Lectures can be televised, with a lecturer at one location being displayed on large screens at some remote lecture theater, or even in industrial concerns or homes. The EuroPACE enterprise of the late 1980s was supported by a number of commercial organizations. International authorities were filmed, in studios, lecturing on their subjects. These lectures were transmitted by satellite to the subscribers, who typically recorded the programs at their site and viewed the material at their leisure. Those studying the material could contact the lecturer over the following months, if they so chose. The enterprise was discontinued after a number of years, though there have been attempts to resurrect this. It seems to have failed because of the extreme remoteness of the student, with no real ability to ask questions or other devices to engage the student in the process of learning.

One can introduce some level of live and intermediate interaction by enabling questions after lectures, for example, by introducing an audio link from remote sites back to the lecturer, rather like a television phone-m program. Some universities that work between multiple sites, like De Montfort and London University in the UK, can even do two way video links, building on the video conferencing model. Some success is reported anecdotally, though many lecturers are reluctant to use the facilities, and need training in their use.

Contact between lecturers and students can shift from face to face encounters in tutorials, to email exchanges. Individuals in technical departments of universities, like computer science, have done this for some considerable time, but for non-technical departments using email has been `unnatural’ and not favored.

Email has also been used to collect formal assignments set for assessment purposes. The UK Ceilidh project attempted to formalize this, providing services for collecting student assignments, recording their submission, arranging for lecturer comment and marking, collecting and recording these marks, and then returning the material to the student -all done electronically. A similar system is being piloted in the Open University, based around several commercial products, with the additional concern of authenticating the submissions to avoid possible fraud – always a concern in mass education.

Students need access to reading material to supplement the knowledge given to them in lectures. In some disciplines the consideration of alternative points of view manifest in different works may be an essential part of the study. Students have either bought or borrowed books, and libraries have been an integral part of any campus. With the rising price of books, and the need for a library to hold set texts in multiple copies, they have turned to digital libraries – see, for example, the special issue of the Communications of the ACM on this. Some universities are already using digital libraries.

Out of this use of telecommunications to augment traditional campus university education comes one style of distance education, where lectures delivered centrally are viewed remotely through television. Students can ask questions remotely using telephones. Students can interact with their lecturers and tutors using email, even submitting assignments in this way. They can access libraries electronically.

But is this really the way to do it? Is it the right way for developing countries?

The key thing that distinguishes online learning from conventional education is the situation that the learner, the student, finds himself or herself in. The student will be learning in isolation, without access to libraries, or local experts, or other students, to help with learning problems. To understand the full potential of networks in distance education, it is firstly important to understand online learning without networks. There are a great many institutions round the world that offer open and distance learning courses – the ICDL database of the Commonwealth of Learning lists 836 of these from around the world. All of these have much in common, and to illustrate what they offer, we will next look at our own institution, the Open University in the United Kingdom.

The key thing that distinguishes developing countries from developed countries is the level of infrastructure available, and the funds available to invest in capital intensive approaches to education.

As a young parent I never saved for college. But I did something even better: I taught my kids the value of money and the horrors of debt. Now they have lifelong skills regarding money that will enable them to succeed from college all they way to a comfortable retirement. I began early to expect that they be involved in the process of managing money. My wife’s parents have faithfully given all their grandkids money at Christmas. So I made a point to set up “Accounts” for all my kids where I could keep a ledger for them of their savings balance and interest earned. I paid them the going CD interest rate, typically 5% and enjoyed explaining to them how their money grew over time by earning interest from the bank. Whenever they spent some money, I showed them how it left their account. And should they ever spend over their balance, I showed how they got charged interest for debt. This taught them the value of money in a tangible way. Proof of the result from this training can be found in my oldest daughter’s bank account. A junior at a university, she has $10,000 in her checking account from work and savings that earns 4% interest. She makes $30 a month in interest while her peers pay that on their credit card debt. Granted, I also coached her how to find a free checking account that pays 4%, but I have been training her to think this way since she was three years old. She is learning that wealth creation builds peace and makes life much more fun. Think she will have a peaceful, successful life as an adult? You bet. You should train your kids the same way. Start early.

The training continued with a final key course when my kids they were seniors in high school, I told them they needed to read “Hard Drive”, a wonderful biography of Bill Gates. I have each of my kids read this book because there is a reason Gates is the richest person in the world: he served others best. And that is what I want my kids to know, success in life comes from serving others. Also, it is mentioned time and again in the book that Gates was childlike; he liked to have a good time.

And I taught my kids that college and life should look like this.
Gates hated debt and financed his business Microsoft by saving profits and putting the money into CD’s, during his early years. My goal is for my kids to join me in graduating without debt. I helped them build the financial skills early so they spend carefully while at school and work jobs to help pay for their college. And I have each of my kids listen to the “One Minute Millionaire” CD’s so they can learn to invest well in businesses that offer freedom, like real estate. I would recommend you undertake some similar training for your kids as they grow up so when they are in college they will feel a responsibility to share the financial burden.

I recommend you read “Hard Drive” yourself because it gives you a glimpse into someone who was incredibly competitive and driven, yet lighthearted and fun loving. I found this book so remarkable that I immediately read it again. I never do that. I realized the Gates story is much bigger than his business success because of his remarkable joy in life. That is the combination you need to sustain in relating to your kids about real life stuff like the money required for college. If all your kids hear from you is strained comments about “we just have to get more money for college”, then they may just be repelled from the whole idea of higher education. Indeed, you need to watch your talk from the time they are little so that you bring much more to their life than correction and money worries. And “Hard Drive” gives you a glimpse of how the founder of Microsoft made life fun. He was fortunate to grow up in a loving family and as a result loved to play games. In the book it even mentions how that when he was out at a restaurant he would tell stories, jumping up and down so much that tables nearby would comment in disbelief, “Isn’t that Bill Gates jumping around like a little kid over there?” Again and again in the book he is called childlike. Though he was a tightwad with money, he loved to have a good time. So should you.

I make it a point in my family to balance talk of investing and debt free living with jokes, pranks, kid’s movies and playing with dogs. These are things kids love and bring balance to the responsible financial stuff. While I expect a lot from my kids as they grow up, that they learn how to save and invest in real estate by the time they are 18, I also have a lot of fun along the way. Recently, I sent my 18 year old daughter this joke from “Readers Digest” after she was hit in her car in a parking lot:

I was getting into my car when I noticed a dent. On the windshield was a note and a phone number from the driver. “I feel terrible,” the woman apologized when I called. “I hit your car as I was pulling into the next parking spot.”

“Please, don’t worry,” I said to her. “I’m sure our insurance companies will take care of everything.”

“Thank you for your understanding,” she said. “You’re so much nicer than the man I hit on the way out.”

by Laurie Payne

Three of the four cars in my family have been hit over the last year so I like to balance the stress of these experiences with a bit of levity. Because as you might imagine, the claims process is not a bunch of fun for my kids, but I like the insurance windfall. I will explain this further in the chapter on reducing expenses, how I manage to do quite well financially with my older cars getting hit from time to time, vs having a newer model that leaves little room for profit.

So once you build the fun side of your relationship with your kid, then you build strong bridges to discuss financial matters. Avoiding credit cards must be one of these key topics. There is a world of pressure at college for kids to get credit cards. “Business Week” recently wrote: “The credit-card marketers’ latest tactic is to co-sponsor campus seminars on financial literacy. (Card applications are usually handed out afterward.)” The average college student graduates with $8,000 in credit card debt! I visit a local college from time to time regarding my business work and find big credit card ads beckoning them to sign up. You need to explain to your student that credit cards rob a person of joy; they take away the margin that cash reserves afford. The goal must always be to pay for all purchases with cash and develop the habit of discipline and self-control that will be so valuable after graduation. Because I like to have so much fun everyday with my kids, they believe me that credit cards are thieves of joy and that a good time must always be a key goal of life. I tell them to ignore any talk about credit cards giving them a credit history. What a joke. All cards do is imprison young people. What creditors want most of all is a steady job and income. I bought a car on credit at 18 years old with absolutely no credit history because I had a steady job and income. Avoiding credit cards is one way your child can add to their financial success in school because they will not have to make those payments ever.

Another way your student can contribute to expenses in college is to simply attend a low cost community college for their first year or two. The credits from these schools transfer to most any four year college and you can save a bundle through your kid going there. One of my kids attends such a school and finds it entirely fulfilling. In our state the government provides a 50% of tuition stipend so this makes the education incredibly low cost but we find the course quality satisfactory. So if you are unable to get adequate aid the first try, you might encourage your child to live at home and attend a community college as you try again next year. Not a bad idea to discuss this option while your child is in high school so you can prepare for this possibility. Many parents go this route so your student would not be unusual. I had a wealthy colleague (wealthy people hate to spend money; that is one reason why they are rich) who was so cheap he even successfully persuaded his child to attend such a school his first two years, so you must know this option is widely used.

One key way your child can contribute to the cost of college is through scholarships, academic or based on some skill they have developed. You can also help them with this early. One of my kids excelled in piano so we paid for her to attend lessons regularly and took her around the state to attend piano competitions. When she was 12 she even won the state competition. She went on to win a scholarship in piano that contributed to paying for her college. You can do this in a variety of ways. Just find out what your child likes to do and support that. My child went on to major in Piano because she enjoys it. She probably won’t perform or do graduate work in this area or even work there, but this does provide her a college degree debt free. A college major has little impact on getting a job outside of skill set areas like accounting or computer science; I make a good income but my work is totally unrelated to my college major. The key is for your kid to get a college degree. That is essential to even apply for many good jobs. Maybe your child’s niche is sports or academics. Then when a college offers a scholarship you can play that off another college in order to find the best deal. I just took the offer from one school and called my daughter’s favorite to tell them that she really wanted to go there but school B is offering this. What can you do to “help”? And they came through in a big way.

Another area where your child can pay for college is in student jobs. This is commonly a part of an aid offer and presents a unique opportunity to get substantially more aid: encourage your student to apply for work in financial aid. My daughter gained outstanding aid year after year in part because she worked in the Financial Aid department; she knew the officers with the authority who passed out the aid grants. Let’s face it, college students are winsome and by being there they can develop relationships with key people to win aid. Maybe you had limited success in your efforts calling the aid officer, your student may be able to do much better once inside the aid operation. Further, your student can make a decent wages to help pay for expenses and maybe even books.

I found a program from a small accredited college in Indiana that had a self-study curriculum that used proctored exams that worked perfectly for me and I began taking classes.

That was cutting edge back then but now there are so many more options available, particularly online, for what used to be called distance learning that it can be very confusing in finding a good online school.

Stay Away From Diploma Mills

There are many shady operations that will sell you a fake degree from a bogus college that isn’t worth the paper it’s printed on. Stay away from these as they will only end up causing you problems if you try and use one to get a job. You will eventually be found out and terminated for lying about your credentials and could easily ruin your career.

In fact, there have been several high profile people in business and government recently that have been exposed for using fake degrees and as a result lost their jobs and all credibility.

Avoid Life Experience Based Degrees

Some phony colleges will grant you a degree based on your life experiences. Sometimes you need to write up a few small reports to show that you have the knowledge but really I think this is so you think you are doing some work towards earning the fake degree.

These degrees are also pretty much worthless and any colleges that promote this type of higher education should be avoided.

Be aware though that there are legitimate institutions that will grant some credit for life experiences provided that you can detail (and I mean detail) your knowledge of a subject sufficiently enough to convince a professor that you should be granted the credit.

I got credit for a few classes this way but there were some where I failed to show enough knowledge in the subject to get credit so I had to take the classes.

Usually there is a limit to how much credit you can get this way because the bottom line is you need to take real courses with real homework and projects and tests in order to get a valid college degree you can be proud of.

Accreditation Is Key

The most important thing to consider when you are evaluating an online college program is whether or not it is accredited by a legitimate accrediting board. There are many online programs that say they are accredited by XYZ, etc. but many times these are not state recognized and have no validity in the real world.

You want to look for a program that is accredited by the same boards that accredit real brick and mortar colleges and universities so you can be sure you are getting a legitimate education.

Since many mainstream colleges are starting to have online programs you can be assured that taking classes from one of them will be OK but for others do your due diligence before signing up.

Remember, there are no shortcuts to getting a quality education that not only benefits you but your employer so remember the old adage that if it’s too good to be true…