Now, students use ALEKS math without ever knowing or caring who ALEKS. Students apply and enroll in a community college, and then use their financial aid to take math courses that are 100% run through ALEKS. My oldest son had 21 ALEKS math credits that were denied by his CC for transfer credit while they instead insisted that he enroll in the same ALEKS courses through the college at a higher tuition rate and retake each of them. (obviously, he didn't)

That same CC is offering roughly 500 sections of maths per year, and we have 58 community colleges, and that's just one states.) It's a win for ALEKS and the CCs no question.The college does zero work staffing the section or providing curriculum updates, SL (edit to say this would be true of any 3rd party curriculum provider is) and the college get paid, the student doesn't pay out of pocket because enrolling through a CC and receiving a Pell means cash back for everyone. <party time>

I guess if we removed the consumer/student's best interest from the question, it's all good.

We've been here before "Remember when we found out that the government paid $640 each for plastic toilet seats for military airplanes? " http://articles.latimes.com/1986-07-30/n...8804_1_nut

[a2jc4life]

Some of us can't afford school without financial aid, like it or not. (I'm not a fan of debt, but I'm also taking care of children full-time, not working in a conventional job.) If I can take out a loan on a 3-credit course for $900+, or I can take out a loan on $100 for an equivalent SL course, I fail to see how the $100 loan is not an improvement over the $900+.

Everyone has to weigh their own pros/cons, obviously, but it's always struck me as kind of silly and definitely wasteful that if you want financial aid you HAD to go the slow, expensive route. There's little incentive, then, to be efficient with your time *and* (borrowed) money.

[dfrecore]

Some of us can't afford school without financial aid, like it or not.  (I'm not a fan of debt, but I'm also taking care of children full-time, not working in a conventional job.)  If I can take out a loan on a 3-credit course for $900+, or I can take out a loan on $100 for an equivalent SL course, I fail to see how the $100 loan is not an improvement over the $900+.

Everyone has to weigh their own pros/cons, obviously, but it's always struck me as kind of silly and definitely wasteful that if you want financial aid you HAD to go the slow, expensive route.  There's little incentive, then, to be efficient with your time *and* (borrowed) money.

Unfortunately, this is not borrowing $100 to take the SL course.  SL has modified it's courses for a particular college, and if you want to take the course, you take it over a semester the same as a traditional math course.  It's also not $100 - it's the price of taking a normal course at that school.  So it's $522.

[cookderosa]

Some of us can't afford school without financial aid, like it or not.  (I'm not a fan of debt, but I'm also taking care of children full-time, not working in a conventional job.)  If I can take out a loan on a 3-credit course for $900+, or I can take out a loan on $100 for an equivalent SL course, I fail to see how the $100 loan is not an improvement over the $900+.

Everyone has to weigh their own pros/cons, obviously, but it's always struck me as kind of silly and definitely wasteful that if you want financial aid you HAD to go the slow, expensive route.  There's little incentive, then, to be efficient with your time *and* (borrowed) money.

Unfortunately, this is not borrowing $100 to take the SL course.  SL has modified it's courses for a particular college, and if you want to take the course, you take it over a semester the same as a traditional math course.  It's also not $100 - it's the price of taking a normal course at that school.  So it's $522.

This is correct.

If you took a SL course on your own, it would be $99 for 1 month plus $59 for the class. You would have to pay cash, but you could also use a coupon code(s) and cram as many courses into that month as possible. Let's say you take 2 courses - I'll round it a bit, you're looking at about $200
If you took THAT SAME COURSE at the community college using financial aid "opportunity" program with Straighterline, they will make you borrow $174 per credit of SL courses you take. So, those 2 courses will require you to pay roughly $1000. (note, if you're not borrowing, you're using your Pell.)

My suggestion for anyone who has to borrow money to pay 100/200 level courses is to use your own state's community college system. In the majority of states, this will cost you less than $100 per credit. A full 30 credit year will cost about $3000 and if you truly are strapped for cash, you'll probably also qualify for a Pell Grant which can be as much as $5600. You'll get the difference back in cash. If you don't get a Pell and have to borrow, you can borrow EXACTLY what you need - or better still, you can put it on your visa and make monthly payments while you work part-time.

Honestly, how is this even a debate? As far as I can tell, this is even lower than a payday loan because at least a payday loan is dischargeable under bankruptcy.

EDIT to add: maybe my opinion is a contributing factor to why I can't get any more SL codes to work? :p Maybe I've been flagged.

[a2jc4life]

Some of us can't afford school without financial aid, like it or not.  (I'm not a fan of debt, but I'm also taking care of children full-time, not working in a conventional job.)  If I can take out a loan on a 3-credit course for $900+, or I can take out a loan on $100 for an equivalent SL course, I fail to see how the $100 loan is not an improvement over the $900+.

Everyone has to weigh their own pros/cons, obviously, but it's always struck me as kind of silly and definitely wasteful that if you want financial aid you HAD to go the slow, expensive route.  There's little incentive, then, to be efficient with your time *and* (borrowed) money.

Unfortunately, this is not borrowing $100 to take the SL course.  SL has modified it's courses for a particular college, and if you want to take the course, you take it over a semester the same as a traditional math course.  It's also not $100 - it's the price of taking a normal course at that school.  So it's $522.

Ahhh.  I agree, then, that's not a logical choice.