A $6,600 master's degree in computer science with a 55 percent acceptance rate and no GRE entrance exam? It's a seductive proposition for an undergraduate, to be sure. Since the Georgia Institute of Technology announced its Online Master of Science Computer Science degree—OMS CS, for short—in May 2013, the program has elicited wonder, enthusiasm, and trepidation.

Wary of the prospect of a public research institution working closely with private corporations, I count myself among the latter cohort. However, I'm not about to let my ideological reservations foreclose my curiosity, especially given that so many OMS CS students praise the program.

In the interest of giving OMS CS a fair hearing, I spoke with several members of the leadership, including David White, assistant dean for academics and executive director; Charles Isbell, senior associate dean and an instructor of two courses; and the dean of the College of Computing, Zvi Galil, all of whom proved forthcoming about the program's achievements and challenges and admirably generous with program details.

While I remain concerned about the long-term consequences of corporate partnerships, the OMS CS program has virtues that academics would do well to acknowledge. Individual courses aren't as large as enrollment stats suggest, the terms of the corporate partnerships aren't as draconian in practice as in print, and the yearning for greater scale and less expense is one that administrators should engage. The OMS CS is not quite as grand, but also not nearly as flawed, as early reports suggested.

OMS CS Background

One of my first questions to the executive board was, if you were going to produce an online master's program for a public research institution, why choose Udacity? While the platform has its virtues, including its popular Nanodegrees, many public institutions have embraced the free, open-source version of EdX.

The massive open online course (MOOC) landscape looked much differently in early 2013, they said. EdX wasn't really an option, which left the for-profit options of Coursera or Udacity. Some early adopters, such as the University of Pennsylvania, embraced Coursera. Georgia Tech chose Udacity after Sebastian Thrun, one of the co-founders, approached Zvi Galil about creating a deeply discounted online master's degree. (In fact, in early conversations, Galil said Thrun hoped to offer a free accredited degree.)

Now entering its third year, the OMS CS program plays younger sibling to the MS CS program. The structures of the programs aren't quite parallel. For example, the brick-and-mortar version offers 11 areas of specialization, compared to four in the online version. Many of the ancillary services, such as career counseling and development, are still being developed for the online program. However, both programs share courses, faculty, and accreditation.

Opening Up Access

Perhaps the most remarkable difference is accessibility. Whereas the traditional MS CS degree costs Georgia residents $21,000, and twice as much for out-of-state students, the OMS CS costs a third as much; students can even qualify for financial aid. The number that tends to circulate is $6,600, though pricing depends upon the pace at which students complete the program.

Similar to other master's programs, OMS CS is 30 credit hours, or 10 three-credit courses. Given that Georgia Tech charges $170 per credit hour and $301 in university fees per semester, students could actually spend less than $6,000 with a three-course load. (Today, the average commitment is about 1.5 courses in the spring and fall and one course over the summer.) Theoretically, students could further diminish course loads were they to conduct a faculty-directed project or theses, though, in practice, students tend to choose the 10-course track.

A second component to access is admissions criteria. To enroll in the OMS CS program, students need only maintain a 3.0 GPA or higher in computer science at an accredited undergraduate institution and pass a TOEFL exam if they're international. Once enrolled, students aren't fully admitted until they maintain a 3.0 GPA or higher in two foundational courses. Otherwise, there's no GRE and little mystery about the admissions process, which is comparatively generous—55 percent—especially when compared to Georgia Tech's own MS CS program, which hovers around 15 percent.

Access is, of course, a double-edge sword: If a program is too open, classes bloat and at-risk students suffer. Thankfully, Georgia Tech has, at least for now, struck a reasonable balance. Despite the hoopla about "10,000 students" enrolling in the OMS CS program, that number doesn't refer to one class or one term, but rather to the program's overall enrollment. This spring, 3,358 students enrolled in the program. Leadership anticipates around 1,500 over the summer and about 4,000 in the fall. Comparable to many traditional lecture-based courses at public universities, courses don't exceed 300 or 400 students. Furthermore, the attrition rate isn't as bad as I feared given admissions stats. Of the 380 students in the founding class, 20 have graduated and 267 remain in the program. That's an attrition rate of around 25 percent—worse than some traditional programs but better than many online programs, especially garden-variety MOOCs.

Comparing the Catalogs

Before I received some clarification from Georgia Tech leadership, I struggled to understand how OMS CS was branded and how it related to Udacity's offerings. Here's what I learned.

The moniker "Online Master of Science," is administrative, meaning that no such demarcation appears on diplomas. OMS CS students can even walk with MS CS students. Moreover, course listings contain subtle but meaningful differences from those on Udacity. First, OMS CS courses aren't available on Udacity. For example, a summer course entitled Software Analysis and Test, capped at 75 students, isn't listed in the Udacity catalog. While most basal courses are available to anyone on Udacity—I found versions of 21 of 23 OMS CS courses offered this spring—gratis versions don't include the same assignments, assessments, or credentials. That is, while Udacity content is machine-graded, Georgia Tech online classes relies upon a combination of online proctoring (Proctortrack) and dozens of good old-fashioned teaching assistants.

This raises a final point of interest, particularly for those in higher ed: Unless you work for an institution that has made a substantial investment in online education (such as MIT), your institution will almost inevitably look beyond its walls. In the case of Georgia Tech, all but a couple of course creators and instructors were Georgia Tech faculty. For those faculty, creating an online course is, in fact, a lucrative proposition: creators receive a one-time fee of $20,000 for creating a course, another $10,000 when they teach it, and a $2,500 royalty every time the class runs. (If a faculty member co-creates a class, she splits those fees with a colleague.)

Reticent faculty might worry, however, about administrative bloat and corporate seepage. For example, every course lists at least one course developer, effectively an instructional designer. As far as I can tell, that course developer is almost always a Udacity employee, which begs the question: after courses are created, who's to say that a traditional faculty should teach them?

On Public-Private Partnerships

Public-private partnership is a long tradition in US education. Moreover, using the patronage of nonprofit and for-profit partners to open research labs, create fellowships, or reduce tuition can benefit students. Nevertheless, striking a balance can be difficult. In fact, in a recent talk, Zvi Galil explicitly acknowledged the challenges of working with private companies.

In the case of Udacity and AT&T, Georgia Tech's partnerships are more agreeable in practice—for now—than on paper. In exchange for a platform, support, and consistent styling, Georgia Tech shares revenue with Udacity: after both sides deduct expenses, it's a 60/40 split. The "course assistants" who were to "interact with students in a variety of ways," according to the program FAQ, have ultimately served as tech support. Moreover, the existing three-year agreement is up for renewal, meaning that the university has an opportunity to renegotiate terms, and all options remain on the table. As Galil explained it to me, "The marriage is not Catholic."

Similarly, AT&T's sponsorship carries fewer strings than one might expect from a company that invested $2 million in the first year of the program. In fact, while 300 AT&T employees were expected to enroll in the founding class, the number was actually closer to 250 (239 as of spring 2016). Many of the terms of the agreement in the FAQ haven't come to pass. When I asked about AT&T's advisory role—"The company will serve on an advisory board and, where appropriate, offer corporate projects for credit"—Georgia Tech leadership explained that the board ultimately wasn't assembled. Certainly, there's nothing to prevent that board from being assembled in the future, nor to stop AT&T from capitalizing on other provisions stipulated in the program FAQ. However, it would be unfair to judge the program for a prospective and not practical issue.

Scaling Expectations

The OMS CS program has revealed many surprises. On one hand, students are using social media to self-organize support. The Google+ OMS community has more than 3,500 members, a significant portion of existing enrollment. By the same token, Georgia Tech leadership admits that they're struggling to keep pace with grading; while machine learning might address concerns in the future, for the time being, they rely upon dozens of teaching assistants.

The online program is also perhaps less diverse than you might expect. Whereas the MS CS program comprises largely international students, nearly eight in 10 students enrolled in the online program are US citizens, and more than one in 10 is from Georgia. Demographically, the OMS CS program isn't necessarily more diverse than the MS CS program, either. For example, even fewer women enroll online, which Georgia Tech leadership attributes to the discrepancy between domestic and international students.

"The pipeline problem for women in CS is more acute in the United States," explained Michael Terrazas, director of communications. "Our international applicants typically are much more gender balanced than our domestic students."

Finally, when you consider the age of students, the OMS CS program is older (33-34 years old) and more educated (more than 700 applicants have advanced degrees and more than 120 hold Ph.D. or terminal degrees). In this sense, the Georgia Tech online master's program is more in line with ventures such as General Assembly, which enable professionals to advance skills and training.

While the OMS CS degree may not democratize higher education, it doesn't cannibalize it. As Georgia Tech's leadership put it candidly, the OMS CS won't make that much money, even when it fully scales. Meanwhile, the traditional master's program is a veritable golden goose. In addition, all the buzz around Georgia Tech's OMS CS degree is driving interest in the university in general, and in its computer science programs in particular. Traditional undergraduate BS CS applications increased by 85 percent in 2014 and another 35 percent in 2015; MS CS apps jumped 30 percent in 2014 and 18 percent in 2015.

That said, these may be the fruits of leadership, and, if and when other programs embrace online education tracks, traffic will likely level off. In the meantime, however, Georgia Tech has embarked on a provocation, and one that other schools would do well to watch.

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