By Danielle Kaeding, Wisconsin Public Radio
Universities like UW-Superior are trying to grow their online programs to provide access to a range of students. At the same time, the university has seen declining enrollment on campus from the populations they serve in northern Wisconsin and Minnesota. Those two issues were key factors in the university’s recent decision to contract with outside company Academic Partnerships to recruit students for online graduate education programs, according to Brenda Harms, interim vice chancellor of enrollment management at UW-Superior. “The population base is really shrinking and so (we’re) really needing to say how can we get creative in helping to extend our reach more into southern Wisconsin, southern Minnesota and beyond if needed,” said Harms. Academic Partnerships has brought in roughly $900,000 in tuition revenues to UW-Superior since March 2017, half of which has gone back to the company for recruiting students. It’s a common model among online program managers, or OPMs — they provide an upfront investment in exchange for a percentage of the tuition revenue.
https://www.wpr.org/state-universities-look-outside-vendors-grow-online-programs
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