Universities run on a stack of mission-critical software: a learning management system (LMS) for teaching, an ERP/student information system for records, finance and financial aid, and a CRM for recruiting and student success. These are long-lived, hard-to-replace systems sold through slow procurement, and they have produced some of EdTech's most durable businesses (and its most leveraged private-equity buyouts). Alongside the stack sits the online program manager (OPM): a company that finances, builds, markets and runs online degree programs for universities in exchange for a share of tuition, often 40–60% for 7–15 years. The OPM model drove the 2010s boom in online master's degrees, then fell apart in 2023–24 under regulatory scrutiny, rising student-acquisition costs and university backlash, ending with 2U's Chapter 11 filing. This section covers the campus stack, the OPM contract and its economics, the regulation that shaped it, and how an expert tells a durable higher-ed technology business from one that rents a university's brand.
What the study covers
- 1Overview: what makes higher-ed technology different
- 2Mechanics
- 3Key numbers
- 4Landmark companies and cases
- 5Pitfalls
- 6How an expert thinks about it
- 7Glossary
Technical exhibits
Worked examples, checklists and case studies included with this study.
Opm Revenue Share Economics Worked Example
A 10-year online master's program modeled under a 50% revenue share and under fee-for-service, with six enrollment and CAC scenarios, all computed by script
2u Case Study
2U from founding (2008) through IPO, peak, the edX deal, the USC fallout and the 2024 Chapter 11
Opm and Campus Vendor Diligence Checklist
Questions for universities signing OPM or platform contracts and for investors underwriting higher-ed technology vendors