On-Campus Students, Online Classes: What Are They Actually Paying For?

Students who enroll, pay housing fees, and physically live on campus are increasingly being funneled into online classes — raising a question about whether the on-campus price tag still buys an on-campus education.

A CalMatters investigation found that roughly 40% of all California community college classes are now online, even though most campuses fully reopened years ago. The majority are asynchronous, meaning pre-recorded online lectures with no live instruction. Allegedly, some recordings at San Joaquin Delta College are more than a decade old.

The pattern is not limited to two-year schools. The University of California and California State University systems are offering significantly more online courses than they did before the pandemic, and four-year campuses including San Diego State continue to schedule hybrid sections (one day in class, one day online) for core undergraduate courses.

Here’s an example from a Fall 2026 course listing for Econ 101 at SDSU. What’s interesting about SDSU is that students are required to live on campus for their first year if they’re not located in the service area, while still potentially taking online classes. This is more frustrating as students are required to pay fees associated with this, but don’t get the in-person experience. 

By The Numbers

• 40%: share of California community college classes offered online
• 2 million+: students in the California Community Colleges system, the largest higher-ed system in the country
• 4 of 4: French classes Sacramento City College scheduled for fall 2026, all fully online and asynchronous
• Worse outcomes: a 2025 study found students consistently perform worse in online courses than in-person ones, though the gap is narrowing
• Majority of faculty who had taught at least one online course still preferred in-person instruction, per a 2024 RP Group survey

Incentives And Potential Fraud

Community colleges are funded largely based on enrollment, and students prefer online classes (particularly asynchronous ones) according to the system’s own research. That creates a direct financial incentive for campuses to expand virtual offerings, even when in-person sections fill faster or produce better learning outcomes. 

However, online classrooms where most cameras stay off have also created a financial aid fraud crisis. AI bots and scammers are enrolling as fake students, submitting AI-generated assignments, and siphoning federal aid out of California’s community college system — a problem campuses have publicly acknowledged but not fully solved.

How This Connects

The College Investor has tracked the climbing cost of college, now averaging $29,910 a year at four-year schools and $20,570 at two-year schools. Tuition is up 914% since 1983, per J.P. Morgan, and the typical four-year graduate doesn’t financially break even on the degree until age 34.

That math gets harder when students pay for housing, fees, and the residential experience but receive a recorded lecture from 2013. With nearly 50% of community college students borrowing, the question facing students and families is no longer just how much college costs, but what the money is actually buying.

Don’t Miss These Other Stories: