2U and USC to ‘wind down’ partnership
The online education company will part with USC on three degree programs.
The online education company will part with USC on three degree programs.
USC and 2U, a for-profit digital learning platform, announced a mutual agreement to end their partnership for three of USC’s online graduate programs in a joint statement Thursday evening.
2U’s services covered the Rossier School of Education, the Dworak-Peck School of Social Work and the Iovine and Young Academy. USC was 2U’s first client in higher education, but it now serves universities across the country, including Harvard University, Georgetown University and Vanderbilt University. USC made up 15% of 2U’s total revenue in 2019.
2U will continue to service the University in hybrid online clinical programs within the USC Division of Biokinesiology and Physical Therapy program.
“Over the next 15 months, 2U and USC will work together to effectively transition the delivery and administration of servicing these programs to the university,” the joint statement read. “We will ensure that students receive the same high standard of education and support they have come to expect.”
The move comes after three 2021 Rossier graduates filed a class action in December lawsuit alleging that USC and 2U misled students by knowingly advertising inflated school rankings and over-enrolling students into Rossier’s online programs to maximize profit.
USC and 2U faced other troubles with inflation. In June 2019, Dworak-Peck faced a budget crisis after hiring faculty and staff to accommodate the growth of its online master’s degree programs — run by 2U — from 900 students in 2010 to 3,500 in 2016. The school also admitted less qualified students in an attempt to fill classes and get more tuition money, 60% of which was paid to 2U.
In their joint statement, USC and 2U wrote that their partnership was “characterized by innovation, commitment, and a shared vision for quality education.”
“We are proud of the robust foundation that this relationship has helped to lay for these programs, which are well-poised for future success,” the statement read.
We are the only independent newspaper here at USC, run at every level by students. That means we aren’t tied down by any other interests but those of readers like you: the students, faculty, staff and South Central residents that together make up the USC community.
Independence is a double-edged sword: We have a unique lens into the University’s actions and policies, and can hold powerful figures accountable when others cannot. But that also means our budget is severely limited. We’re already spread thin as we compensate the writers, photographers, artists, designers and editors whose incredible work you see in our daily paper; as we work to revamp and expand our digital presence, we now have additional staff making podcasts, videos, webpages, our first ever magazine and social media content, who are at risk of being unable to receive the support they deserve.
We are therefore indebted to readers like you, who, by supporting us, help keep our paper daily (we are the only remaining college paper on the West Coast that prints every single weekday), independent, free and widely accessible.
Please consider supporting us. Even $1 goes a long way in supporting our work; if you are able, you can also support us with monthly, or even annual, donations. Thank you.
This site uses cookies. By continuing to browse the site, you are agreeing to our use of cookies.
Accept settingsDo Not AcceptWe may request cookies to be set on your device. We use cookies to let us know when you visit our websites, how you interact with us, to enrich your user experience, and to customize your relationship with our website.
Click on the different category headings to find out more. You can also change some of your preferences. Note that blocking some types of cookies may impact your experience on our websites and the services we are able to offer.
These cookies are strictly necessary to provide you with services available through our website and to use some of its features.
Because these cookies are strictly necessary to deliver the website, refusing them will have impact how our site functions. You always can block or delete cookies by changing your browser settings and force blocking all cookies on this website. But this will always prompt you to accept/refuse cookies when revisiting our site.
We fully respect if you want to refuse cookies but to avoid asking you again and again kindly allow us to store a cookie for that. You are free to opt out any time or opt in for other cookies to get a better experience. If you refuse cookies we will remove all set cookies in our domain.
We provide you with a list of stored cookies on your computer in our domain so you can check what we stored. Due to security reasons we are not able to show or modify cookies from other domains. You can check these in your browser security settings.
These cookies collect information that is used either in aggregate form to help us understand how our website is being used or how effective our marketing campaigns are, or to help us customize our website and application for you in order to enhance your experience.
If you do not want that we track your visit to our site you can disable tracking in your browser here:
We also use different external services like Google Webfonts, Google Maps, and external Video providers. Since these providers may collect personal data like your IP address we allow you to block them here. Please be aware that this might heavily reduce the functionality and appearance of our site. Changes will take effect once you reload the page.
Google Webfont Settings:
Google Map Settings:
Google reCaptcha Settings:
Vimeo and Youtube video embeds:
The following cookies are also needed - You can choose if you want to allow them: