Local Online Degree Programs Try to Gain Revenue

Online associate degree programs and bachelor’s degrees programs have been attracting more and more student s over the last several years which is good for the for profit schools, but not so good for community colleges and other universities.  Online degree programs have been keeping students at home and out of campus programs, but now many campus programs are trying to encourage students to think locally so they can get their portion of the education dollar

For years, some universities have dreamed of border-defying online programs that vacuum up tuition dollars far beyond local students like Mr. Kolberg. But now a growing number of institutions like Milwaukee are ramping up their efforts to attract working adults in their own backyards.

Commuter-serving urban universities can’t match the marketing muscle of faster-growing, for-profit, online colleges. What they can try to do is parlay stronger local brands, cheaper tuition, and blended programs that shift a lot of class time online into an appealing package for area adults. The kind of adults who might value coming to campus periodically but struggle to do it three times a week.

The “go local” trend follows the flameout of one of the latest public efforts to forge an online institution of international scope. The University of Illinois is remaking a more modest version of its Global Campus after the project crashed in a confetti of bad press in May as enrollment flagged and faculty raised concerns about quality. Anxiety arose from its push to set up shop as a separate entity beyond the system’s bricks-and-mortar universities, with its own professors and programs.

Universities across the country are trying to figure out what kind of programs members of their community would be most interested in.  With this information, universities and community colleges can offer high quality online degree programs locally, bringing more revenues locally.

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