Tuition, Fees & Online Courses

[Green, Denise]

I am researching a very specific issue related to Web based college courses
for a campus committee. Do any colleges or universities charge different
tuition or student fees to students in online courses? Has any institution
attempted to allocate part of the cost of web courses to students by
charging them a "technology fee" or a special higher tuition rate to help
recover costs of course development or hardware maintenance?   Conversely
have any colleges tried to offer lower tuition to online students with the
rationale that there will be cost savings (to the college) in such courses?
We all know the illusion of "putting it online will save money" but this is
a valid assumption to some administrators and trustees.

A related point our campus is pondering is a lower student fee for some
students who are entirely or primarily Web / online students. For example,
students complain about paying the full athletic fee or parking fees if they
don't come to our campus. Or only come once or twice a semester. It makes
some sense that a student living in Sioux City, SD  isn't going to be using
the gym in Springfield, IL but they could be enrolled in one of our
completely internet courses.

 After searching ERIC and other index databases I haven't found any exact
matches to this issue of a different tuition or fee structure for online
students. Most colleges appear to be eating the cost of web-based course
development or getting grants, one-time expenditures, etc. to cover new
hardware and software development.

Thank you for your input.
Denise Green
Brookens Library
University of Illinois at Springfield