2U Bankruptcy Adds Fuel to OPM Uncertainties
Lauren Coffey
July 26, 2024
The company once hailed as a pioneer in online program management declared Chapter 11 bankruptcy Thursday. How should—and will—colleges who partner with the company handle the news?
2 U, a fading giant in the online program manager space, announced Thursday it had filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy. While the company said the process will put it back in a competitive position, experts said the filing creates an incentive for longtime customers to rework their contracts or finally jump ship from an OPM plagued for months by lawsuits, layoffs and a struggling bottom line.
The news came as no surprise to either opponents or proponents of the industry. 2U had been on shaky ground since it acquired nonprofit learning platform edX in 2021, paying $800 million to Harvard University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and landing in debt it could not escape. But the filing raises new concerns and questions for the 260 higher education institutions that partner with the company.
