Studying from Home? Do Private and Public Benefits Go Side by Side?

Abstract

The objective of this paper is to compare the average annual and total cost of obtaining a university degree in three different universities: an Open and Distance Learning university serving lifelong learning purposes and two conventional universities in Greece. Our findings show substantial differences in average annual costs (per student) among these three universities with the Open and Distance Learning University (Hellenic Open University-HOU) having both the lowest annual average private and university cost. Consequently, HOU has the lowest average social cost. Moreover, comparing the total private cost for obtaining a university degree, the lowest cost is in the HOU despite its longer period of studies. This raises expectation to perspective students of HOU for higher rates of return after graduation. A similar pattern, also, holds for the social cost showing that HOU is socially cost effective. Clearly, our findings suggest that an Open and Distance Learning University that serves lifelong learning purposes is a cost effective investment in creating human capital privately and socially.