WGU Growing 30% Annually

Yesterday I caught up with Robert Mendenhall, president of Western Governors University. I was an early board member but hadn’t talked to Bob in a couple years. The progress they are making is really exciting. WGU serves 21,000 students and is growing by more than 30% annually.

Here’s why WGU is cranking: the average time to a bachelor’s degree is 30 months—about twice as fast as a traditional college. Speed to degree results from:

Willingness to accept transfer credits
Ability to test out of subjects where students have experience.
The online instruction allows students to move at their own pace

The teachers college is the largest; business, IT, and health are all growing rapidly.
WGU uses computer-based instruction that allows them to stretch staffing ratios and charge about $5,800 per year.
Indiana just adopted WGU as their 8^th university. Gov. Daniels understands that he needs to educate Indiana not protect existing institutions.
Why would you pay $58,000 per year to listen to a string of lousy lectures when you can go to WGU for 1/10 as much and finish twice as fast?