As the Sloan Consortium Report Making the Grade points out, online education continues to grow, but enrollment growth at for-profits has dropped from high double digit annual growth percentages to single digits or flat growth. For-Profits like University of Phoenix were first to market in online education and still have significant advantages in access to capital, marketing know-how, customer service and agility compared to non-profit institutions. But local public and private universities are catching up fast and now offer what used to be differentiators for for-profit schools: things like accelerated programs, sophisticated online marketing campaigns and admissions call centers, a financial aid department able to hold prospective students' hands through the financial aid process and offering students several "start" options to begin school through the year.
The biggest challenge for-profit providers face today is how to differentiate themselves in the increasingly crowded marketplace for online education. How can a Capella University convince people in the state of Indiana, for example, to go to Capella rather than pay significantly less in-state tuition to attend a Indiana University online program?
Below is a by no means comprehenseive list of how for-profits might differentiate themselves and attract students in a more competitive marketplace:
Six Ways to Differentiate your University's Online Programs
- National Branding. University of Phoenix is going this route, striking a deal to pay $154.5 million over 20 years for naming rights to the Arizona Cardinals' new stadium
- Partnering with corporate employers to offer programs. A University could, for example, offer the UPS B.A. in Logistics. This is similar to Quicken Loans using the Quicken brand to establish credibility in the online mortgage industry
- Specialize in high levels of service (e.g. having the most effective consultative admissions teams)
- Focusing on a specific market segment (African American, Baby Boomers, etc.)
- Focusing on educational quality: e.g. creating the most robust online learning environment
- Building a regional brand (i.e. Strayer on the Atlantic Seaboard)
What is clear is that a generic for-profit school simply garnering Internet leads and trying to convert on these will no longer be a viable competitor as traditional schools continue to "catch up" to their for-profit counterparts in online educational offerings.
As for theory - you have to find it yourself. As for practice - maybe I could give some help. I found an interesting program on one of the thematic forum recently. It searches for combination automatically. Nice one, though poor in interface. Program is based on Martingale system with the corrected algorithm. It`s based on searching and waiting a series of results («red or black» usually). But this one I got is for «head or tail». There were discussion
Posted by: booster | January 13, 2009 at 03:00 AM