Georgia Tech launches its massive online degree program Wednesday with a first session cohort of 375 students.
The Master of Science in Computer Science program is the first degree program from an accredited university offered solely in a massive online course format, university officials said. Most online students will pay less than $7,000 for the graduate degree, compared to $45,000 for on-campus students.
Georgia Tech, along with Emory University, has been a state leader in the massive online course movement, which launched about two years ago. The massive online courses were considered a transformative initiative for higher education, and a way to provide quality, low-cost (and in many cases, free) education for students without them ever having to step into a classroom.
The hybrid model of Georgia Tech’s program differs from traditional massive online courses, in that the university’s courses are not free and participation is limited.
More than 2,300 people applied for the online degree program during a three-week application period, which is three times more than the number received for the on-campus program during an entire year, according to university reports.
About 80 of the program’s initial students are AT &T employees. The telecommunications company funded $2 million of the program’s costs.
Georgia Tech plans to offer new sessions of the online degree program in the summer and fall of 2014.
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