Dive Brief:
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The Washington Post highlights a Maryland higher ed strategy that brings nine state universities to one campus, suggesting such collaboration could be the wave of the future.
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A partnership with a local two-year institution means many students transfer in as juniors and seniors, saving the state $14,000 per student — a savings that gets passed down to students for a more affordable way for students to obtain a degree from the state’s universities.
- According to the Post, the program’s 75% transfer graduation rate is the highest in the University System of Maryland, and is well above the national average of 58%.
Dive Insight:
Satellite campuses are increasingly popular for public institutions hoping to expand their reach and increase access to students throughout the state, but the Post reports Maryland’s configuration of combining nine satellite programs onto one campus is unique.
At the Universities at Shady Grove, students must get accepted into their school of choice, but once they are granted acceptance, they can take classes taught by their institution’s professors on the collaborative satellite campus. The schools save on facilities and operations costs by converging onto one campus, and students save on a myriad of fees associated with attending the main campuses.
As institutions continue to look for ways to contain costs while simultaneously offering affordable, quality educations, such a collaborative model could be one solution. Institutions may also consider broadening access to courses between partnering institutions, allowing students to take classes taught by one institution’s faculty for credit at his or her “home” institution while further cutting staffing costs.