Brandman University, a California-based college with online offerings in place, is offering a new way to earn a college degree for an estimated $10,000.
Brandman’s new bachelor of business administration is fully online. And not just the classes. There are no physical textbooks either for this “competency-based” degree.
Students will have access to 30,000 pages of course material for the degree on their tablets or smartphones. The content of the courses is completely personalized and there are no credit-hour requirements, according to Inside Higher Ed.
About 60 percent of the required 80-plus “competencies” are based on performance assessments, like a paper or a project, rather than a memorization and regurgitation test.
Brandman is one of just four institutions to get both the U.S. Department of Education and its regional accreditor to sign off on this type of “direct assessment” program. With that kind of accreditation, it means that students can even get federal financial aid to put toward this alternative program.
The university estimates that the average student will be able to complete the degree in 30 months. And with a cost of $5,400 in tuition and fees per year, that comes out to about $10,000 for the bachelor’s degree.
While Brandman’s program is geared toward non-traditional students, a $10,000 degree option makes higher education available to a lot more people.
The $10,000 degree has become something of a political talking point, with California and Texas both having options at their state-funded schools.
But Brandman’s program offers a potential model for the future and an interesting way to meld innovation and the current accreditation system together.
