Dive Summary:
- New research from strategic consulting firm the Parthenon Group shows that an increasing number of nonprofit colleges are becoming serious competition in the market for working-adult-students that has long been dominated by for-profit institutions, and that better-informed consumers preferring brand strength over price will only heat the competition more over time.
- Eleven nonprofit colleges were identified in the report as having enrolled more than 10,000 online-only students last year, with a total joint enrollment of 280,000 compared to the 818,000 online-only students enrolled by the dozen biggest for-profits.
- Parthenon partner and report author Chris Ross predicts that only a limited number of nonprofits will join surviving for-profits as online education's established major players.
From the article:
A growing number of nonprofit colleges have become big fish in online education and are targeting a working-adult-student market long-dominated by for-profit institutions. As the competition heats up, better-informed consumers will increasingly seek out online programs based on price and brand strength. Those were the findings of new research from the Parthenon Group, a strategic consulting firm. ...