Sophia, only 2 courses active at one time

[tallpilot]

The smartest thing Sophia could do after the freebies are over, is lower their prices to the neighborhood of Study and SL courses, or hit us all with coupons that end up $100/course again. Some may only need 1-2 courses though, so I hope it’s not a buy 5 deal. They have a good bit of momentum from this. People like their courses. Roll with it!

That might be what's best for you as a student, but I doubt it would make much sense for Sophia.  You don't establish yourself as a purveyor of high-quality goods or services by price-matching your competition, especially when your product throws rocks at theirs.

Sophia offers a more tightly-integrated, student-friendly, transparent, and overall higher-quality experience than either SDC or SL.  I doubt that happens by accident, I suspect that they have substantial and ongoing costs in excess of those other providers.  That's probably one reason their course selection is limited.  They likely don't release a new course until it's been properly audited and the integration is smooth.  Contrast that to all the "the tests weren't aligned with the course materials" complaints you see from SDC students.

Personally, I think that while SDC does have some advantages, such as wider course selection, course-for-course, they don't compare favorably to Sophia.  Likewise, I don't care for SDC's business model.  Their marketing focus seems to be on confusing the customer with a low, come-on rate and locking them in with a monthly charge.  I'm confident that if you were to audit study.com, you would find dozens if not hundreds of accounts with no activity for months or even years, because relatives, benefactors, employers, scholarships or government agencies continue to pay the monthly fees even though the student has lost interest or graduated.  While that's a great business model from a profit standpoint, as a consumer, I find it to be loathsome.

I don't think Sophia is likely to "hit us all with coupons" when the current promotion is over.  I've never seen any indication of a "shotgun" approach with their discounts.  What I've seen seems to indicate a careful marketing strategy, where they offer discounts to specific groups; for example, students of partner schools, homeschooling websites, and even, in at least one case, members of the Airline Owners and Pilots Association.  With that said, I can tell you that, at least in my experience, there have always been discount codes if you know where to look, and they have displayed a flexible and reasonable approach to the application of those discounts, even offering to combine accounts when a student has created multiple logins with different partner schools in order to minimize course fees.

I completed a number of Sophia courses prior to the start of the current promotion, and (not including the two historically free 1-credit courses on offer) my average cost was around $30 per credit.  The most I ever paid for one three-credit course was $112.50.  When you consider the quality of their product, and the fact that they're a private enterprise that exists to turn a profit, I find that very reasonable.  If you need only one or two classes and can't find what you need at your target cost per credit, you might want to consider Davar Academy.  They have a number of 3-credit online courses for $80 plus proctoring cost, as well as a $99 monthly program for two business classes.  Those are bargain-basement per-credit costs, but if you're used to Sophia, you may not like it...they're the Hyundai to Sophia's Lexus.

I agree with your assessment that Sophia generally has a higher quality product and I recommend new alternate credit seekers go there first.  I can tell you their algebra course was loaded with typos that might really trip someone up if they had not been exposed to the material before.

I understand your frustration with recurring charge business models; they are becoming ubiquitous in every industry.  I suspect you are correct and they make a fair amount of profit from people who set up the billing then forget about it.  They could charge per exam and eliminate the 'scam' complaints.  I will find out soon enough if they are honest when I pause my membership next month.

I do not agree with the assertion that the tests aren't aligned with the materials.  The tests are absolutely aligned with the quizzes and practice questions (the lessons occasionally do not include the answer to a specific question, that much is true).  That's the model.  One could exhaust herself trying to absorb a whole course worth of material or just hammer the questions until capable of getting a 70%.  SDC is faster than Sophia but Sophia likely results in better recall a month after taking the course.

I would love to see Sophia figure out how to offer upper level credits to select partner schools.  I take issue with their pricing model of offering huge discounts to some groups while offering high pricing to the general public or the ignorant. That is just as much of a scumbag business model as recurring billing, IMO.  $99 for non touchstone courses and $149 for touchstone courses is reasonable pricing. $349 for something where their incremental cost of delivery is bandwidth charges?  Maybe if you just needed one or two classes otherwise it is a colossal rip off compared to the other options.