Via the NYT comes the tale of traditional students taking what is usually considered a route for non-traditional (i.e., older) students by going straight to Harvard’s extension program: Harvard, for Less: Extension Courses’ New Allure:

Although Ms. Shortill was accepted elsewhere, including Johns Hopkins, when she was rejected by Harvard College, she moved to Cambridge anyway. She enrolled in a bachelor’s degree program at Harvard University Extension School - for a fraction of the admissions requirements and a fraction of the cost.

“I had Harvard as my reach school,” said Ms. Shortill, 20, “and I had Harvard as my safety school.”

I don’t pretend to know all the nitty-gritty about Harvard’s Extension School, but know enough about the general concept (which is reinforced by the piece), to say that basically it is continuing education for adults who want a college degree. In other words: what might traditionally be known as night school.

It is almost like a satellite campus contained on the main campus, somewhat below the radar of the traditional students. The courses are taught by a combo of full time faculty doing some extra work, graduate students and adjuncts. According to the piece, some of the courses at Harvard Extensions are videos of regular Harvard courses, and I am sure that there is a graduate assistant of some kind to field questions and to grade (in some ways not unlike any large lecture course at a major research school–live or otherwise).

The thing that is striking about the story is that it appears there are a number of traditional freshmen (i.e., right out of High School) who are going into the program to obtain their degrees in lieu of going to another school. The young lady profiled in the piece could have gone to Johns Hopkins, but decided instead to go to Harvard Extensions.

This strikes me as a dreadfully bad trade-off.

To go to an extensions program because one wishes to obtain a degree, but one cannot afford (in either time or money) to attend traditional classes is both understandable and even laudable. However, to eschew going to school at a major university in the traditional fashion just to get a degree with “Harvard” on it strikes me as foolish.