Harvard Held the Future of Education in Its Hands. Then We Sold It. | Opinion | The Harvard Crimson

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Abstraction: Harvard and MIT sold edX nonprofit to for-profit 2U risking free online education access

Key points:

edX founded 2012 by Harvard and MIT; hosted 3,500+ courses for 40 million learners; CS50 alone reached 5.4 million coders
Harvard and MIT sold edX to 2U Inc. in 2021 for $800 million; 2U promised to keep courses free for five years
2U stock declined 99% over five years; company reported nearly $1 billion in debt and raised going-concern doubts as of early 2024
2U faced lawsuit over falsified enrollment data in USC partnership; former professor said company treated her course as "cash cow"
Harvard and MIT launched Axim Collaborative as replacement nonprofit, funded only from interest on sale proceeds — criticized as inadequate
Free-course agreement expires in two years (from 2024); bankruptcy risk could strand millions of learners in degree-granting programs

Connections: Harvard · Mit · Edx · 2u · Axim Collaborative · Online Education · Mooc · Educational Technology