Meet the 'new predators in higher education' who are driving students deeper into debt

Abstraction: Online program managers exploit tuition-sharing loophole driving student debt

Key points:

• Online Program Management (OPM) companies partner with universities, handling recruitment, marketing, and sometimes curriculum in exchange for up to 60-65% of tuition revenue from online programs
• A 2011 Education Department "bundled services" loophole allowed OPMs to receive a share of tuition revenue tied to enrollment, inverting incentives toward aggressive recruitment over quality
• OPM industry grew from $1.3 billion in 2015 to $5.7 billion in 2020; projected $13.3 billion by 2025
• USC Rossier School of Education partnered with 2U; students paid over $100,000 for programs alleged to be misrepresented in rankings and inferior to in-person equivalents; lawsuit filed in 2022
• Some schools spend 10x more on marketing and recruiting than on teaching and learning
• Rep. Rosa DeLauro called OPMs "the new predators in higher education"; Education Department sought public comment in Feb 2023 on revisiting the 2011 guidance

Connections: 2u · Usc · Online Education · Higher Education Policy

Source: https://www.businessinsider.com/student-debt-crisis-online-college-universities-class-providers-opms-2023-6