Dive Summary:
- Writing for GigaOm, Ki Mae Heussner wonders if the shutdown of an online degree program jointly managed by a non-profit college and a for-profit education company will make other colleges more wary of partnering to offer degrees via the Internet.
- Created in 2008, the program offered an associate’s degree to about 2,000 enrolled students in 2012, but their regional accreditor ordered the program closed last week.
- Heussner says companies that provide just a technology base might be safe from more scrutiny, but joint programs between accredited institutions such as Ohio's Tiffin University and unaccredited e-learning firms, such as San Francisco's Altius, could come under the microscope.
Dive Insight:
According to the Toledo Blade, the online degree program — Ivy Bridge — was formed after conversations between a Tiffin University official and a man who would go on to found Altius, the e-learning company. He had planned to buy a struggling college and turn it into an online institution, but then the idea of a joint operation was born. Now, the abrupt closure has left many students in the lurch.
