As summer approaches and online courses become a commodity for the students that do not live in Fargo, a question arises.

Why are online courses so much more expensive than their in-class alternative?

I mean seriously, where does the money go? Please tell me because, obviously, I don’t understand.

I mean, I’ll admit that I’m not that great at economics and I don’t really understand budgets. So maybe I’m just all “deer in the headlights” about this situation.

But I don’t understand how a four-week, online, summer course can cost me more than a normal, 16-week, in-class course.

Online courses do not require a space for a class to be held, they don’t require a professor to be present and the majority of the communication that takes place during these courses is through email. Which, let’s be honest here, is probably taking place on a comfy couch in the house of said absent professor.

We are broke college students just trying to get by, yet here we are dishing out extra money in order to take online summer classes that will help us graduate on time so we don’t have to take out another massive loan.

“As a nursing student, who already has to take extra schooling, it is really frustrating to me that some of my required are only offered online. Especially since they cost so much,” Maggie Pearson, an NDSU sophomore, said when discussing the topic.

Online courses do have their perks. You don’t have to get out of bed, get dressed or even shower if you don’t want to. But to pay so much extra for a class that takes so much less effort from all parties involved is absurd.

So please, someone explain what “course development” and “implementation costs” mean. Because right now I’m just going to continue assuming that you use all of that extra money to buy fancy breakfasts for your administration meetings, instead of believing the bogus explanation I found online.