$7,000 for Georgia Tech's Online (1-Year) Master's Program in Computer Science

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Kevin Carey, Georgia Tech's $7,000 Online Master's Degree Could Start a Revolution; For a professor, richer interaction with faraway students. New York Times, Oct 5, 2016.
http://www.nytimes.com/2016/09/2 ... or-a-mere-7000.html

Quote:

"Tuition for a 30-credit master's in computer science from the University of Southern California runs $57,000. Syracuse [private, founded in 1870], Johns Hopkins and Carnegie Mellon charge over $43,000 for the same degree.

"Georgia Tech rolled out its online master's in computer science in 2014. It already had a highly selective residential master's program that cost about the same as those of competitor colleges. * * * Syracuse, Johns Hopkins, USC and others have also developed online master's degrees, for which they charge the same tuition as their residential programs.  Georgia Tech decided to do something different. It charges online students the smallest amount necessary to cover its costs. That turned out to be $510 for a three-credit class. USC charges online students $5,535 for a three-credit class. (Both programs also charge small per-semester fees.)  [Georgia Tech has] one of the top 10 computer science departments in the nation, according to U.S. News & World Report

Note:
(a) Judging from the context, quotation 1 means residential programs, where the students learn on campus. But it is unclear whether the cost includes living expenses.
(i) Probably not, tuition alone (excluding fees) a semester for "Graduate Students" is currently (credit)15-18 units and costs $ "25,721.00"
http://classes.usc.edu/term-20163/tuition-and-fees/
(ii) Master of Science in Computer Science. USC, undated
https://gapp.usc.edu/graduate-pr ... ce/computer-science("A minimum of 28 units is required")

This means a MS from USC will take a year to complete. In another Web page for this program: Thesis optional.

(b) There is no need to read the rest.