For Sale: Young Online University in California

[bjcheung77]

So, I just read my email and in pops this message... I skimmed the message and it seems really interesting! A Two year old BPPE university in California with a few programs, including Bachelors, Masters, Doctorate and all for $500K USD!

I wonder which university this is... they have a few colleges/schools for sale, didn't look at the others, some are much more expensive than this! And curious if it would be more expensive to create an university and market it... then get DEAC or RA later on...

Link: Businesses For Sale - California | Listing onfp7e (dealstream.com)

[ashkir]

Sounds like it's California Metropolitan University.

https://cmu.ac/

This university is 2 years old. The only new one established in California since 2015. it seems they're in the process of seeking CHEA accreditation. They currently have NCAECT.

[rachel83az]

As for whether it's cheaper to buy a school or make your own, I imagine it depends on the age and reputation of the school in question. If the staff are good, you don't have to spend money on recruiting when you purchase an existing school. On the other hand, if the school's reputation is in the toilet, you probably would have to spend a ton on remediation and new staffing before you could even begin to see any monetary returns.

[ashkir]

As for whether it's cheaper to buy a school or make your own, I imagine it depends on the age and reputation of the school in question. If the staff are good, you don't have to spend money on recruiting when you purchase an existing school. On the other hand, if the school's reputation is in the toilet, you probably would have to spend a ton on remediation and new staffing before you could even begin to see any monetary returns.

Honestly I would one day love to see Michael Saylor and the Saylor Foundation do this and compete with UofP directly.

[jsd]

Remember that you have to be up and running for at least two years for most accrediting bodies to even consider you for accreditation. If you are confident that the existing structure can pass standards, it's a much better investment to buy an existing one and get it accredited (or in this case get an upgrade to legacy RA vs NA) than it would be to start your own and hope to get accredited down the line. Much bigger customer base once you're accredited, obviously.

[rachel83az]

Yeah, it would be awesome to see a full degree being offered for as cheaply as Saylor exams are. I hate how UoPeople calls itself "tuition free" but each course costs $120. $120 per course is still low when compared to most US degrees, but $5k is still a LOT of money to some people. Especially in the developing world, which UoPeople targets heavily. And I especially feel bad for anyone who might have tried to use their American UoPeople degree to enter America as an educated person, only to be turned away.

UoPeople has admirable goals, but I think it's, perhaps, oversold itself a bit.

[ss20ts]

Yeah, it would be awesome to see a full degree being offered for as cheaply as Saylor exams are. I hate how UoPeople calls itself "tuition free" but each course costs $120. $120 per course is still low when compared to most US degrees, but $5k is still a LOT of money to some people. Especially in the developing world, which UoPeople targets heavily. And I especially feel bad for anyone who might have tried to use their American UoPeople degree to enter America as an educated person, only to be turned away.

UoPeople has admirable goals, but I think it's, perhaps, oversold itself a bit.

With Sophia, InstantCert, and Study.com you can definitely get a degree for under $5k at UMPI which is open to international students. Too bad they don't advertise online like many other schools.

[rachel83az]

With Sophia, InstantCert, and Study.com you can definitely get a degree for under $5k at UMPI which is open to international students. Too bad they don't advertise online like many other schools.

True. That's definitely a new option, though. They weren't around 10, 20 years ago when UoPeople was getting started. At least, YourPace wasn't.

[LevelUP]

Remember that you have to be up and running for at least two years for most accrediting bodies to even consider you for accreditation. If you are confident that the existing structure can pass standards, it's a much better investment to buy an existing one and get it accredited (or in this case get an upgrade to legacy RA vs NA) than it would be to start your own and hope to get accredited down the line. Much bigger customer base once you're accredited, obviously.

That is correct that it's a much better option to buy a school that already has accreditation, or else your students won't be able to get student loans which would likely represent most of your students in an open enrollment type of school. (chicken or the egg dilemma)

[ashkir]

Watch Walmart or Amazon buy them and get accredited and drop their learning programs with other universities.