Day: January 2, 2020

Online Higher Education (4) – Online Degrees

Online Degrees Before MOOCs

While the previous posts (2) (3) summarized the birth and development (especially the model of fee-for-certificates) of MOOCs, online degrees, as a more “formal” segment of online higher educations, was actually born before 2011.

The boom can be attributed to the 1. advancement in technology infrastructure (higher internet speed, 4G, streaming, etc.) 2. people’s behavior changes such as the growing adoption of smart personal devices (smartphones, etc.) 3. increasingly burdensome higher education costs in the US and associated student debts 4. the incentives provided by the regulatory environment such as the re-authorized Higher Education (Opportunity) Act in 2008.

Distance education: US Department of Education shall not require an accreditor to have separate standards, procedures or policies for evaluation of distance education. Accreditors must, however, require institutions that offer distance education to establish that a student registered for a distance education course is the same student who completes and receives credit for it.

Then, there emerged a group of companies called Online Program Management (OPM) providers, with 2U being the current leader.

2U

The first of its kind was launched in 2008 – MAT@USC,  Master of Arts in Teaching Program, developed by the USC Rossier School of Education in partnership with 2tor Inc. (the company later its changed name into 2U Inc. in 2012)

The basic idea is to replicate the degree offerings in the online format as much as possible. Private companies like 2tor will invest upfront and share the majority of future tuitions. The programs costs were a little cheaper (but at the similar level) than the traditional on-campus version.

The agreement of MAT@USC program provides a glimpse into the structure. As mentioned in the announcement, “tuition for MAT@USC is the same as the USC on-campus program at approximately $1,300 per credit.”

In 2012, when MOOCs were getting more attentions, 2tor also raised more capital and expanded the partnerships. It raised $26 million Series D in April and had 5 programs in agreement: USC’s Rossier School of Education for the MAT@USC mentioned before, USC’s Masters of Social Work Program (MSW@USC) added in 2010, Georgetown’s nursing program (Nursing@Georgetown) launched in Spring 2011, UNC’s MBA program (MBA@UNC) starting in July 2011, and announced the addition of UNC’s Master of Public Administration (MPA@UNC) right before this financing round. (See appendix for the current tuition of these five programs)

As we shall see in the next post that, as OPMs grew, at the same time, MOOCs were expanding into OPM’s fields, partnering with universities to offer degrees related programs.

At the same time, they are also trying to provide non-university based higher education, usually for/with companies in industries.

Born with different origins and offerings, MOOCs and OPMs are now coming to fight similar battles and creating full-service online higher education platforms:

    1. fee-for-certificates
    2. degrees-based programs
    3. career-oriented continuing education

To be continued

Other more recent highly watched events for 2U included:

May 2017 2U to acquire GetSmarter for approximately $103 million, which provides online short courses in partnership with universities – just like what MOOCs did.

August 2017 HBS, SEAS and FAS partner with 2U, Inc., to offer the Harvard Business Analytics Program. The first cohort of students is expected start classes in March 2018. The total cost of the program—not including travel and lodging expenses—to be $51,500 based on current program fee rates.

January 2018 2U and WeWork announced a broad partnership: e.g. WeWork spaces are available to 2U students enrolled in graduate degree programs; WeWork members and employees can access $5 million in scholarships to enroll in 2U programs, etc.

April 2019 2U to Trilogy for $750 million in cash and shares, a large boot camp provider that partners with continuing education divisions at dozens of universities.

Appendix

  • MAT@USC current rate of tuition for the 2019–2020 academic year is $1,928 per credit.
  • MSW@USC 2019-2020 Unit Charges: $1,928 is the per-unit rate for students enrolled in 1-14 units. $28,628 is the flat rate for students enrolled in 15-18 units.
  • Nursing@Georgetown’s tuition is $2,139.00 per credit hour as of Academic Year 2019-2020.
  • MBA@UNC in 2011 said “tuition will be $89,000 for the two-year program and will include books, texts, student fees and lodging and food costs for four weekend immersions.” For students beginning in the July 2019 term, the tuition for the 2019-2020 academic year (July – June) is $125,589.06.
  • For MPA@UNC students enrolled in the program in academic year 2019–2020, tuition will be $1,209 per credit hour. Students who start the online MPA program in academic year 2019–2020 can expect to pay at least $54,405 for the entire program.