LibAnswers

It is entirely up to you.  Traditional Publishing is the default mode in ProQuest (and costs you no money), and means that only users with a subscription to the database will be able to access your dissertation there.  Open access publishing is an option whereby the author (i.e. you) pay an additional fee in order to make your dissertation freely available for users around the world to download and read. However, because UMass Global student dissertations are also deposited in University of Massachusetts Global Digital Commons, their dissertations will already be available on an open access basis for free (unless you opt out).