Do Tech Companies Inflate the Cost of Online Education? A CEO Responds

Play Now

5-5-19- Chip Paucek

Last month Kevin Carey, director of the education-policy program at the think tank New America, took aim at online program managers — the tech companies that help colleges build online-degree programs. In a thought-provoking article for HuffPost, Carey argued that such companies, known as OPMs, are “transforming both the economics and the practice of higher learning.”

The deals between OPMs and their partner institutions often mean that colleges end up charging their online students “the same astronomical prices they levy for the on-campus experience,” Carey wrote. In his article he focused attention on the technology company 2U, which has teamed up with many large universities to build online programs.

In this video Chip Paucek, 2U’s chief executive, responds to questions about the OPM model, his company’s place in that universe, and why 2U just paid three-quarters of a billion dollars for a company that runs coding boot camps.

Goldie Blumenstyk writes about the intersection of business and higher education. Check out www.goldieblumenstyk.com for information on her book about the higher-education crisis; follow her on Twitter @GoldieStandard; or email her at goldie@chronicle.com.