Stop Undervaluing For-Profit Online Degrees
L. Roxanne Russell
October 27, 2023
Next time you scoff at a degree from a for-profit online college, ask yourself why, exactly—and whom you’re hurting, L. Roxanne Russell writes.
When researching to learn more about the first two Black women to serve on my local school board, I noticed a couple of striking omissions in their bios—neither listed the names of the institutions where they earned their graduate degrees.
What’s your first assumption? Mine was that they attended for-profit online universities, and it did not take much internet sleuthing to discover I was right.
I taught at a for-profit online university from 2002 to 2013, and I know how hard these women worked in rigorous programs that follow the same pedagogical models now being valued and adopted across higher education—e.g., interleaving practice of new skills with new learning and integrating prior knowledge and experiences of adult learners. I know they are the same because I have served as an online learning consultant and director for the last 15 years, helping create programs and courses for Ivy League, private and public universities, community colleges, and statewide college consortia.
