What it costs and what it asks

The fee is usually a fraction of the on-campus equivalent, which is much of the point. The costs that surprise people are the ones outside the fee: examination fees, study materials, travel to an examination centre, and the reliable internet and device the programme assumes you have. Add those before comparing.

The larger cost is structural. There is no timetable making you work and no cohort noticing that you have gone quiet. Distance programmes have high non-completion rates almost everywhere in the world, and the reason is not the teaching. Anyone taking this route should build the structure deliberately — fixed hours, a stated weekly target, and one person who asks how it is going.