Is The SREB’s Academic Common Market A ‘Zombie Initiative’?
When I dropped out of college, the biggest hurdle that prevented me from returning back to finish my degree was the financial aspect. In 2007, I was in a bad car accident and I received a bit over $10,000 in insurance settlement money. My immediate response to this was not to take a vacation or go out and buy a new car; I wanted to go back to college.
It was a liberating feeling to enroll in college again, even at the late age of 28, and have money in the bank; and not to try to schedule classes around a part-time work schedule. But I also was very cost conscious. Although I was attending West Virginia University as an out-of-state student, as a resident of Florida, I found out that I was eligible to take classes as part of the Southern Regional Education Board’s (SREB) Academic Common Market.
The idea behind the Academic Common Market was a noble one: expand access to higher education opportunities to college students in the South. However with the advent of online college courses, things began to get unwieldy (that is my guess anyway). Then the alarm bells started to ring when the schools saw how much of the precious out-of-state tuition money was being lost to the program.
Truth be told, even back in 2008, the initiative seemed to be running on borrowed time. Back then, I posted the following in a forum for non-traditional college students:
Hello,
I know that the members in this group are pretty diverse — also that we attend all sort of institutions.ย But for those who are attending public universities in the south, I would suggest checking outย http://www.sreb.org/ย .ย Basically many southern public universities have become sort of a consortium where you can pay in-state tuition rates at an out-of-state school under certain circumstances.ย Please refer to “Academic Common Market” to read up on the details regarding how this is possible.
In my case, I also utilize ย http://www.electroniccampus.orgย .ย This is where you can search for online classes which are offered at an “e-rate”…which means there is one flat fee no matter where the state of your residency is.ย Initially, I picked out my Fall 2008 classes this previous spring.ย However I got my tuition bill (ouch…I’m an out-of-state student!) and I did a quick search on this site.ย All of my classes are online and I swapped out two of my 5 classes for e-rate classes and instantly knocked about $1,900 off my tuition bill!
For the Academic Common Market programs….you have to be state resident of one of the southern states.ย For the e-rate courses, you do not have to be a resident of one of the southern states.
Please do not let money or time constraints unnecessarily get in the way of you earning your degree.ย My schoolย did not advertise this price difference in courses anywhere!ย Not even the Extended Learning Office (the office that handles online class registration) referred this site.ย The main things you must remember is 1) you have to often times beย a student at the institution offering the course (but do not forget the option to enroll as a “non-degree” student…especially if you know you will not ultimately be earning your degree there); 2) Check with your advisor to make sure the courses will transfer and/or count towards your degree requirements and 3) although you may not be able to use financial aid for these classes (it depends…sometimes you are not carrying a big enough load for financial aid or you are attending another school {you cannot collect aid from two schools at the same time}), they may offer a payment plan for your tuition (most public colleges and universities do).
Sorry for the length…but I hope this is helpful for some people out there!
Fast forward to today, WVU now only offers Academic Common Market courses at the graduate level. The same can be said for the entire state of Florida. It also seems that now, you apply for ACM via your state of residency’s coordinator. They will then provide a letter to your school and they will adjust your student account accordingly. Gone are the days of just logging onto a special website and searching for the courses that qualify and enrolling yourself. And as of 2011, North Carolina no longer participates in the program at all.
Given the skyrocketing costs of college, I am glad that the Academic Common Market exists at all. But it is a shell of its former glory. I am thankful that I was able to benefit from the program almost two decades ago. It really made a difference in terms of me finally earning my degree.
