Another College Option Opens Doors

It was founded, not by entrepreneurs, but by governors of 18 states. It is nonprofit. It is recognized by established accrediting groups. It boasts funding from prestigious philanthropic foundations.

All in all, Western Governors University appears to be a good fit for a state with lots of busy, cash-strapped aspirants to higher education. Whether the personalized online learning operation is a good fit for any particular student is a question he or she must carefully address.

Gov. Mitch Daniels, a member of the WGU board, signed an executive order last week creating the first state branch of the Salt Lake City-based college. WGU Indiana will have an office with a chancellor and about 30 employees, paid for with grants from the Lumina and Bill and Melinda Gates foundations. No state tax dollars will go into the branch, but students will be eligible for state and federal aid.

At an estimated cost of $6,000 a year, WGU has obvious appeal to highly motivated nontraditional students. Business, teaching, information technology and health degrees, bachelor's and master's, are offered.

Quality of the courses, for which there are mentors rather than professors, cannot be taken for granted.

Neither can employability. Students and former students give many favorable reviews, but negative experiences are numerous as well.

Begun in 1997 as an answer to the isolation of prospective students in the sparsely populated West, WGU has an impressive enrollment of 20,000 in 50 states. Many brick-and-mortar institutions of higher learning already offer online courses, though not to the extent of WGU. School systems, hospitals and other employers are not likely to favor online degree-holders over conventional graduates in large numbers.

Nonetheless, WGU does enjoy substantial respectability compared with other purveyors of alternative higher education; and with its flexibility and pricing, it may fill a niche for ambitious residents whose circumstances make college seem remote.

"We see it as another opportunity for nontraditional students to continue education," says Ivy Tech Community College Vice President Jeff Fanter. "Start with Ivy Tech and transfer to WGU. We are looking forward to working with WGU like all of our transfer partners."

Certainly, states must leave no option unexplored as they seek to reduce a roughly 10 percent unemployment rate and bring an undereducated work force up to the demands of a 21st-century economy.

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