The future of the University of Texas’ online-education arm is under scrutiny as the system phases out a major subsidy that has supported the venture for years.
The UT TeleCampus is the latest virtual university to confront hard questions about its business model as online education matures from its upstart days, as The Chronicle reports today in a story about the Texas situation. The University of Texas has invested roughly $22-million from endowment earnings into the TeleCampus over more than a decade. But it plans to end the subsidy by 2012, and some are worried about how the program will continue without the money.
This Thursday, meanwhile, the University of Illinois Board of Trustees is expected to revisit the issue of its Global Campus distance-education program, which has fallen short of enrollment projections and generated friction within the system.
Are any other distance-education programs also in a bind? —Marc Parry
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