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Online Classes Are Cheaper for a Reason, and Harder for One Too

No premises means the money goes to teachers and materials instead. But the building was also giving you something, and online you have to supply it yourself.

September 15, 20263 min read

Online learning has become popular in recent years because, at the same price, it tends to be either cheaper or better than a centre with premises.

The reason is straightforward

An online school has no rent to pay.

With no building to fund, that money can go into teachers, into materials, and more recently into online learning tools.

But the classroom was giving you something too

When you travel to a class, you are handed a room: desks, air conditioning, quiet, a space your brain recognises as study time. In exchange you pay for the travel and the time it costs.

Online you save that, but you have to provide the space yourself.

What I hear constantly

Students tell me: "I can't turn my mic on, my house is noisy, there are a lot of people here." Or: "I only unmute when I need to speak."

That will not do.

Once you have chosen to study online, you have to find somewhere quiet. It cannot be skipped or worked around. It is not that no such place exists; it is that you have to arrange one.

In short

Whether online study works comes down to how you do it. What the centre used to handle for you is now yours to handle. That is precisely what the lower price represents.