Students who hate getting out of bed to go to class may soon be able to get an LSU degree without stepping into a classroom.The University is currently developing plans to put entire degrees online in the future.”I’m not picking on Phoenix or Kaplan or anyone else,” Chancellor Michael Martin said. “I am absolutely convinced that people will pay at least as much as they pay to those institutions to be a Tiger and not whatever you are if you go to Kaplan.”College of Engineering Dean Richard Koubek co-chaired a task force assessing the feasibility of online degrees and examining steps other universities are taking in the same area.Koubek said the task force is going to report its findings to the deans next Thursday.Executive Vice Chancellor and Provost Astrid Merget said the University will target graduate degrees and post-college certificates for master’s degrees.For example, the College of Engineering is considering an online construction management master’s degree. Koubek said this would allow construction professionals to get a degree while continuing their careers.Merget and Koubek said undergraduate online innovations will likely come in the form of online integration with existing classes rather than full undergraduate degrees online.Koubek said online professional and graduate level programs historically generate revenue to funnel back to the institution.”[Online programs] can be highly lucrative,” Martin said. “Just think about Phoenix. They don’t even have a football team, and they paid $32 million to put their name on the [stadium where the Arizona Cardinals play]. If they are making enough money to buy a stadium for a team they don’t have, there should be money to be made.”Koubek said the programs had to be at least revenue neutral, and any profits made from the online courses could be used to enhance the traditional college.Faculty Senate President Kevin Cope said taking the University online has to be done in a cautious manner.”LSU is not the University of Phoenix,” Cope said. “It should not be in the business of offering a quick, cheap credential to everyone who applies. We have to make it clear to the audience that simply getting a degree online is not the same enriching experience as coming to a university physically for a period of years.”Cope said the fact that the University is providing online degrees could depreciate the standing of the University.Merget said she does not think it would harm the University because traditionally high-quality institutions such as Harvard are providing online degree services.”It’s not a substitute for fundamental baccalaureate education at all, but it is in many ways an appropriate way to accommodate lifelong learning, which is so important in a world that is technologically and economically changing fast,” Merget said.—————Contact Xerxes A. Wilson at [email protected]