Church getting into the online college education business

[Col. Flagg]

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=43110573&nid=14 ... anization-" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

LDS church announces new BYU-I president, new online higher education organization

SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced a new online, church-wide higher education organization Tuesday morning.

The LDS Church announced the creation of BYU-Pathway Worldwide, which will be responsible for all online learning opportunities in the Church Educational System, providing various certificate and degree opportunities for students around the world.

“This is a very special day for the Church Educational System and a day of hope and joy for many of our young people worldwide who are seeking to educate themselves and prepare for a successful livelihood,” President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counselor in the church’s First Presidency, said.

President Uchtdorf announced that Clark Gilbert, the current president of Brigham Young University-Idaho and former president and CEO of the Deseret News and Deseret Digital Media, will take over the operations of BYU Pathway Worldwide as its president.

Gonna charge LDS students $70 per credit hour. Thoughts?

[Obrien]

Sounds like a great business opportunity. Maybe the tithing rate will be cut (say to 7.5%) IF donations are made online. Less overhead and all...

[Col. Flagg]

Sounds like a great business opportunity. Maybe the tithing rate will be cut (say to 7.5%) IF donations are made online. Less overhead and all...

I'm waiting for the day when the church announces that from henceforth, tithing only need be paid on discretionary income. If they were to do that, donations would become more numerous, to be sure. And the proper way the Lord set-up and only expects in the first place.

Wonder how this new online education will affect other local schools like WGU, Weber Stare, SLCC and even UVU? And what about accreditation? Would it be automatically accredited since the church already has 4 others that are, even though they aren't explicitly online?

[mes5464]

I think it is great. I have felt that there needed to be something done to help people get a high education without having to go into debt. The debt of college is crushing people and something needed to be done. This is a fantastic solution.

[mes5464]

Additionally, I think the church needs to offer a K-12 program also. The public school system is crushing the faith of our youth and exposing them to dangerous people and lies. We should open a school in every church building.

[JohnnyL]

$70/hr x 120 hrs. = $8,400 for a bachelor degree?

[ebenezerarise]

Where have you guys been? The Church has been leading in online education for well over a decade. What they did today takes it to a whole new level It's AWESOME.

[brianj]

The BYU Independent Study program charges $183 or $281 per hour, so if you could get a degree completely online it would cost you abut $22,000 - a bargain compared to many universities these days.

If this new church program provides for a graduate education I just might pursue a master's degree in computer science or information technology, or maybe an MBA. At $70 per hour it wouldn't be any big deal if work or life interferes with classes and I have to repeat a few of those classes.

[Spaced_Out]

I have a fried in Australia who started on the online BYU program this year. I think one of the conditions is that they have to attend weekly institute, so he goes to institute with a member of the stake presidency and he is in the +50 category. Good on them - I am too far from the stake center to attend weekly institute.

[cynikal]

Additionally, I think the church needs to offer a K-12 program also. The public school system is crushing the faith of our youth and exposing them to dangerous people and lies. We should open a school in every church building.

Yes, BYU already has and online Home School section - i have 2 daughters in it. it is only 7-12, but is very well done. if Devoss get her way we will see a lot of charter schools pop up, why not a church based K-12 system?

[Ezra]

Additionally, I think the church needs to offer a K-12 program also. The public school system is crushing the faith of our youth and exposing them to dangerous people and lies. We should open a school in every church building.

Yes, BYU already has and online Home School section - i have 2 daughters in it. it is only 7-12, but is very well done. if Devoss get her way we will see a lot of charter schools pop up, why not a church based K-12 system?

The church used to have one. It would be good to see it come back.

[skmo]

Additionally, I think the church needs to offer a K-12 program also. The public school system is crushing the faith of our youth and exposing them to dangerous people and lies. We should open a school in every church building.

Somebody buy this man a drink. A really big one.

Okay, non-alcoholic and possibly caffeine free, but a gigantic drink in a solid gold cup. Public education, coming from a retired public school teacher, sucks dog poop through an irrigation hose. We really need better opportunities for education, and I don't hold out any hope for the government to do any of it. It isn't fair that kids whose parents give them no discipline or motivation have to attend the same mind-numbing intellectual cesspools as kids whose parents make them learn responsibility, decency, and hard work. We need better alternatives.

[mes5464]

The BYU Independent Study program charges $183 or $281 per hour, so if you could get a degree completely online it would cost you abut $22,000 - a bargain compared to many universities these days.

If this new church program provides for a graduate education I just might pursue a master's degree in computer science or information technology, or maybe an MBA. At $70 per hour it wouldn't be any big deal if work or life interferes with classes and I have to repeat a few of those classes.

Sorry, but I think they only offer bachelor degrees. You would have to use BYU Independent Study program for anything more than that.

[samizdat]

http://www.ksl.com/?sid=43110573&nid=14 ... anization-

LDS church announces new BYU-I president, new online higher education organization

SALT LAKE CITY — The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints announced a new online, church-wide higher education organization Tuesday morning.

The LDS Church announced the creation of BYU-Pathway Worldwide, which will be responsible for all online learning opportunities in the Church Educational System, providing various certificate and degree opportunities for students around the world.

“This is a very special day for the Church Educational System and a day of hope and joy for many of our young people worldwide who are seeking to educate themselves and prepare for a successful livelihood,” President Dieter F. Uchtdorf, second counselor in the church’s First Presidency, said.

President Uchtdorf announced that Clark Gilbert, the current president of Brigham Young University-Idaho and former president and CEO of the Deseret News and Deseret Digital Media, will take over the operations of BYU Pathway Worldwide as its president.

Gonna charge LDS students $70 per credit hour. Thoughts?

70 dollars a credit hour works out to 350 per semester (5 credits) for Pathway courses. After 12 credits you don't pay more tuition, so the max tuition is 840 dollars.

Here in Mexico it is 29 dollars per credit hour. In Ghana it is 10 dollars per hour. In Haiti, 7 per hour.

So there is a lot of adjusting based on the economic concerns of each country. And those that pay 45 or less, also get subsidized books once in any of the BYUs.

[samizdat]

Additionally, I think the church needs to offer a K-12 program also. The public school system is crushing the faith of our youth and exposing them to dangerous people and lies. We should open a school in every church building.

Yes, BYU already has and online Home School section - i have 2 daughters in it. it is only 7-12, but is very well done. if Devoss get her way we will see a lot of charter schools pop up, why not a church based K-12 system?

It is happening too. This plan brought out is only the first step. They eventually want to make it from the secondary system all the way up to masters degrees.

So BYU is doing that well already, the only thing is to get all the pieces together.

It appears that Rexburg has caught up to Provo and in short time might exceed Provo. Even the Sunday School manuals are based off of BYU Idaho's learning model.

[cappaccio]

This is really great news. I want to get my kids out of traditional public schooling, however my wife and I do not have the time or knowledge to make that happen. Now maybe there is hope that we can do that. I had no idea BYU offered HS degrees through Independent Study. I will be looking into this for my son.

[kfb]

I'm waiting for the day when the church announces that from henceforth, tithing only need be paid on discretionary income. If they were to do that, donations would become more numerous, to be sure. And the proper way the Lord set-up and only expects in the first place.

Please provide a reference for this interesting belief.

[Col. Flagg]

I'm waiting for the day when the church announces that from henceforth, tithing only need be paid on discretionary income. If they were to do that, donations would become more numerous, to be sure. And the proper way the Lord set-up and only expects in the first place.

Please provide a reference for this interesting belief.

Belief? It's doctrine... read D&C 119.

[brianj]

I'm waiting for the day when the church announces that from henceforth, tithing only need be paid on discretionary income. If they were to do that, donations would become more numerous, to be sure. And the proper way the Lord set-up and only expects in the first place.

Please provide a reference for this interesting belief.

Belief? It's doctrine... read D&C 119.

D&C 119 requires 100% of surplus property then 10% of annual interest. And I don't think that interest means payment for use of money since requiring "all their surplus property" doesn't allow for investment.

Therefore I am with kfb: I don't see a reference to your idea that tithing should only be paid on surplus or discretionary income. The word I see used most commonly in the scriptures is increase, and I don't see increase as equal to surplus.

[Col. Flagg]

I'm waiting for the day when the church announces that from henceforth, tithing only need be paid on discretionary income. If they were to do that, donations would become more numerous, to be sure. And the proper way the Lord set-up and only expects in the first place.

Please provide a reference for this interesting belief.

Belief? It's doctrine... read D&C 119.

D&C 119 requires 100% of surplus property then 10% of annual interest. And I don't think that interest means payment for use of money since requiring "all their surplus property" doesn't allow for investment.

Therefore I am with kfb: I don't see a reference to your idea that tithing should only be paid on surplus or discretionary income. The word I see used most commonly in the scriptures is increase, and I don't see increase as equal to surplus.

Google an 1828 Webster's dictionary and look up the terms 'interest', 'income' and 'surplus' - they are all synonymous.

[brianj]

D&C 119 requires 100% of surplus property then 10% of annual interest. And I don't think that interest means payment for use of money since requiring "all their surplus property" doesn't allow for investment.

Therefore I am with kfb: I don't see a reference to your idea that tithing should only be paid on surplus or discretionary income. The word I see used most commonly in the scriptures is increase, and I don't see increase as equal to surplus.

Google an 1828 Webster's dictionary and look up the terms 'interest', 'income' and 'surplus' - they are all synonymous.

You could have easily provided links.
Income: http://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/income" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Surplus: http://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/surplus" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;
Interest: http://webstersdictionary1828.com/Dictionary/Interest" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

They don't appear synonymous. Regarding interest, I think the definitions share; portion; part; participation in value and Regard to private profit are not synonymous with surplus, though one of the five noun definitions includes surplus advantage.

However, if the church members were to donate all their surplus and ten percent of their annual interest, I don't see how you could define that as all of their surplus plus ten percent of their surplus. Are they asked to donate 110% of their surplus? Anything more than their surplus is more than their surplus.

[Sunain]

This is pretty exciting news, I think a lot more so than the Perpetual Education Fund. I'd be interested in doing a few courses if they are accredited towards a degree from BYU. University has become way too expensive for people to afford and the debt load creates an issue where people are far behind in family life because they have to payoff their student loans. If this turns out that members of the church could get an accredited bachelors degree for just under $10k, that is a game changer in the education sector, especially for those that are too far away to physically attend a university.

[Col. Flagg]

This is pretty exciting news, I think a lot more so than the Perpetual Education Fund. I'd be interested in doing a few courses if they are accredited towards a degree from BYU. University has become way too expensive for people to afford and the debt load creates an issue where people are far behind in family life because they have to payoff their student loans. If this turns out that members of the church could get an accredited bachelors degree for just under $10k, that is a game changer in the education sector, especially for those that are too far away to physically attend a university.

Yeah, this is the sort of stuff I can get behind, not $500 million conference centers or multi-billion dollar malls and condos!

[e-eye2.0]

My wife has been doing this for the past few years. She is just about to finish up her Associates with 1 class left and will be working towards her bachelors and then will probably become a nurse or something with a little further education. The cost is amazing and I eventually plan on going back and finishing up my degree.

I think this is a step closer to establishing zion and living the law of consecration. It's a step by step process and this is just another step.

[Finrock]

I've seen the Pathways program do a lot of good and make a big difference in the lives of people who are poor or who come from backgrounds that are not privileged. It is one way that I see the Church taking care of the poor and the needy and it does in fact empower them and increase their potential to move out of poverty and to increase their income and their quality of life.

-Finrock