Cost and Financing in Open Schooling/How Student Numbers Affect Costs/Questions for Consideration

Questions for Consideration
From an economist’s point of view, ODL institutions must do the following in order to ensure that they remain cost-competitive in relation to conventional methods of delivering education:
 * 1. Increase the scale or number of students enrolled for their courses (beyond the crossover point).
 * 2. Keep their fixed costs to a minimum, by:
 * Reducing the scope or range of courses offered (especially by eliminating courses with low enrolments),
 * Utilising less sophisticated media in delivering their courses,
 * Extending the life of courses to spread the fixed costs of materials development over a larger number of students.
 * 3. Keep variable costs to a minimum, by:
 * Limiting interaction between students and tutors,
 * Minimising other student services.