The Trouble With Online Undergraduate Business Degrees In Traditional Regional Universities

Abstract

Because of the surging demand for undergraduate business degrees and the increasing availability of effective online educational content, many traditional regional universities have added, or are now considering adding, online undergraduate business degree programs to their classroom programs. Through a review of the literature bearing on that decision, this paper enumerates many of the heretofore-unreported risks unique to such programs and suggests methods to mitigate these risks. The paper argues that online undergraduate business degree programs in traditional regional universities, if not carefully promoted and managed, can be so troublesome that they are unlikely to add long-term economic value to either the community or the university. The arguments presented in this paper suggest many future areas for empirical work.