Distance Education Goes Public

By ANDREA FOSTER and DAN CARNEVALE

Looking to make money and reach more working students, state universities are pushing into the U. of Phoenix's territory

A few years ago, universities were dumping their online spinoffs like rotten fish. Temple University and New York University shut theirs in 2001. Two years later, Columbia University closed down Fathom, its once-vaunted online venture. The spinoffs were never able to attract enough students to justify the millions of dollars invested in them. The flagging post-9/11