How to start a Online University ?

Check Minerva's founder Ben Nilson; he doesn't belong to academia. A good plan would be to start a crowdfunding campaign to raise capital to build an online curriculum and university system. Then do internet marketing to attract students. You can charge students a percentage of their income after graduation.

 

Does the Ellis College of New York Institute of Technology model still work for new startup university? Of course, Ellis College of NYIT --> Ellis University --> John Hancocks University --> Ellis University is dying.

The way to join with non-profit RA accredited school it seems to be way to go.

 

Sinnce it's after Oct. 2016, I think we can say "Ellis has left the building."

From the webpage : "... it is with great disappointment that the Ellis University Board of Trustees announces their decision to close the University."

Here: Ellis University - Online Degrees

J.

 

The concept of pay from future income is not an impossible solution.

Self managed and directed courses can be ran entirely by software.
There is nothing that a student needs from an "online instructor" that cannot be done programmatically.
Once this can be done, the cost is a fraction compared to online-instructor-led classes.

I have several courses in mind, and have two prototypes in Moodle, with material, grading, and end of course certification. No instructor required.
My cost is hosting and initial development.

 

Sound good to me. If student loans can be repaid from future incomes, it could be advantageous for a student to "buy here, pay here" (particularly if he/she could skip interest) and pay tuition this way. Certainly presents obvious benefits for the student. Could be rough on the school's cash flow, though, especially in the first few years, until the grad totals start building up. The school would have to be well-bankrolled to start with. And certainly, an accreditor would demand that it always be in good financial shape.

What about a "no tuition," exam-fee only model. Seems to be working well for University of the People. A well-run outfit, it appears. Properly prepared for business from Day 1.

J.

 

I'm not sure this works if you a private company, and this thread is about starting a private online university. But this could work if you're the government. There are in fact countries with such a system. One example is Australia, but there are of course also problems. Here is an article about it: Australian College Plan Has Helped Students, at a Cost - NYTimes.com

 

To my way of thinking, this is perhaps the key question - why would someone want to go to your brand new, unrecognized, unaccredited start-up school when there are so many other choices. It's such a gamble. Personally, I'd do virtually anything else before I made that decision.

 

Just to clarify to some Moodle is a full learning management system software. It also happens to be open source under the GNU General Public License. If properly installed, it can handle all aspects of analysis, design, development, implementation, evaluation and administration of very large educational facilities.

I have deployed several complex classes out of a pelican case running Moodle. Imagine arriving at a beach without water, dropping your pelican case, firing up a few computers a hub, and a bunch of toughbooks for the students.

So it can be done. Indeed, there is an initial period of limited income.