Higher Education After the Shift to Remote Learning

Written by the William Allan team · Published 2025-07-19

The early COVID-19 shift to remote instruction sharpened a question families had been asking for years: what are we paying for when we pay for college?

Instruction is part of the answer. So are facilities, support, access to research and professional networks, and the experience of living and studying with other people. The value of that combination differs by student, institution, and price.

This discussion revisits that pandemic-era debate. The tuition figures below are historical context, not current college-price estimates.

Put the price in context

For 2019–20, average published tuition and fees at private nonprofit four-year institutions were $36,880, according to College Board. That was a sticker-price measure before grant aid. It did not include room, board, and other living expenses, and it was not an average for every type of private education. College Board’s 2020 pricing report summary.

Tuition has risen faster than inflation over many historical periods, but not in every period or sector. Published prices, inflation-adjusted prices, and the net prices students pay after aid can move differently. College Board’s 2022 discussion, for example, reported inflation-adjusted declines in public four-year tuition over the preceding decade. College Board on tuition and inflation.

Any claim about a percentage increase needs those details: which institutions, which costs, which years, and whether the figures account for inflation and aid. A family making a decision today needs the actual school’s current cost and aid offer.

Financing affects incentives, but it is not the whole explanation

Federal student loans can make college financing available to eligible borrowers. Eligibility requirements and borrowing limits apply; not everyone qualifies. Federal Student Aid eligibility guidance.

Loan availability can also affect prices. Historical research from the Federal Reserve Bank of New York found that expansions in federal loan limits passed through partly to tuition in the settings studied. That supports examining the incentive, not claiming it explains every tuition increase. New York Fed research on credit supply and tuition.

Public funding, institutional spending, demand, and other choices also belong in the analysis. New York Fed discussion of higher-education financing has addressed the relationship between reductions in public funding and higher tuition. New York Fed financing discussion.

What remote learning changed

The pandemic forced rapid experimentation with remote instruction. It made the differences between a course, a campus experience, and a credential harder to ignore.

It did not establish that every online program is equivalent to an in-person program, or that remote delivery is always more cost-effective. Outcomes and costs depend on course design, the students served, technology, support, and scale. A program built for online instruction is also different from a course moved online during an emergency.

Online and blended models remain possibilities to evaluate. Their value needs to be assessed at the program level rather than assumed from the delivery format alone. U.S. Department of Education review of online-learning research.

The investment question is separate

It is reasonable to expect technology companies and education providers to look for ways to improve delivery. Which models will attract students, deliver good outcomes, and earn acceptable returns remains uncertain.

There is no single market-size figure that answers that question. An investment thesis should define the product, customer, geography, period, and measure of revenue. The size of higher education as a whole does not establish the size of the opportunity for one provider, much less whether its valuation is attractive.

For investors, the useful questions concern demand, costs, competition, regulation, educational outcomes, and the price paid for the investment. For families, the useful questions concern the student’s goals and the full cost of the available options.

The shift in delivery opened a worthwhile debate. It did not settle either set of decisions.

Schedule a first call. The first conversation is an intake call with Ian, who gathers your situation and helps connect you with the appropriate advisor. It is not an advisory meeting.

This commentary is for informational purposes only and is not investment, tax, or legal advice. All investing involves risk, including the possible loss of principal, and past performance does not guarantee future results. Consult qualified tax and legal professionals regarding your situation. William Allan is an investment adviser registered with the SEC; registration does not imply any specific level of skill or training.