As a college student, I am very familiar with online learning, especially since I started my college career in the middle of a pandemic. Online modes of learning have a very harmful effect on students’ grades, education, financial status and overall success.

The use of online learning increased during the pandemic. Now that we are becoming less weary of COVID, universities should discontinue the use of online programs to teach students when they are paying to learn in person.

With online learning, it is easy to cheat, and students are rarely able to learn during these courses.

According to an article by McKinsey & Company, there has been a 13% drop in enrollment among U.S. colleges after the pandemic. Students struggled due to the lack of education the online programs these students were forced to use offered.

Harvard University also conducted a study on how online schooling affects students. They found that taking a course online instead of in person reduces student success and progress in college. Grades were also lower both for the course taken online and in future courses.

With standard online programs such as McGraw Hill’s Connect, professors force students to complete loads of assignments that take hours. If you miss one of these assignments, it could drop your grade in the class, and there is usually no way to make the assignment up after the due date.

Another fault of online programs is the extra cost to students. To gain access to the material, students pay up to $130 out of pocket. This might not seem like much, but to college students who already struggle financially, this can be a challenging cost. It is unfair that students must pay for the course and the homework to go along with it.

In-person classes should not have to use online learning methods. Educators need to focus on teaching methods that actually work for their students. And if students arrive each day to class ready to learn, they should be taught properly and in person.