Is the money allocated to institutional distance education getting the results on the back end in terms of student achievement? A literature review of cost analysis studies on distance education is presented with three themes factored out from those studies: Costs (Institutional and student costs), Reach, and Richness (cost to the student). A synopsis of a study that produced evidence regarding the relative effectiveness of three distance educations strategies ("live," "video," and "web") for enhancing the science learning of 94 midwestern elementary school teachers who were participating in a five-year professional development project is referred to throughout this piece. The results of this analysis suggest there is a sliding scale when looking at cost, reach, and richness in distance education.