The Provost Explains Why Liberty University Will Not Charge Online Tuition

Liberty University's Provost has set out, in a short address to applicants, why the university does not and will not charge tuition for online study.

The argument is partly financial. Once a module exists — designed, recorded, staffed with a teaching team — the cost of teaching one more online student is small. The marginal cost is marking, supervision time and support. "Charging a working nurse in Lagos eight thousand pounds for a place that costs us a fraction of that to deliver is not a business model we are proud of," the Provost said. "It is a toll on a bridge that is already built."

The argument is mostly institutional. Liberty University was founded in 1971 to teach people who could not otherwise reach a university. "If our founders could see a technology that let us teach anyone, anywhere, to the same standard, and they saw us putting a five-figure price on it, they would ask what had gone wrong with us," the Provost said.