UOC or UNED: the €4,100 master's degree and the same old dilemma
A full master's degree at Spain's UOC costs €4,100, with price parity between Spanish and Catalan only half achieved. The UNED is cheaper, but past experience weighs heavily.
English · Original discussion in Spanish · Published
UOC or UNED: €4,100 for a master's degree and the same old dilemma
Is it worth paying for a distance-learning master's degree, or is it better to put up with public university? The question comes back every time someone faces the enrolment bill. In the case that opens this discussion, a full master's degree at the UOC (a Spanish online university) comes to €4,100, with the caveat that the figure could drop by around 15% if price parity between Spanish and Catalan is fully implemented. The trigger is not the price, but a previous experience at the UNED (Spain's national distance-learning university) that the poster never wants to hear about again.
The complaint is not an isolated one. A master's degree started at the UNED and abandoned at 66% of the way through leaves a concrete picture: professors acting as penalising graders without contributing anything, assignments and exams corrected with no feedback, and a lack of information before enrolment that the person affected calls unforgivable. "All the in-person universities I've asked have far more information," he adds, and the argument makes sense: if the study is already remote, information should be abundant, not scarce.
The platform, the teaching staff and the price: three open fronts
Consensus on the UNED falls apart as soon as content is separated from delivery. Some argue the material is "brilliant" and that the books, though long-winded, are optional because the notes from the virtual courses are well structured. The problem lies with the teaching staff and the virtual platform, described without nuance as garbage. And a fruta that keeps coming up: the UNED is two to three times tougher than an in-person degree, examines every last letter of the book, and has trained a large share of the country's civil-service exam candidates.
The UOC plays a different game. Continuous assessment, assignments every three or four weeks and a final capstone. The model appeals to those who believe that memorising a tome and regurgitating it in an exam is a throwback to secondary school. It also has defenders among undergraduate students: a well-structured virtual campus, professors who reply quickly and continuous assessment tests that are not as easy as assumed. The fine print: you have to buy the books to enrol, according to one account in the discussion.
The price of Spanish and the fine print of price parity
Here is the figure that raises the most hackles. For years, studying in Spanish at the UOC cost twice as much as in Catalan: around €80 per credit versus 40, a gap that made an undergraduate degree unaffordable for the middle class. Price parity is recent and has not yet reached all programmes. The prospective master's student sums it up: the difference has fallen to 15%, and it will probably disappear entirely next semester. Money is money, and language-based pricing policy is too.
The comparison with the UNED then becomes inevitable: at similar prices, the UOC is better, if only because it is easier to pass. It is the most repeated conclusion, and also the most debatable. The degree comes at a cost, the weekly assignments demand consistency and the professional return is not guaranteed. Against that backdrop, the alternative of paying for a certificate from a foreign university on massive online course platforms hovers over the discussion without anyone spelling it out.
The problem nobody disputes: information before enrolment
The most solid criticism is aimed neither at the UNED nor at the UOC, but at the system. Before paying, you can barely check the syllabus, the approach or the real workload of the master's degree. At an in-person university you talk to the programme director and can even borrow a book to leaf through. At a distance, the phone becomes a maze. The result: enrolments that end in dropout with two-thirds of the master's degree passed and the feeling of having paid for a different product from the one advertised.
The opening question remains unanswered. UOC or UNED? It depends on how much your wallet matters, how much perseverance you have and how much patience you have with bureaucracy. What nobody disputes is that the master's degree has become an expensive toll for a qualification that used to come included with the undergraduate degree.
Is it worth paying for a distance-learning master's degree, or is it better to put up with public university? The question comes back every time someone faces the enrolment bill. In the case that opens this discussion, a full master's degree at the UOC (a Spanish online university) comes to €4,100, with the caveat that the figure could drop by around 15% if price parity between Spanish and Catalan is fully implemented. The trigger is not the price, but a previous experience at the UNED (Spain's national distance-learning university) that the poster never wants to hear about again.
The complaint is not an isolated one. A master's degree started at the UNED and abandoned at 66% of the way through leaves a concrete picture: professors acting as penalising graders without contributing anything, assignments and exams corrected with no feedback, and a lack of information before enrolment that the person affected calls unforgivable. "All the in-person universities I've asked have far more information," he adds, and the argument makes sense: if the study is already remote, information should be abundant, not scarce.
The platform, the teaching staff and the price: three open fronts
Consensus on the UNED falls apart as soon as content is separated from delivery. Some argue the material is "brilliant" and that the books, though long-winded, are optional because the notes from the virtual courses are well structured. The problem lies with the teaching staff and the virtual platform, described without nuance as garbage. And a fruta that keeps coming up: the UNED is two to three times tougher than an in-person degree, examines every last letter of the book, and has trained a large share of the country's civil-service exam candidates.
The UOC plays a different game. Continuous assessment, assignments every three or four weeks and a final capstone. The model appeals to those who believe that memorising a tome and regurgitating it in an exam is a throwback to secondary school. It also has defenders among undergraduate students: a well-structured virtual campus, professors who reply quickly and continuous assessment tests that are not as easy as assumed. The fine print: you have to buy the books to enrol, according to one account in the discussion.
The price of Spanish and the fine print of price parity
Here is the figure that raises the most hackles. For years, studying in Spanish at the UOC cost twice as much as in Catalan: around €80 per credit versus 40, a gap that made an undergraduate degree unaffordable for the middle class. Price parity is recent and has not yet reached all programmes. The prospective master's student sums it up: the difference has fallen to 15%, and it will probably disappear entirely next semester. Money is money, and language-based pricing policy is too.
The comparison with the UNED then becomes inevitable: at similar prices, the UOC is better, if only because it is easier to pass. It is the most repeated conclusion, and also the most debatable. The degree comes at a cost, the weekly assignments demand consistency and the professional return is not guaranteed. Against that backdrop, the alternative of paying for a certificate from a foreign university on massive online course platforms hovers over the discussion without anyone spelling it out.
The problem nobody disputes: information before enrolment
The most solid criticism is aimed neither at the UNED nor at the UOC, but at the system. Before paying, you can barely check the syllabus, the approach or the real workload of the master's degree. At an in-person university you talk to the programme director and can even borrow a book to leaf through. At a distance, the phone becomes a maze. The result: enrolments that end in dropout with two-thirds of the master's degree passed and the feeling of having paid for a different product from the one advertised.
The opening question remains unanswered. UOC or UNED? It depends on how much your wallet matters, how much perseverance you have and how much patience you have with bureaucracy. What nobody disputes is that the master's degree has become an expensive toll for a qualification that used to come included with the undergraduate degree.
Summary of a discussion on Burbuja.info - Foro de economía, actualidad y política., translated from Spanish and reviewed before publication. Read the full discussion (17 replies).
More summaries
-
UNED: Spain's Distance University Accused of Exploiting Students
UNED mandates in-person exams, heavy coursework worth 20%, and costly textbooks. Critics argue the model prioritizes revenue over education.
-
PC gaming price and performance analysis: FX 6300 vs G3220
Technical analysis of PC gaming prices: Is the FX 6300 worth it over the G3220? Evaluation of components and costs.
-
Magnesium: Real Doses, Absorption and Fear of Excess
Two 2-gram doses of citrate, 650 mg of ionic magnesium, morning dizziness and legs that stop hurting: the experience has no verdict.
-
Monitor in front of a window: how to beat backlight without sitting in the dark
Placing your monitor in front of a window causes backlighting and eye strain. Sheer roller blinds and side lighting are the solutions that avoid plunging the room into darkness.
-
Energy Saver Pro: why the gadget that promises to cut your electricity bill can't work
The Energy Saver Pro promises to slash your electricity bill, but fixed costs already make up more than half of it. The analysis that debunks the device.
-
Mixing sunflower and olive oil in the deep fryer: what the smoke point says
Mixing sunflower and olive oil in the deep fryer is not dangerous, but the smoke point of the weaker oil sets the limit and the olive oil goes to waste.