Unity College President Melik Peter Khoury, shown at the college’s Sky Lodge in Moose River in March 2018, said Tuesday the school has been able to reduce the cost of its distance education graduate programs. Morning Sentinel file photo

UNITY — Officials at Unity College have announced tuition for the school’s distance education graduate programs will be reduced this fall.

College President Melik Peter Khoury said last week the programs, launched in 2016, will reduce their tuition from $870 to $650 per credit hour.

Khoury said Unity was able to reduce the tuition due to growth in the programs, which now enroll more than 700 students at the undergraduate and graduate levels.

“When we started the distance education program, we began with less majors,” Khoury said Tuesday during a telephone interview. “But now we have more courses, so, based on that design, you have more students in the class. Now that it’s (the program) 3 years old, we know what it costs to run the program. So as we grow, we were able to reduce the price a little bit.”  

The cost reduction comes after the college reevaluated and reduced undergraduate tuition at its flagship campus last year. The college also recently launched a hybrid learning program in which students can design a course schedule that blends in-person and online learning at differing price points.

For Khoury, reducing tuition is another step in completing Unity’s goal to make education accessible to people in different locations and financial situations.

“This is part of our mission, creating more access to education,” Khoury said. “If I could, I would give it away for free, but we can’t do that, so any time I feel like we can do something to be more accessible, I want to do that.” 

The college has also announced it is working to launch new master’s degree programs in other disciplines, including marine biology, animal science and behavior and environmental law.

“The new programs that we’re hoping to introduce, in concert with this reduction in tuition costs, will open up a lot of opportunities to reach more working professionals looking to advance in their careers,” said Amy Arnett, vice president of the distance education program.

“The feedback we have received since launching distance education has been outstanding, and we’ve had some great outcomes from our master’s program. I’m looking forward to seeing their continued success as we expand.”

The reduced tuition will go into effect Aug. 17, the first day of the new term heading into fall.